Tensility Venture Partners
Venture capitalChicago · Pre-Seed–Series A · 17 people tracked
Investment thesis
Tensility Venture Partners focuses exclusively on early-stage AI-first software and services companies, a mandate it has pursued since 2017 with more than 50 AI and data-driven investments. The firm backs domain-expert founders building startups with strong margins and attractive scaling potential in deep tech areas including agentic AI and LLM-driven workflows, human-AI text and voice interfaces, physical/robotic AI, quantum, space, and dual-use technologies. Drawing on over two decades of venture and technical experience across market cycles, the firm prioritizes solutions requiring accuracy and proprietary data, and emphasizes transparency and adaptability while supporting resilient, mission-driven founders in both product and services sectors.
Source: firm website, verified Aug 3, 2026.
Team · 17 people
from the firm's website & public directories
Founder mafia
2 people who came through Tensility Venture Partners went on to found or lead other companies.
What they invest in
from 40 of 49 portfolio companiesSaaS ×24AI & Machine Learning ×20Enterprise Software ×20Cybersecurity ×7Healthtech ×6Data & Infrastructure ×5Developer Tools ×5Digital Health ×5
HQs:United States×21Israel×1
Who they back
founder profiles across 17 portfolio companiesFounding team size:solo founder×82 founders×63 founders×3
Accelerator rootsportfolio companies that came through a program
Investments · 49 tracked
founders shown can be your intro pathBy year:2023 · 22020 · 12015 · 12014 · 37 dated
Chicago, US
Aaron Barlow(Executive Officer)John T Danaher(Executive Officer)Mohit Kapoor(Executive Officer)James Peck(Executive Officer, Director)Anne Leyden(Executive Officer)Chris Cartwright(Executive Officer)
Actuate provides AI video analytics that integrate with existing camera systems and video monitoring software to detect threats such as guns, intruders, crowds, unauthorized access, and fire while reducing false alarms.
AI & Machine LearningCloud ComputingCybersecurity
Sonny Tai(Founder)
Co-investorsBling CapitalDorm RoomGray Line PartnersMetaPropMetaProp VenturesScribble Ventures+3 more
Agnostiq (now part of DataRobot) provides an agent workforce platform for building, operating, and governing enterprise AI agents, including tools like Covalent for orchestrating compute to deploy agents across edge, cloud, or on-prem environments.
AI & Machine LearningCloud ComputingEnterprise Software
Co-investorsCreative Destruction Lab (CDL)Differential VenturesGreen Egg VenturesScout VenturesScout VenturesBoost VC
Implicit is an AI-powered knowledge platform that aggregates technical content from manuals, tickets, and procedures to provide cited answers to both human workers and AI agents.
AI & Machine LearningEnterprise SoftwareSaaS
Co-investorsAAF Management Ltd.Cerity Partners VenturesDentsu VenturesM12 (Microsoft's Venture Fund)Point72 VenturesPrime Partners+5 more
Airfleet is a web design and development agency that helps companies build high-performing websites through a structured process emphasizing wireframing, strategy, and stakeholder alignment.
Developer ToolsEnterprise SoftwareMarketing TechSaaS
Co-investorsEntrée Capital
Cisco provides networking, data center, and security technology for enterprises, including infrastructure to run traditional and AI workloads and tools to keep organizations running against cyberattacks and outages.
Cloud ComputingCybersecurityEnterprise SoftwareIoTSan Jose, US
John ChambersinChuck Robbinsin
Co-investorsAccess Venture PartnersAllegisCyber CapitalAviv Venture CapitalBantam GroupCastile VenturesCeltic House Venture Partners+31 more
Enterprise SoftwareFintechSaaS
Bitnami provides hardened, production-ready container images and deployment packages for open-source software components.
Cloud ComputingCybersecurityData & InfrastructureDeveloper ToolsEnterprise SoftwareSan Francisco, US
Daniel Lopez(Founder/CEO)inErica Brescia(Founder/COO)in
Co-investorsStreamlined VenturesY Combinator
BrainCheck offers a platform for cognitive assessment and care planning, centered on an FDA-registered Class II digital cognitive assessment plus over 30 clinical evaluation tools that integrate into clinical workflows and EHR systems like Epic and athenahealth.
