About Lightbank
Lightbank is a venture capital firm founded in 2010. It is primarily based out of Chicago, United States. As of Jul 2026, Lightbank is an active investor, having invested in 163 companies, with 8 new investments in the last 12 months. It primarily invests in Seed round in United States based startups. Its investments are spread across a wide range of sectors from Enterprise Applications to Consumer and Retail. Most recently it participated in the $***** Series A round of Valarian Overall, Lightbank portfolio has seen 8 unicorns, 4 IPOs and 41 acquisitions including key companies like Super, Fiverr and Udemy. A lot of funds co-invest with Lightbank, with names like New Enterprise Associates sharing a substantial percentage of its portfolio. Lightbank has team of 13 people including 4 partners.Key Metrics
Team Members
Portfolio Sectors
Portfolio Locations
Rounds of Entry
Seed, Series A & 3 more
Portfolio Acquisitions
Lightbank's List of Top Investments
Lightbank has a portfolio of 163 companies, including 8 unicorns. Their most notable investments are in Ovia Health and Hipster.Their portfolio spans across United States, United Kingdom, Canada and 4 more locations. They have invested in Enterprise Applications, Consumer, Retail and 30 other sectors, across stages such as Seed, Series A and 3 more. Here is the list of top investments by Lightbank:
1. Super
Provider of an all-in-one mobile app offering travel savings, rewards, and budgeting solutions. It is an online platform offering a range of services including travel booking, savings, and rewards to help users manage the finances and make informed spending decisions.
Key facts about Super
- Founded Year: 2016
- Location: San Francisco (United States)
- Valuation: $*****
- Stage: Series D
- Total Funding till date: $226M
- Employee Count: 201 - 500 as on Jul 16, 2025
- Investors: Bee Partners, Inovia Capital and 22 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series D, Jul 07, 2026, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
2. Fiverr
Online freelance marketplace for multi-industry. It allows the users to find a matching job. The offering sectors include graphics & design, digital marketing, writing & translation, video & animation, music & audio, and more. The providing services include logo design, video explaining, voice-over, etc.
Key facts about Fiverr
- Founded Year: 2010
- Location: Tel Aviv (Israel)
- Stage: Public
- Total Funding till date: $111M
- Employee Count: 225,861 as on Jun 30, 2026
- Investors: Veyo Partners, Cerca Partners and 15 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series D, Nov 11, 2015, $*****
- Highlight: Public
3. Udemy
Provider of a marketplace offering online courses. It offers courses in various disciplines such as business, IT and software, photography, marketing, music, finance, and more. The courses can be taken at any pace and the course content can be created by instructors according to their choice. It also offers corporate online learning platform, that provides training solutions to corporates. Its mobile app is available for android and iOS devices.
Key facts about Udemy
- Founded Year: 2010
- Location: San Francisco (United States)
- Annual Revenue: £0 - £1M as on Oct 31, 2024
- Last Known Valuation: $*****
- Stage: Acquired
- Total Funding till date: $274M
- Employee Count: 9,289 as on Jun 30, 2026
- Investors: Harmony Venture Partners, Carriage House Rock and 68 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series E, Nov 18, 2020, $*****
- Highlight: Acquired
4. SpotHero
Provider of a platform for booking parking spots and related services. The platform allows users to search and reserve parking spaces. It offers options for hourly, daily, and monthly parking. The platform also provides booking capabilities through mobile applications and integration with vehicle dashboards.
Key facts about SpotHero
- Founded Year: 2011
- Location: Chicago (United States)
- Last Known Valuation: $*****
- Stage: Acquired
- Total Funding till date: $118M
- Employee Count: 296 as on Jun 30, 2026
- Investors: Union Grove Venture Partners, Bullpen Capital and 40 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series D, Aug 22, 2019, $*****
- Highlight: Acquired
Provider of a platform for social media management and optimization. The platform offers tools for planning, scheduling, and publishing content across various social networks. It facilitates customer engagement through AI-powered responses and provides analytics to measure performance and identify trends. The platform also supports influencer marketing campaign management.
