Lightbank

Lightbank is the Chicago-based early-stage venture firm founded by the Groupon founders, focused on B2B software, marketplaces, and consumer internet companies in the Midwest and beyond. Healthcare is not a declared specialty, but the firm has historically been comfortable backing health-adjacent SaaS where the playbook is enterprise software rather than clinical workflow. Stage focus is seed and Series A, with checks typically in the $1M to $5M range and the ability to lead. Physician founders building horizontal AI software with healthcare as one vertical, revenue-cycle and admin tooling, or operations platforms for non-clinical health operators are the most plausible fit. Founders developing regulated medical devices, therapeutics, or anything that depends on FDA-pathway navigation will not find domain expertise here and should pitch elsewhere. Geographic posture is US-broad with a continued tilt toward the Midwest and a preference for capital-efficient operating cultures. The reliable entry path is a warm introduction from a Chicago founder, a Groupon-era operator, or any of the Lightbank portfolio CEOs; cold inbound is read but rarely converts. Founders should prepare with crisp gross margin, sales motion, and retention metrics rather than clinical narrative. A pitch that leads with payer obstacles or regulatory complexity will read as the wrong fund. Lightbank is best treated as a generalist B2B partner that may take a healthcare bet when the unit economics resemble pure software.