Digital HealthHealthtechMedical DevicesSaaSHouston, US
Yael Katz(Executive Officer, Director)inDavid Eagleman(Executive Officer, Director)Andrew Chen(Founder)in
Co-investorsBlue Hour VenturesNext Coast VenturesNueterra CapitalS3 VenturesTrue Wealth Ventures
Bushel is a farm management software platform that helps farmers track operational and financial performance, including grain contracts, field profitability, and marketing decisions.
AgTechEnterprise SoftwareFintechSaaS
Alex Poon(Founder)in
Co-investorsBitDAOCultur3 CapitalMantle NetworkRed Building CapitalFocal Ventures
Circuit provides a platform that transforms complex technical knowledge into structured, governed workflows for industrial and manufacturing teams.
Advanced ManufacturingAI & Machine LearningDeveloper ToolsEnterprise SoftwareSaaS
Co-investors7BC Venture CapitalCapital FactoryCarnrite VenturesInterlock PartnersTTV Capital
Airfleet (CodersClan) builds and maintains websites for clients on its own in-house WordPress platform, implementing marketing, analytics, and conversion-rate-optimization tools such as HubSpot and Google Analytics.
Developer ToolsMarketing TechSaaS
Elad Hefetz(CEO)Nuno Freitas(CTO)
Co-investorsKima Ventures
ConverseNow builds a customizable voice AI system that takes and processes customer orders for restaurants, handling interactions in multiple languages to reduce staffing pressure.
AI & Machine LearningFoodTechSaaSAustin, US
Vinay Shukla(Co-Founder & CEO)Rahul Aggarwal(Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer)
Co-investors2048 VenturesBridge Venture FundKnoll VenturesMoneta VenturesTrajectory Ventures
Culina Health connects patients with registered dietitians for personalized, virtual nutrition care that is in-network with major insurance plans.
Digital HealthHealthtechWellness & FitnessNew Jersey, US
Vanessa Rissetto(Co-founder)Tamar Samuels(Co-founder)
Co-investorsCake VenturesGraham Walker VentureMGV.VCREDO VenturesRethink ImpactVamosVentures+1 more
Custom Ink is an online provider of customizable apparel and merchandise for organizations, groups, and businesses, offering design tools and customer service to help teams build culture and brand awareness.
B2B MarketplacesConsumerDirect to ConsumerE-commerce
Co-investorsAurumBAM VenturesGen CapitalSWaN & Legend Venture Partners
DataRobot develops an AI and machine learning platform that automates model development and deployment for enterprises.
AI & Machine LearningData & InfrastructureDeveloper ToolsEnterprise SoftwareBoston, US
Jeremy Achin(Executive Officer, Director, Promoter)inThomas de Godoy(Executive Officer, Director, Promoter)Tom de Godoy(Co-Founder and Former Chief Technology Officer)in
BoardHarry Weller(Director)Christopher Lynch(Director)
Co-investorsAMK Investment OfficeB Capital GroupB4 CapitalBallistic VenturesCisco InvestmentsConnetic Ventures+27 more
Datavant Connect is a data connectivity platform that enables healthcare and life sciences organizations to share and link datasets while maintaining privacy compliance through tokenization technology.
AI & Machine LearningData & InfrastructureDigital HealthEnterprise SoftwareHealthtech
Kyle Armbrester(Chief Executive Officer)
Co-investorsFlex Capital PartnersGrand VenturesHealth Catalyst CapitalSixth StreetTRANSFORMATION CAPITAL
DialogTech was a Chicago-based provider of AI-powered call tracking and marketing analytics, acquired by Invoca in May 2021.
AI & Machine LearningMarketing TechSaaSChicago, US
Irvin M Shapiro(Director)Cindy Pogrund(Executive Officer)Jason Ferrara(Executive Officer)Robert Doyle(Executive Officer)Jason Pinter(Executive Officer)William M. Conroy(Director)
Co-investorsLevel EquityRC CapitalRiver Cities Capital
Field + Farmer was a fresh food brand that produced clean-label bars, fresh dips, cold-pressed juices, and dressings made with produce from partner farms.