Key facts about Sprout Social
- Founded Year: 2009
- Location: Chicago (United States)
- Annual Revenue: $100M - $500M as on Dec 31, 2025
- Stage: Public
- Total Funding till date: $102M
- Employee Count: 1,767 as on Jun 30, 2026
- Investors: Goldman Sachs, New Enterprise Associates and 6 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series D, Dec 20, 2018, $*****
- Highlight: Public
Lightbank's Year-on-Year Investment Trends
Lightbank has invested in 163 companies over the last 16 years, with an average of 4 new investments annually in the last 10 years. In 2025, it made 9 investments, while as of Jul 2026, it has made 3 investments in this year. Its most recent first time investment was in Valarian and most recent follow-on round was in Letter AI.Year | No. of Investments | ||
|---|---|---|---|
1st Round | Follow-on | Total | |
2026 (YTD) | 2 | 1 | 3 |
2025 | 8 | 1 | 9 |
2024 | 5 | 0 | 5 |
2023 | 4 | 2 | 6 |
2022 | 8 | 3 | 11 |
2021 | 6 | 1 | 7 |
2020 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
2019 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
2018 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
2017 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
Lightbank's Investments by Stage
Lightbank has made 61 investments in Seed stage with an average round size of $2.15M, 46 investments in Series A stage with an average round size of $8.48M, 7 investments in Series B stage with an average round size of $27M, 4 investments in Series C stage with an average round size of $22.2M and 1 investment in Unattributed stage with an average round size of $2M.Stage of entry | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Seed | 61 |
Series A | 46 |
Series B | 7 |
Series C | 4 |
Unattributed | 1 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Lightbank's Investments by Sector
Lightbank has a diverse portfolio, with companies operating in the Consumer, Enterprise Applications, Retail, Vertical SaaS and FinTech. Notably, it has invested in 146 Tech companies, 89 Enterprise (B2B) companies, 86 Consumer (B2C) companies and at least 80 companies focusing on Software.Sector | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Consumer | 50 |
Enterprise Applications | 50 |
Retail | 23 |
Vertical SaaS | 16 |
FinTech | 11 |
Others | 113 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Lightbank's Investments by Geography
Lightbank has made most investments in United States (112), followed by United Kingdom where it has made 4 investments.Country | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
United States | 112 |
United Kingdom | 4 |
Australia | 1 |
Canada | 1 |
Israel | 1 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Lightbank's recent investments
Lightbank has made 3 investments in 2026 so far. Valarian and Letter AI are the latest among them.Here are the most recent investments by Lightbank:
Filter this listDate | Company | Location | Round Details | Round Amount | Co-Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Jul 14, 2026 | United Kingdom | Series A | 7794 | ||
Feb 24, 2026 | United States | Series B | 2517 | [+4] | |
Jan 29, 2026 | United States | Seed | 7719 | [+2] | |
Dec 22, 2025 | United States | Series B | 1534 | ||
Dec 11, 2025 | United States | Seed | 8440 | [+2] |
Unicorns in Lightbank's Portfolio
Lightbank has 8 unicorns in its portfolio - Super, Pathos, Betterfly and others. The most recent unicorn in their portfolio is Super. It became a unicorn in 2026.Here is a list of unicorns in Lightbank's portfolio:
Tracxn Score | Company | Short Description | Founded year | Sector | Location | Company Stage | First Investment/ Acquisition Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
81 | Provider of an all-in-one mobile app offering travel savings, rewards, and budgeting solutions | 2016 | San Francisco | Series D | ygwyoey | ||
57 | Provider of AI based drug discovery platform for drug development | 2022 | Chicago | Series D | adyjbhu | ||
62 | Platform offering employee health and well being solutions | 2018 | Santiago | Series C | ajbbuno | ||
59 | Managed detection and response provider | 2016 | Herndon | Series E | zaolxyx | ||
59 | Provider of warranty solution for merchants and customers | 2019 | San Francisco | Series C | avycwjp |
IPOs and Publicly Listed companies in Lightbank's Portfolio
4 of Lightbank's portfolio companies have become public. Tempus got listed on the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ), in Jun 2024 at marketcap of $5.92B and Presto got listed on the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ).Here are Lightbank's portfolio companies that went public:
Company | IPO Date | First Invested on | First Round of Investment | Round Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Jun 14, 2024 | - | - | 4705 | |
Feb 05, 2021 | Aug 30, 2011 | Series A | 6416 | |
Dec 13, 2019 | May 13, 2010 | Series A | 1063 | |
Jun 14, 2019 | - | - | 3793 |
Acquired companies in Lightbank's Portfolio
41 companies from Lightbank's portfolio have been acquired. The most recent acquisition was 86 Repairs in Jun 2026 by Parts Town for $*****.Here are Lightbank's portfolio companies that got acquired most recently:
Company | Acquisition Date | First Invested on | First Round of Investment | Round Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Jun 30, 2026 | Jul 26, 2022 | Series A | 2540 | |
Feb 23, 2026 | May 27, 2014 | Seed | 7071 | |
Jan 20, 2026 | Sep 12, 2024 | Series A | 3238 | |
Dec 17, 2025 | Oct 12, 2011 | Series A | 9159 | |
Apr 29, 2025 | - | - | 6120 |
Team profile of Lightbank
Lightbank has a team of 13 members including 4 Partners, 1 Venture Partner and 6 Principals located in United States, Australia and 1 more location. Lightbank's team sits on the board of 2 companies.Here is a list of top team members in Lightbank:
Name | Designation | Location | Board Memberships | Contact Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Partner | - | - | ||
Partner | - | - | ||
Partner | Chicago | - | ||
Partner | Chicago | |||
Venture Partner | Detroit | |||
Principal | New York City | - | ||
Principal | Los Angeles | - | ||
Principal | Sydney | - | - | |
Principal | Chicago | - | - | |
Principal | Dublin | - | ||
Principal | Chicago | - | - |
Co-investors of Lightbank
Over the past 16 years, 608 investors have co-invested in Lightbank's portfolio companies. This includes funds and angels.
- Invested before Lightbank: Techstars, Y Combinator and 144 others have invested in rounds before Lightbank. There are 6 companies where Techstars has invested before Lightbank and 5 companies where Y Combinator has invested before Lightbank.
- Top Co-investors of Lightbank: 254 investors entered a company along with Lightbank. These include investors like New Enterprise Associates (8 companies).
- Invested after Lightbank: A total of 208 investors have invested in Lightbank's portfolio after their investments. Top Investors include New Enterprise Associates (3 companies), Goldman Sachs (3 companies) and Revolution (3 companies).
Recent News related to Lightbank
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Valarian Secures $50 Million Series A Funding Led by NEAAiThority•Jul 14, 2026•Valarian, XTX Markets, Sequel, Lightbank and 3 others
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Letter AI Raises $40M in Series B FundingFinSMEs•Feb 24, 2026•Letter AI, Northwestern Mutual, Stage 2 Capital, Y Combinator and 2 others
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Bearing Raises $4.5M Oversubscribed Seed Round to Scale Physical Security Operations on the ServiceNow AI PlatformBusiness Wire•Feb 12, 2026•AZ-VC, PHX Ventures, High Alpha, Lightbank and 1 other
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Kargo.ai Raises $42M Series B to Scale Global Warehouse Deployment with Enterprise Clientsintelligence360•Jan 06, 2026•Matter Venture Partners, Sozo Ventures, Avenir Growth Capital, Hearst and 3 others
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Keeper Secures $4M to Revolutionize Automated MatchmakingAlleyWatch•Dec 30, 2025•Lakehouse Ventures, Lightbank, Keeper
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Kargo.ai Raises $42M Series B to Scale Global Warehouse Deployment with Enterprise ClientsBusiness Wire•Dec 22, 2025•Matter Venture Partners, Hearst, Lightbank, Sozo Ventures and 5 others
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Keeper Raises $4M Pre-Seed FundingFinSMEs•Dec 11, 2025•Champion Hill Ventures, Goodwater Capital, Lakehouse Ventures, Lightbank and 6 others
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Letter AI Secures $10.6 Million in Series A FundingJinglingshuju•Oct 23, 2025•Letter AI, Northwestern Mutual, Stage 2 Capital, Y Combinator and 1 other
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Andel Secures $4.5M to Expand Its Employer-Supported Medication MarketplacePR Newswire•Oct 20, 2025•Bertelsmann, Lightbank, Seedcamp, Andel and 5 others
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