LongJump

I’m incredibly proud to announce that Grapefruit Health has successfully raised our Seed round! We were thrilled to see the momentum we’ve built over the last three months, which led to the round being oversubscribed by more than 25%. We've been intensely focused on capital efficiency, using our Pre-Seed funding to achieve significant milestones: - Achieving Product-Market Fit: We've successfully landed and expanded with some of the country’s largest healthcare clients. - Building a Strong Foundation: Completed over 250k patient interactions, established a massive pipeline of new deals, reached SOC 2 Type 2 compliance, and are 90% of the way to HITRUST. - Innovating with Technology: We’ve developed incredible technology, including new AI training solutions thanks to Google Cloud Platform funding. - Assembling the Best Team: Most importantly, we've built an exceptional team—the best in the business. As we approach profitability, this capital will be the first we deploy specifically for growth. I'm excited as hell about this next stage in our journey! This has been the most rewarding adventure of my career, and we’re just getting started. A huge thank you to our investors who showed such strong conviction in our mission and our team. We are deeply grateful for your support and can’t wait to make you proud. Mairs & Power Venture Capital, American Heart Association Ventures, Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, and our new angels. To our team, both full-time and fractional, your hard work and dedication are the reason for our success. I won't list all the fractional support but just know we appreciate the heck out of you! Joseph Moreno, Brandon Hedgspeth, DNP, MBA, RN, CPPS, and Alex Segovia And to the 300+ clinical students who have worked with us and the 25,000+ in our network, thank you. You are the backbone of everything we do. Thank you for following our journey. Now it's time to put this capital to work and crush our next set of milestones! #healthcareinnovation #seedround #ChicagoStartUps #ClinicalStudent4 https://lnkd.in/gV9Ad5TJ

Join LongJump at noon on August 21 for a virtual Ask Me Anything for Women Founders on Growth and Funding. We’ll dig into the realities of raising institutional capital in 2025, what milestones VCs actually care about, and what it means to build for venture scale. Hear from Kristen Sonday (Co-Founder & CEO, Paladin , $12M+ raised) and Ale Breuer (former Co-Founder & CEO, ezza nails, $2M seed raised, Professor of Entrepreneurship at UChicago Booth). Bring your burning questions: this session is built for transparency and actionable advice. Register ⤵️ https://lu.ma/xu8d53en

Thrilled to announce the official launch of Velveteen Ventures, an institutionally backed first fund anchored in the belief that we can build a better world for children and our planet for generations to come. After nearly two decades as a founder and operator, I know firsthand how much love, grit, and relentless care it takes to turn vision into reality. That’s why I named the firm Velveteen—a nod to the plush rabbit my grandmother gave me as a child, and to the founders whose conviction and passion transform dreams into real-world impact. With our first fund, we are investing in Seed to Series A companies focused on our 4 C’s - care, climate, consumer, and community solutions - all through the lens of empowering youth and future generations. I am honored to be joined by Karla Brollier, most recently of the Patagonia Home Planet Fund, who is VV’s Principal of Climate Investments and Katherine Stabler a seasoned funds attorney, who is VV’s COO - a high vibe team united by our complementary backgrounds and shared values and driven by a core discipline for achieving outlier returns. We are delighted to have already made our first several investments! At Velveteen Ventures, we partner with courageous founders operating where innovation for children and the planet meet. We invest in companies rewriting the future of pediatric care, children’s mental health, kid-focused consumer solutions, family-driven community platforms, and cutting-edge climate technology solutions. As one of the first Native American woman-owned and -led funds, Karla and I honor our ancestors by embedding a portion of our carry to flow back to Native American tribal communities. My own journey, from raising a Series A as the first Native - Turtle Mountain Chippewa - founder to do so with Tiny Organics to backing women and underrepresented founders at XFactor Ventures and LongJump, continues with this mission: to invest in founders building from their “deep inner why” with an eye on driving top-tier ROI for both our LPs and the broader society we proudly serve. To our founders, LPAC, partners, and purpose-driven institutions who believe that profits and purpose can and must coexist: thank you. Together, let’s make an impact that echoes for seven generations. Big thank you to the inspiring Dominic-Madori Davis of TechCrunch for shining a light on our work. Later this year, I’ll also be sharing more about these journeys and some of the incredible founders I’ve worked with in my memoir, Built on Purpose, with HarperCollins Business. Read more: https://lnkd.in/gRHmkYYH #VelveteenVentures #NextSevenGenerations #PurposeDrivenVC #Children #Climate #BuiltonPurpose

Sleepless nights. Countless prayers. Many tears. More doubts than I care to admit. I’ve been told no more times than I can count. But also, more love than I could’ve imagined. To my girls who reminded me to celebrate the small wins and checked on me when I disappeared into work. To the ones who reminded me God’s got me when I felt lost. To the siblings who stayed solid. To everyone who said, “You got this” when I wasn’t sure I did.  Thank you. To the investors who believed in me when all I had was my sister’s story, a mission, and a whole lot of fire, thank you for saying yes. Born from pain, faith, and the belief that we all deserve to feel safe and protected, this app is more than tech, it’s a mission. Because no parent should have to wonder if their child will make it home safe. Because too many of us have made survival look normal. Because safety shouldn't be a privilege, it should be a right. Because living in fear isn’t living, and we all deserve better. To my badass co-founder and the dream team behind aegis app: thank you for staying in it when things got messy, uncertain, and hard. For showing up, pushing through, and building something that matters, you’ve left your fingerprints on something bigger than us. I’m grateful beyond words. From my heart to your hands, this is Aegis. To God be the glory. To the people I met along the way who listened, shared, and inspired me to continue, I’m grateful for you… We launched. We did it. Download Aegis today, https://lnkd.in/ghQqU8Hx. 💜 #staysafewithaegis Team: Peter Nicholos Lauren K. Ian Nery Bandeira Rose Sran Investors: LongJump Fifth Star Funds Evan J. Segal Segal Ventures Advisor: Brian Brackeen Betsy Fore

This June The Coleman Foundation's Board of Directors approved $635,000 in new entrepreneurship grants to help strengthen the greater Chicago region's entrepreneurship ecosystem. These exciting organizations represent the expansion of accessible programming, services, and capital to all entrepreneurs served by our critical neighborhood based grantee partners and beyond. Approved grants sought to serve entrepreneurs across the greater Chicago region through startup support, access to capital, and mentorship. To see a full list of all grants approved under our program strategies through June, please click here: https://lnkd.in/gFtVc8_j Chicago:Blend - Venture Fellowship Chicago Innovation - Women's Mentoring Co-op & The Ladder Greenwood Archer Capital - Unlocking Opportunity for Chicago Entrepreneurs mHUB - Catalyzing Chicago's Hardtech Innovation Ecosystem Jewish Free Loan Chicago - 0% Interest Loan Small Business Pilot NextLevel Exchange - Capacity Building P33 Chicago - TechRise World Business Chicago - Bridging Founders and Funders with LongJump Onward.