DunRobin Ventures

DunRobin Ventures was a Chicago-based venture capital firm founded in 2014 by Bharat Anant and Jonathan Lee, offering an angel investor community access to Midwest startup deals. The firm focused on seed-stage technology startups in the Midwest, investing in healthtech, energy and cleantech, and enterprise software. Founded by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni, the firm operated as a full-service venture platform connecting regional founders with a curated group of angel investors. The firm made 3 recorded investments: Visibly (formerly Opternative, an online vision test and telehealth platform), Xerion Advanced Battery (advanced electrode manufacturing with DirectPlate technology, a $4.03 million total raise with DunRobin participating in the April 2016 Series B), and at least one additional undisclosed company. Check sizes were approximately $100,000 to $500,000. DunRobin's SEC Exempt Reporting Adviser status was withdrawn on October 16, 2020, and the firm is permanently closed. No investments were recorded after 2016. Bharat Anant subsequently held senior finance and strategy roles at SensorTower and Constructor.io. The firm's brief operating history reflects the challenge of building a sustainable regional VC platform in the Midwest during a period when coastal venture capital dominated deal flow and LP capital allocation. It remains a documented early attempt to bring institutional-quality angel investing infrastructure to the Chicago ecosystem.