ConsumerDirect to ConsumerFoodTech
Flourish Health provides psychiatrist-led mental health care for young people ages 8-26 with serious conditions such as bipolar, depressive, anxiety, and trauma-related disorders.
Digital HealthHealthtechMental Health
Co-investors25MadisonAV8 VenturesCity LightGreyMatterHypothesisNew Stack Ventures+2 more
FourKites provides supply chain visibility software across multiple transportation modes including trucking, rail, and ocean freight.
AI & Machine LearningData & InfrastructureEnterprise SoftwareLogistics & Supply ChainSaaSChicago, US
Matt Elenjickal(Founder & CEO)
Co-investorsAugust CapitalBluestein VenturesFundamentumGrand VenturesHyde Park Venture PartnersLobby Capital+4 more
Co-investorsSixThirty Ventures
Impossible Objects develops composite-based 3D printing technology.
Advanced ManufacturingDeep TechHardwareNew MaterialsNorthbrook, US
Robert Swartz(Chairman & Founder)Steve Hoover(Chief Executive Officer)Lawrence Kaplan(Executive Officer, Director)Ian Drury(Director)
Co-investorsElevate Innovation Partners
InContext Solutions provides 3D visualization and machine-learning tools that generate shopper insights and let retailers and brands test store layouts, planograms, signage, and displays virtually without physical prototypes.
AI & Machine LearningRetail TechSaaSChicago, US
MARK HARDY(CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER)TRACEY WIEDMEYER(EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER)RICHARD SCAMEHORN(EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF RESEARCH OFFICER)MARTIN JOHNSON(EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER)RICHARD T SCAMEHORN(EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF RESEARCH OFFICER)
BoardMARK DONNELLY(Director)
Co-investorsBeringeaHyde Park Angels
INFI builds self-ordering kiosks for independent restaurants to reduce labor costs and improve customer experience.
Enterprise SoftwareFoodTechRetail TechSaaSChicago, US
Lucas Liu(Founder)
Co-investorsMK Capital
Co-investorsIU Ventures
Leverage provides a cloud-based platform that automates supplier follow-ups, acknowledgments, lead-time updates, and shipment notifications, giving buyers real-time supply chain visibility directly within their ERP.
AI & Machine LearningLogistics & Supply ChainSaaS
Co-investorsFlorida FundersGrid CapitalLas Olas Venture CapitalHyphen Capital
Lumiant is a client experience platform for financial advisory firms, centralizing client information in a dashboard to help advisors deliver consistent, value-based advice and run engaging client meetings.
Enterprise SoftwareFintechSaaSCalgary
Charles Robison(Executive Officer)Richard Holloway(Executive Officer)
BoardFrank Loftus(Director)Bruce Williams(Director)David Patterson(Director)Adrian Palmer(Director)
Lytical Ventures is a venture capital firm that invests in early-stage companies at the intersection of cybersecurity and AI.
AI & Machine LearningCybersecurityNew York City, US
Co-investorsIronGate Capital AdvisorsFranklin TempletonGV (Google Ventures)
Mosaic is an AI-powered planning and resource management platform that helps professional services firms optimize project timelines, team assignments, and workload allocation.
AI & Machine LearningEnterprise SoftwareSaaS
John Meyer(Founder)in
Co-investorsEntrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator (ERA)Ff Venture CapitalLas Olas Venture CapitalOcean Azul Partners
Co-investorsAlma AngelsDesignXfresh.fundQuest VenturesVisible Hands
Pegasystems builds enterprise software for AI-powered decisioning, customer engagement, customer service, and intelligent automation, delivered through a cloud-based platform.
AI & Machine LearningEnterprise SoftwareSaaSWaltham, US
Alan Trefler(Founder & CEO)inLeon Trefler(Executive Officer)inDouglas Kra(Executive Officer)Michael Pyle(Executive Officer)Kenneth Stillwell(Executive Officer)Richard Jones(Director)
Co-investorsNew Enterprise Associates (NEA)Norwest Venture PartnersPJC
Polymer provides runtime visibility and control over sensitive data as it moves across enterprise systems and SaaS platforms.
