What stage does Progress Ventures invest at?

Progress Ventures invests at the Seed, Series A, Series B, Series C, Growth, Late Stage stages.

What sectors does Progress Ventures focus on?

Progress Ventures focuses on AdTech, E-commerce, Marketing Tech, Media & Entertainment.

Where is Progress Ventures located?

Progress Ventures is headquartered in Boston, US.

Progress Ventures

Venture capital

Boston · Seed–Late Stage · 6 people tracked

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Investment thesis

Progress Ventures invests in the advertising, commerce, marketing, and media technology markets, building on two decades of transactional and M&A advisory experience from Progress Partners. It takes a hands-on, strategic approach, offering both commercial and financial guidance to help early-stage through growth-stage companies scale. The firm draws on an ecosystem of Executives-in-Residence and an expert network to help portfolio companies solve difficult problems, source talent, and navigate market dynamics. Its capital markets expertise supports portfolio companies with longer-term capital planning and evaluating financing options as they grow.

Invests inAdTech E-commerce Marketing Tech Media & EntertainmentBostonGlobal

Source: firm website, verified Aug 3, 2026.

Stage

Seed–Late Stage

Boston, Massachusetts, US

Instruments

Equity

Founded

2008

Tracked investments

Team · 6 people

from the firm's website & public directories

Nick MacShane· Founding Partner· Boston, Massachusetts, United Statesin

Nick MacShane founded Progress Partners in 2002 and has spent about two decades building, investing in, and advising media and marketing technology companies while developing a network across ad agencies, media companies, and advertising brands. He worked with his partners to launch Progress Ventures, which is on its fourth $35 million fund focused on adtech/martech and media technology. He holds investments in more than 20 early-stage companies, both personally and through Progress Ventures.

n•••@progresspartners.comreveal

Sam Thompson· Founding Partner· Cambridge, Massachusetts, United Statesin

Sam Thompson focuses on corporate development, venture financing, and M&A strategy. In 2020 he led 11 acquisition deals for Outside Interactive, and earlier worked with the Corporate Design Group at The Procter & Gamble Company and in design and marketing at Pod Consulting. He holds an MBA following undergraduate study in design, and is a founding partner and investor at Progress Ventures alongside his role at Progress Partners.

s•••@progresspartners.comreveal

Adriaan Zur Muhlen· Managing Partner· Marblehead, Massachusetts, United Statesin

Adriaan Zur Muhlen has over 25 years of experience in private capital market investing and fund management. He was previously a Partner at Glouston Capital Partners (formerly Permal Capital), serving on its Executive Committee and co-managing the Investment Team, and began his career in brand management at Procter & Gamble before moving into corporate development, growth strategy, and alternative asset investing. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a B.S. in Economics from Miami University.

a•••@progressventures.comreveal

Chris Legg· General Partner· Cambridge, Massachusetts, United Statesin

Chris Legg is a general partner at Progress Ventures and also works with Progress Partners, with over 30 years in finance and investment banking at firms including Lehman Brothers, Credit Suisse, and Argo Global Capital. He has raised more than $500M in private equity and has been an advisor or investor across 50 liquidity events, including several IPOs. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and founded the nonprofit Canadian Executives in New England.

c•••@progresspartners.comreveal

Rick Gallagher· Partner and CFO· Boston, Massachusetts, United Statesin

Rick Gallagher has over 25 years of senior management experience and is a CPA who has served as CFO and COO across start-ups, Fortune 500, publicly traded, private equity, and venture-backed companies, with an industry emphasis on media and marketing. He has completed more than a billion dollars in acquisitions from sourcing through integration, and co-founded three start-ups, raising over $35 million and bringing each to a liquidity event, including one IPO. He holds a BBA in accounting from the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts – Amherst.

r•••@progresspartners.comreveal

Brett Chatfield· Vice President

b•••@progressventures.comreveal

What they invest in

from 8 of 27 portfolio companies

AdTech ×7Marketing Tech ×6Data & Infrastructure ×4Enterprise Software ×3SaaS ×3AI & Machine Learning ×2Developer Tools ×1Retail Tech ×1

HQs:United States×10

Investments · 27 tracked

founders shown can be your intro path

Tracer LabsSEC filingmedium confidence

New York, US

Leighton Welch(Executive Officer, Director)Gary Vaynerchuk(Director)Jeffrey Nicholson(Executive Officer, Director, Promoter)

Board seatAdriaan Zur Muhlen· per SEC Form D · $19M raise · filed Feb 2023

Adstraadstradata.comin

Adstra provides identity resolution and data licensing solutions that enable brands, agencies, and publishers to drive growth through clean customer data and targeted audience activation across marketing channels.

