Starting Line — Pre-Seed & Seed VC Firm ($500K–$1.5M Checks)
Starting Line is a Pre-Seed, Seed venture capital firm based in Chicago, United States investing in SaaS, Other, Consumer. The firm typically writes $500K–$1.5M checks and has 33 portfolio companies in our records.
- Check size
- $500K–$1.5M
- Portfolio
- 33 companies on record
- Partners
- 5 listed
- AUM
- $77M
- Stage
- Pre-Seed, Seed
- Sectors
- SaaS, Other, Consumer, Enterprise
- HQ
- Chicago, United States
Last verified: 2026-09-24
Pre-Seed, Seed
$500K – $1.5M
$77M
33+ companies
5 partners
Investment Thesis
Starting Line backs early-stage consumer companies, including consumer AI, health and longevity, Gen Alpha/Gen Z, mobile, fintech, and marketplaces, plus supporting infrastructure. Its current portfolio description emphasizes consumer categories shaped by behavioral, health, and economic change, with an emphasis on new AI applications.
How Starting Line invests
Starting Line is a vc firm based in Chicago, United States. The firm invests at the Pre-Seed, Seed stages, with a focus on SaaS, Other, Consumer, Enterprise.
Starting Line typically writes checks of $500K–$1.5M per investment, backed by approximately $77M in assets under management.
Starting Line has backed 33 companies in our records, including Home Chef, Hallow, Cameo.
Partners & Team
Industry Focus
Invests In
Portfolio Companies (33)
Other
Home Chef
Hallow
Cameo
Reclip
Made in Cookware
Aavia
Airvet
Athena Security
Boom
Clyde
- •Raising at Pre-Seed, Seed? You're squarely in their sweet spot.
- •Lead with your fit in SaaS, Other, Consumer — the sectors they actively back.
- •Size your ask to their typical $500K – $1.5M check.
- •cold outreach ok
- •Address your outreach to a specific partner, such as Haley Zollo, Partner.
- •A warm introduction beats a cold email. Get matched and request an intro.
Featured In
Browse More Investors
Fundraising resources
Frequently Asked Questions
See if Starting Line is a match for your startup
Upload your pitch deck to see how well you match with Starting Line and 10,000+ other investors.
Ask your AI assistant about this investor: connect InvestorMatch to Claude or ChatGPT
Is this your profile? Request a correction or removal