Batterson Venture Capital

Batterson Venture Capital (BVC), now operating as VCapital, is a Chicago-based venture capital firm founded in 1995 by Len Batterson. The firm targets entrepreneurial seed, startup, and early-stage companies needing $500,000 to $5 million — deliberately filling what Batterson identified as the widely neglected funding gap that at the time received only 6% of all venture capital. Batterson previously founded Batterson, Johnson & Wang, the first Chicago-based early-stage technology and medical institutional VC fund, establishing his reputation as a pioneer of Midwest venture investing. The firm has backed 29 companies across software, health technology, clean technology, media, biotech, edtech, and data analytics. Notable exits include Cleversafe, acquired by IBM for $1.3 billion; Cybersource, acquired by Visa; Health Magazine, acquired by AOL/Time Warner; and Padcaster. Other portfolio companies include Beyond.com, Allscripts, and Illinois Superconductor Corporation. Checks average $1.5 million and range up to $5 million at pre-seed through Series A stages, with a focus on US companies and the Midwest in particular. Batterson Venture Capital's legacy is its role in establishing early-stage institutional venture capital in Chicago and the broader Midwest at a time when the region was largely bypassed by coastal funds. Len Batterson's successive firms — spanning three decades of early-stage investing — helped build the infrastructure, track record, and investor confidence that enabled the Chicago tech ecosystem to mature. The firm's continued operation as VCapital reflects the durability of its founding thesis: that underserved early-stage companies in non-coastal markets represent a genuine and repeatable investment opportunity.