Chalkboard Ventures
Chalkboard Ventures is a Pre-Seed venture capital firm based in Chicago, IL investing in EdTech, Other, Consumer. The firm typically writes $100K–$500K checks and has 9 portfolio companies in our records.
- Check size
- $100K–$500K
- Portfolio
- 9 companies on record
- Partners
- 5 listed
- Stage
- Pre-Seed
- Sectors
- EdTech, Other, Consumer
- HQ
- Chicago, IL
- AUM
- Not in our records
Last verified: 2026-07-18
Pre-Seed
$100K – $500K
9+ companies
5 partners
Investment Thesis
Focuses on early-stage EdTech companies innovating with classroom tools and gamified learning solutions.
How Chalkboard Ventures invests
Chalkboard Ventures is a vc firm based in Chicago, IL. The firm invests at the Pre-Seed stage, with a focus on EdTech, Other, Consumer. It does not invest in Hardware.
Chalkboard Ventures typically writes checks of $100K–$500K per investment.
Chalkboard Ventures has backed 9 companies in our records, including 22squared, Trade School, The Home Depot.
Partners & Team
Genna Franconi
General Partner
Janis Middleton
Chief Inclusion Officer
Sara Jones
Chief Financial Officer
Christy Cross
Head of Growth
John Stapleton
Chief Creative Innovation Officer
Industry Focus
Invests In
Does Not Invest In
Portfolio Companies (9)
Other
22squared
Full-service media agency
Trade School
Modern creative agency
The Home Depot
Publix Super Markets
Grammarly
Southeast Toyota
Baskin Robbins
Old Castle APG
Segway
Personal transportation devices
- •Raising at Pre-Seed? You're squarely in their sweet spot.
- •Lead with your fit in EdTech, Other, Consumer — the sectors they actively back.
- •Size your ask to their typical $100K – $500K check.
- •warm intro preferred
- •Address your outreach to a specific partner, such as Genna Franconi, General Partner.
- •A warm introduction beats a cold email. Get matched and request an intro.
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