PARTNERING WITH ENTREPRENEURS TO BUILD BILLION-DOLLAR BUSINESSES IN THE MIDWEST.

ABOUT

We are investors that learned the craft of early-stage technology venture capital investing at firms on the West Coast and the East Coast, and brought our knowledge, networks and experiences to the Midwest. The Midwest contains approximately 25% of the inputs into America’s innovation economy, yet only receives 5% of all venture capital. We’re committed to changing that ratio.

Team

Prior to coming together as a team, we have invested in 40 early-stage startups over the last 20 years, from New York to California. We have exited 20 of those companies, including 4 of them exiting via IPO, with those 4 companies currently having an aggregate public market capitalization of $10 billion. We are also founders of technology companies and have walked in your shoes: maxing out credit cards, hiring/firing teams, raising venture capital, crafting innovative solutions to meet unmet customer needs and ultimately selling our businesses.

Greg Robinson

Managing Director

Greg has a blend of venture capital investing and startup operational experience. Greg was a Managing Director at Palo Alto based Peninsula Ventures, and a cofounder and COO of Cogent Technologies, an enterprise software company that successfully exited via acquisition to a publicly traded company. Greg has invested in approximately 20 early-stage startups over his career.

Greg has a Master of Business Administration from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and a Bachelor of Science in Economics from Arizona State University.

LinkedIn

Dan Malven

Managing Director

Dan has a blend of venture capital investing, startup operational and corporate executive experience. Dan was the founding CEO of Analyte Health, a digital health company, an executive in the consumer health services group of Walgreens, and a co-founder of two software technology companies. Dan was a Principal at NYC-based venture capital firm Flatiron Partners and has invested in approximately 20 early-stage startups over his career.

Dan has a Master of Business Administration from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University. Dan is an alumni of the Kauffman Fellows Program and a member of YPO.

LinkedIn

Criteria

STAGE

We prefer to invest as the first institutional capital in a Series A/B round of $4M – $8M, after a company has raised a Seed/A round.

INVESTMENT

We invest between $5M and $10M over multiple rounds in each portfolio company. Most of our investments are syndicated with other strategically-aligned investors.

SECTOR

We invest broadly across the software technology spectrum, including hardware-enabled software businesses.

SCALE

We prefer to invest in teams building businesses that disrupt legacy industries and have the potential to reach billion-dollar market capitalizations.

INVOLVEMENT

We prefer to lead investments and take board seats alongside the founders. 4490 Ventures will remain active on the board throughout the life of the company.