AI & Machine LearningCybersecurityData & InfrastructureEnterprise SoftwareSaaS
Co-investorsGreen Egg VenturesMaccabee VenturesStory VenturesFuture Food FundIndicator VenturesMotivate Venture Capital+2 more
Co-investorsAccelAllied Venture PartnersBorderless VentureManta Ray VenturesNew Enterprise Associates (NEA)Paper Ventures+2 more
Qorvo develops radio frequency and power semiconductor components, including front-end modules, power amplifiers, filters, switches, GaN transistors, and power management ICs.
HardwareHealthtechIoTSemiconductorsPlymouth, US
Harry Norris(Executive Officer, Director)Robert Bruggeworth(President & Chief Executive Officer)
BoardBrock Siegel(Director)Charlie Goff(Director)Jack Ahrens(Director)Paul Knapp(Director)
Co-investorsBand of AngelsCapital Midwest FundLB Investment
Science On Call provides IT support and managed services for restaurants, leveraging AI-powered automations to help resolve technology challenges and reduce operational costs.
Enterprise SoftwareFoodTechSaaSOak Park, US
Andy Freivogel(Co-Founder & CEO)Luisa Castellanos(Co-Founder & COO)Ken Tsang(Co-Founder & CTO)
Co-investorsBread And Butter Ventures, LlcChicago Early Growth Ventures (CEGV)Connetic VenturesGROOVE CAPITALLofty VenturesLongJump Ventures+4 more
Co-investorsiGlobe PartnersNew Enterprise Associates (NEA)
Co-investorsSilversmith Capital Partners
The Fresh Factory is a vertically integrated contract manufacturing and co-packing platform for fresh, clean-label, and plant-based food and beverage brands, offering product development, manufacturing, logistics, sourcing, and regulatory services.
Advanced ManufacturingFoodTechLogistics & Supply ChainChicago, US
Co-investorsGreatPoint Ventures
SonarMD provides a care management platform for chronic diseases, starting with gastroenterology, that combines AI technology with human support to detect clinical deterioration early and help specialists intervene before emergencies.
AI & Machine LearningDigital HealthHealthtechMedical DevicesSaaSChicago, US
LAWRENCE R KOSINSKI(Director)Lawrence R. Kosinski(Founder and Board Member)inBETH HOUCK(Executive Officer, Director)inJohn Starr(Executive Officer)Devin Gross(Executive Officer, Director)
BoardTHOMAS M SHEHAB(Director)
Co-investorsArboretum VenturesBlue Hour VenturesHypothesisNueterra CapitalBlueCross BlueShield Venture Partners
The company offers financial crimes solutions, including AI-powered fraud and anti-money-laundering (AML) tools, to help financial institutions meet federal regulatory requirements such as OFAC, GLBA, and the USA PATRIOT Act.
AI & Machine LearningCybersecurityFintechSaaS
Co-investorsH.I.G. CapitalH.I.G. Growth Partners
Videate offers an AI-driven software recording platform (Videate Studio) that generates how-to, training, and product demo videos and automatically re-renders them when a product's UI or workflow changes.
AI & Machine LearningEdTechSaaS
Co-investorsFirebrand VenturesAiSprouts VC
Volition Capital is a Boston-based growth equity firm that provides minority and growth investments to founder-owned software, technology, and consumer companies.
Enterprise SoftwareBoston, US
Larry Cheng(Founder & Managing Partner)
Webroot provides consumer cybersecurity software including antivirus, privacy protection, identity monitoring, and cloud backup for individuals and families across PCs, Macs, smartphones, Chromebooks, and tablets.
ConsumerCybersecuritySaaS
Co-investorsAccelMango Capital
This is Zendesk's internal belonging/diversity and inclusion program page, not a company profile page for an external company.
