Prota Ventures

Prota Capital is the investing arm of Prota Ventures, a Chicago-based operator-investor group founded in 2016, backing early-stage founders at pre-seed through its Fund II. It also builds ventures through its EIR program, Labs, and incubator. It typically invests in high-growth industries, historically favoring B2B SaaS, health tech and Web3, with some IoT and D2C. Its framework centers on human flourishing across six dimensions: happiness, character, meaning, health, financial stability and relationships. Prota backs pre-seed founders who are generous, empathetic, excellent and kind, and avoids products that bring harm to humans. It looks for companies that deliver human flourishing inside the company and through the customers or communities they serve.