When was Higher Ground Labs founded?

Higher Ground Labs was founded in 2017.

Where is Higher Ground Labs' headquarters located?

Higher Ground Labs' headquarters is located in Chicago (United States).

How big is Higher Ground Labs' investment team?

Higher Ground Labs has a team of 38, including 3 partners.

How many companies has Higher Ground Labs invested in?

Higher Ground Labs has invested in 59 companies, including Hustle & MainStreet.

Which companies has Higher Ground Labs invested in lately?

Authentic & Quiller are the latest investments by Higher Ground Labs.

How many exits has Higher Ground Labs been involved in?

Higher Ground Labs' portfolio has seen 10 acquisitions.

Higher Ground Labs - 2026 Investor Profile, Portfolio, Team & Investment Trends

Higher Ground Labs, an accelerator and incubator program founded in 2017, is based in Chicago, United States. With a presence in 3 countries, it has supported around 59 startups in sectors like Enterprise Applications, Consumer. As of Oct 2026, Higher Ground Labs has witnessed 10 portfolio exits. Most notable companies in its portfolio include Hustle, MainStreet and Greenfly. The program is backed by a team of 38 people who primarily support Seed startups based in United States. Its latest investment was a $1.2M Seed round in Authentic on Jul 11, 2023 along with Grassrootsanalytics.

Key Metrics

Founded Year

2017

Location

Chicago, United States

Portfolio Companies

Hustle, MainStreet & 57 more

Sectors of Investment

Enterprise Applications, Consumer & 8 more

Stages of Investment

Seed, Series A & 1 more

Locations of Investment

United States, United Kingdom & 1 more

View Higher Ground Labs's full profile

Higher Ground Labs has a portfolio of 59 companies. Their most notable investments are in BallotReady and 5Calls.Their portfolio spans across United States, United Kingdom and Estonia. They have invested in Enterprise Applications, Consumer, FinTech and 7 other sectors, across stages such as Seed, Series A and 1 more. Here is the list of top investments by Higher Ground Labs:

1. Hustle

Hustle offers an SMS marketing platform to businesses. Allows businesses to offer a personalized experience to each customer, manage multiple teams, and create goal-based campaigns. Businesses need to import and segment their contacts list, assign agents to relevant segments, run SMS marketing campaigns, and track campaign metrics and effectiveness. Clients include Hillary Clinton Campaign, Bernie Sanders Campaign, and Planned Parenthood, among others.

Key facts about Hustle

Founded Year: 2014
Location: San Francisco (United States)
Stage: Acquired
Total Funding till date: $42M
Employee Count: 253 as on Sep 30, 2026
Investors: Foundation Capital, Salesforce Ventures and 16 Others
Latest Funding Round: Series B, May 01, 2018, $*****
Highlight: Acquired

2. MainStreet

Online tax credits claim services for startups. Its online platform automatically identifies, claim, and advances tax credits on behalf of startups. Businesses need to connect payroll systems with their online platform and based on accounting & financial databases it processes tax credits ranging from large federal programs to small local programs. It also provides startups with cash advance solutions in lieu of future claimable credits.

Key facts about MainStreet

Founded Year: 2002
Location: San Jose (United States)
Last Known Valuation: $*****
Stage: Acquired
Total Funding till date: $60M
Employee Count: 67 as on Jul 31, 2026
Investors: Scribble Ventures, Gradient Ventures and 23 Others
Latest Funding Round: Series A, Mar 07, 2021, $*****
Highlight: Acquired

3. Greenfly

Cloud based content management platform. It offers a digital content platform that helps sports leagues, teams, and media companies produce and distribute video and other media content via a network of influencers, brand ambassadors, and employees across television, social media, and the public web. AI based automation to organize thousands of digital assets in real time.

Key facts about Greenfly

Founded Year: 2014
Location: Los Angeles (United States)
Valuation: $*****
Stage: Series C
Total Funding till date: $65.3M
Employee Count: 89 as on Aug 31, 2026
Investors: Mercato Partners, Alpha Edison and 23 Others
Latest Funding Round: Series C, Mar 15, 2024, $*****
Highlight: Editors' Pick

4. Paladin

Platform connecting legal teams with pro bono opportunities and resources. It provides tools for legal service organizations, law firms, and in-house legal teams. The platform helps manage pro bono programs, connect with organizations, and track community impact. It also offers features for volunteer recruitment and matter assignment based on attorney interest.

Key facts about Paladin

Founded Year: 2015
Location: New York City (United States)
Stage: Series A
Total Funding till date: $12M
Employee Count: 29 as on Sep 30, 2026
Investors: Palm Drive Capital, R2 Ventures and 27 Others
Latest Funding Round: Series A, Mar 26, 2024, $*****
Highlight: Editors' Pick

5. Swayable

Swayable offers a platform to gauge the impact of media content on people minds. The platform is used by consumer facing brands, as well as public interest advocacy campaign organizations including U.S. President Biden election campaign. The company churns out insights primarily using randomized controlled trial testing, wherein the subjects sourced through its network of app publishers are given different messages, and the best is chosen based on causal data science that proves which had the greatest impact. Clients include PandG, Airbnb, Intel, and Square, as well as the Democratic National Committee and Tides Foundation, among others. Graduated from Y Combinator and has attracted VC investment from angels including Chris Sacca and Paul Buchheit, as well as Higher Ground Labs and New Media Ventures.