AI & Machine LearningEnterprise SoftwareSaaSSan Francisco, US
Alexander Aghassipour(Co-founder)inMikkel Svane(Co-founder)inMorten Primdahl(Co-founder)inTom Eggemeier(Chief Executive Officer)in
BoardPeter Fenton(Benchmark Series B investor and former board member)
Co-investorsBright Pixel CapitalCRV (Charles River Ventures)Felicis VenturesGeek VenturesGoldman SachsGolub Growth+10 more
Exits · 3
IPOs and acquisitions across the tracked portfolioTransunionNYSE: TRUBackstopsolutionsacq. by ION AnalyticsDialogtechacq. by Invoca
Portfolio news
latest coverage across their companies
Leverage · tradingview.com · Aug 19, 2026
Actuate · stocktitan.net · Aug 14, 2026
DataRobot · funderintel.com · Jul 16, 2026
Lytical Ventures · f4.fund · Jun 30, 2026
Zendesk · calcalistech.com · May 28, 2026
Science On Call · trysignalbase.com · Mar 24, 2026
BrainCheck · finsmes.com · Feb 27, 2026
Circuit · axios.com · Feb 23, 2026
Frequently asked questions
- How many investments has Tensility Venture Partners made?
- Tensility Venture Partners has 48 tracked investments, 3 of which have exited via acquisition or IPO.
- What stage does Tensility Venture Partners invest at?
- Tensility Venture Partners invests at the Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A stages.
- What sectors does Tensility Venture Partners focus on?
- Tensility Venture Partners focuses on AI & Machine Learning, Consumer, Cybersecurity, Data & Infrastructure, Deep Tech, Defense Tech, Digital Health, Enterprise Software, Healthtech, Quantum Computing, Robotics, SaaS, Space Tech.
- Where is Tensility Venture Partners located?
- Tensility Venture Partners is headquartered in Chicago, US.
- Does Tensility Venture Partners lead rounds?
- Tensility Venture Partners typically participates in rounds rather than leading them.
- Who does Tensility Venture Partners co-invest with?
- Tensility Venture Partners most often shares deals with New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Norwest Venture Partners, Matrix, among 195 tracked co-investors.
Co-investors · 18
New Enterprise Associates (NEA) is a venture capital firm that invests in and provides long-term support to founders building new companies.
Redpoint Ventures is a venture capital firm established in 1999 by former partners from leading venture firms, focusing on early-stage technology companies across multiple sectors. The firm leverages its partners' technology investment experience and an extensive network of entrepreneurs and industry contacts to support portfolio company growth.
Streamlined Ventures is an early-stage venture firm that partners with founders and invests at the seed stage to help build large-scale companies.
Hyde Park Venture Partners (HPVP) is an early-stage venture fund investing in AI, software, and tech-enabled services companies connected to the Midwest, Toronto, or the Southeast.
ffVC is a seed and early-stage venture capital firm based in New York that invests across emerging industries.
Chicago Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm that partners with founders in industries it views as overlooked, writing high-conviction checks and taking board seats.
Indicator Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm that backs founders at the idea and pre-Series A stage, deliberately investing in a small number of companies to provide hands-on support.
S3 Ventures is a venture capital firm founded in 2005 that invests in technology companies and medical device/health software startups, backed by a single philanthropic limited partner.
Dreamit Ventures is an early-stage venture firm investing in cybersecurity startups, offering customer introductions and access to co-investors to support company growth.
Practical Venture Capital (PVC) is a venture firm focused on the secondary market for private, late-stage technology companies. It acquires stakes in mature companies through its Halftime Fund.
500 Global (formerly 500 Startups) is a venture capital firm whose flagship Silicon Valley strategy backs promising technology companies from pre-seed onward across a range of sectors and geographies.
TSV Capital (TSVC), formerly TEEC Angel Fund, is a Silicon Valley seed-stage venture firm that backs technical founders at the earliest stages, having invested in over 200 early-stage companies.
▶6 more co-investors
Tribeca Venture PartnersHigh AlphaLocus VenturesScrum VenturesMercury FundCrossbeam Venture Partners
Firms observed investing alongside Tensility Venture Partners, from public investor directories. Shared companies are the overlap with Tensility Venture Partners's recorded portfolio.
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