AdTechData & InfrastructureMarketing Tech

Capture Higher Education Private Equitycapturehighered.comin 𝕏

Clinchclinch.coin 𝕏

Deltatredeltatre.comin

Disrupteldisruptel.com

St. Louis, US

Michael Baker(Director)John Lowrey(Director)Alex Quinn(Executive Officer, Director)

Dstillerydstillery.comin 𝕏

ID5id5.ioin 𝕏

Instreamaticinstreamatic.com

San Francisco, US

STANISLAV TUSHINSKIY(Director)VICTOR FRUMKIN(Executive Officer)MICHAEL ILYICEV(Director)

Integral Ad Scienceintegralads.comin 𝕏

Integral Ad Science provides advertising verification and quality assurance solutions for digital advertisers and platforms.

AdTechAI & Machine LearningData & InfrastructureMarketing TechNew York, US

Lidiane Jones(Chief Executive Officer)Amit Chaturvedi(Chief Operating Officer)Srishti Gupta(Chief Product Officer)Thomas Joseph(Chief Technology Officer)Lisa Nadler(Chief Human Resources Officer)Yossi Almani(Chief Legal Officer)

Irisiris.tv

LISNRlisnr.comin 𝕏

LISNR is an ultrasonic proximity platform that enables contactless commerce and customer engagement through presence detection, secure authentication, targeted promotions, and gamified loyalty experiences across retail, finance, mobility, and education sectors.

AdTechDeveloper ToolsEnterprise SoftwareRetail TechCincinnati, US

Rodney Williams(Founder & CEO)

MEDIAMATHmediamath.comin

Narrativenarrative.ioin 𝕏

Narrative builds a data infrastructure platform that enables interoperability across systems and teams through a shared semantic layer, with built-in data quality validation and compliance.

AdTechData & InfrastructureEnterprise SoftwareSector Agnostic

Ordanablu.aiin

New York City, US

Outsideoutsideinc.com

Picturepixability.comin 𝕏

Simpli-fisimpli.fiin

Simpli.fi provides AI-optimized advertising solutions using location intelligence for marketers, enabling targeted audience activation and campaign measurement across programmatic and omnichannel channels.

AdTechAI & Machine LearningMarketing Tech

Skywordskyword.comin 𝕏

Sovrnsovrn.comin 𝕏

Sovrn provides advertising and commerce software for publishers, helping them optimize and diversify their monetization channels.

AdTechData & InfrastructureMarketing TechSaaSBoulder, US

talkshoplivetalkshop.livein 𝕏

Teikametricsteikametrics.comin 𝕏

Boston, US

Srinivas Guddanti(Executive Officer)Michael McMahon(Director)John Traugott(Director)Alasdair McLean-Foreman(Executive Officer, Director, Promoter)Austin Westerling(Director)

Tenovostenovos.comin

Tenovos is a digital asset management (DAM) platform for brands to manage global content and gain insights into content productivity and performance.

Enterprise SoftwareMarketing TechSaaSNew York, US

Selim M. Hakimi(Executive Officer, Director)Adriaan D. Zur Muhlen(Director)John Shackleton(Director)D. Scott Bowen(Executive Officer, Director)Andrea Pulcini(Director)

Tracertracer.techin

tvScientifictvscientific.comin

Uplanduplandsoftware.comin

Veritonicveritonic.comin 𝕏

Veritonic operates a performance analytics and research platform for measuring the ROI of audio assets and advertising campaigns, covering CTV, podcast, and social ads with brand lift and attribution measurement.

AdTechMarketing TechSaaSKillingworth, US

Scott Simonelli(Executive Officer, Director)Daniel Hanks(Director)Daniel Borok(Director)Mark Wachen(Director)Andrew Eisner(Executive Officer)

Rows marked “SEC filing” are inferred from directors named on the company's SEC Form D — public regulatory data, not a portfolio list published by the firm.

Frequently asked questions

What stage does Progress Ventures invest at?: Progress Ventures invests at the Seed, Series A, Series B, Series C, Growth, Late Stage stages.
What sectors does Progress Ventures focus on?: Progress Ventures focuses on AdTech, E-commerce, Marketing Tech, Media & Entertainment.
Where is Progress Ventures located?: Progress Ventures is headquartered in Boston, US.

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