Key facts about Swayable

Founded Year: 2017
Location: New York City (United States)
Valuation: $*****
Stage: Seed
Total Funding till date: $120K
Employee Count: 65 as on Aug 31, 2026
Investors: Higher Ground Labs, Y Combinator and 2 Others
Latest Funding Round: Seed, Mar 05, 2018, $*****
Highlight: Editors' Pick

View the full list of portfolio companies

Higher Ground Labs has invested in 60 companies over the last 9 years, with an average of 1 new investment annually in the last 5 years. Its most recent first time investment was in Authentic and most recent follow-on round was in Plural.

Here are Higher Ground Labs' Year-on-Year Investment Trends:

Year	No. of Investments
Year	1^st Round	Follow-on	Total
2026 (YTD)	0	0	0
2025	0	0	0
2024	0	0	0
2023	4	0	4
2022	2	1	3
2021	3	0	3
2020	1	0	1
2019	6	1	7
2018	6	0	6
2017	3	0	3

View all investments by Higher Ground Labs

Higher Ground Labs has made 17 investments in Seed stage with an average round size of $339K, 7 investments in Series A stage with an average round size of $5.96M and 1 investment in Series B stage with an average round size of $8.4M.

Here are Higher Ground Labs' investments by stage:

Stage of entry	No. of Investments
Seed	17
Series A	7
Series B	1

Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments

View all investments by Higher Ground Labs

Higher Ground Labs has a diverse portfolio, with companies operating in the Enterprise Applications, Business Services, Consumer, Media & Entertainment and Nonprofits. Notably, it has invested in 45 Tech companies, 38 Enterprise (B2B) companies, 37 Software companies and at least 25 companies focusing on Saas.

Here are Higher Ground Labs' investments by sector:

Sector	No. of Investments
Enterprise Applications	15
Business Services	4
Consumer	3
Media & Entertainment	2
Nonprofits	2
Others	3

Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments

View all investments by Higher Ground Labs

Higher Ground Labs has made most investments in United States (24).

View all investments by Higher Ground Labs

Higher Ground Labs has not made any investment in 2026 so far.

Here are the most recent investments by Higher Ground Labs:

Filter this list

Date	Company	Location	Round Details	Round Amount	Co-Investors
Jul 11, 2023	Authentic	United States	Seed	2512	Grassrootsanalytics
Jul 11, 2023	Quiller	United States	Seed	3367	Grassrootsanalytics
Jun 22, 2023	Universe	United States	Series A	4545	Bangtail Partners
Apr 21, 2023	Measure	United States	Seed	8057	New York Angels [+4]
Sep 30, 2022	Frank	United States	Seed	3760	-

See more recent investments made by Higher Ground Labs

10 companies from Higher Ground Labs' portfolio have been acquired. The most recent acquisition was Hustle.

Here are Higher Ground Labs' portfolio companies that got acquired most recently:

Filter this list

Company	Acquisition Date	First Invested on	First Round of Investment	Round Size
Hustle	May 19, 2026	Jul 2017	Series A	4353
Plural	Dec 01, 2025	Apr 04, 2018	Seed	5882
Impactive	Sep 17, 2025	Jun 26, 2019	Seed	8227
MainStreet	May 06, 2025	-	-	9672
Kiip	Jul 17, 2024	-	-	7236

View all acquired companies in Higher Ground Labs' portfolio

Higher Ground Labs has a team of 38 members including 3 Partners and 1 Principal located in United States. Higher Ground Labs' team does not sit on the board of any company as of now.

Here is a list of top team members in Higher Ground Labs:

Name	Designation	Location	Board Memberships	Contact Details
Betsy Hoover	Partner	Oakland	-	1 Email
Andrew McLaughlin	Partner	New York City	-	1 Email
Hillary Lehr	Partner	San Francisco	-	1 Email
Tova Vance	Principal	-	-	1 Email

View team details of Higher Ground Labs

Over the past 9 years, 104 investors have co-invested in Higher Ground Labs's portfolio companies. This includes funds and angels.

Invested before Higher Ground Labs: Social Capital, Alpha Edison and 23 others have invested in rounds before Higher Ground Labs. There is 1 company where Social Capital has invested before Higher Ground Labs and 1 company where Alpha Edison has invested before Higher Ground Labs.
Top Co-investors of Higher Ground Labs: 41 investors entered a company along with Higher Ground Labs. These include investors like Grassrootsanalytics (2 companies).
Invested after Higher Ground Labs: A total of 38 investors have invested in Higher Ground Labs's portfolio after their investments. Top Investors include Salesforce Ventures (1 company) and Insight Partners (1 company).