Multimodal Ventures Closes $15 Million Debut Fund in Naperville Illinois to Back Y Combinator Startups With AI Driven Investment Strategy

Something notable just happened in Naperville, Illinois — and it didn’t involve cornfields or corporate headquarters.

Multimodal Ventures, a relatively young seed-stage venture capital firm, has officially closed its first fund at $15 million.

For a debut fund, especially outside the usual Silicon Valley orbit, that’s a confident start.

The firm focuses on a very specific slice of the startup world: companies that have gone through Y Combinator, arguably the most influential startup accelerator in the world.

And nearly 100 limited partners — 99 to be exact — backed the vision.

99 Backers Bet on a Data-Driven Strategy

Raising a first fund is never easy. Convincing 99 separate investors to trust your thesis? That takes more than enthusiasm. It takes credibility.

Multimodal’s limited partners include individuals who clearly believe in the firm’s hybrid approach — blending traditional venture instincts with heavy data science.

The fund size may sound modest compared to billion-dollar mega funds dominating headlines, but in the seed world, $15 million is meaningful firepower.

It allows the firm to write early checks while staying nimble.

And in today’s tighter venture environment — where fundraising has slowed significantly compared to the 2021 boom — closing a fund at target is no small feat.

The Team Behind the Strategy

Multimodal Ventures is led by Jeff Heitzman, Founder and Managing Partner, alongside Co-founders and Managing Partners Niraj Shah and Ryan Havlick.

The trio brings a mix of quantitative trading experience, technical depth, and hands-on building experience. That blend matters.

Today’s startup landscape is crowded, and pattern recognition alone isn’t enough.

The team positions itself as analytical but founder-friendly — not just spreadsheet investors, but people who understand what it takes to build from zero.

Betting on Y Combinator Founders

The firm has made its niche clear: Y Combinator-backed startups.

YC has produced companies like Airbnb, Stripe, Coinbase, DoorDash, Reddit, and Instacart.

Over the years, it has built a powerful filtering mechanism — thousands apply, only a fraction get in.

By focusing on that pipeline, Multimodal is essentially narrowing its universe to founders who’ve already passed one of the toughest selection processes in tech.

It’s a strategy other micro-VCs have explored, but Multimodal is leaning in hard.

The logic is simple: reduce noise, focus on signal.

The Midas Algorithm

Here’s where things get interesting.

Multimodal uses a proprietary AI system called Midas to help guide investment decisions.

According to the firm, the algorithm analyzes massive datasets to identify high-potential startups.

That includes founder backgrounds, traction metrics, product signals, and broader market patterns.

In a venture world increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence, firms themselves are now using AI to decide where to place bets.

Quant-driven investing has long been common in hedge funds, but venture capital traditionally relied more on intuition and networks.

Multimodal is trying to merge the two.

Of course, AI doesn’t replace judgment. It augments it.

And that balance — data plus human experience — seems to be their core pitch.

A Different Kind of Geography

While many VC firms cluster around San Francisco, New York, or Boston, Multimodal is based in Naperville, a Chicago suburb.

The Midwest has quietly grown its venture presence in recent years, with Chicago emerging as a fintech and enterprise tech hub.

Being outside Silicon Valley can offer certain advantages: less hype, lower costs, and a broader geographic perspective.

At the same time, investing in YC startups keeps the firm plugged into global innovation cycles.

A Challenging VC Climate

This fund closes at an interesting moment.

After years of easy capital and sky-high valuations, venture markets cooled significantly in 2023 and 2024. Down rounds became more common.

Investors demanded clearer paths to profitability.

Seed investors, in particular, had to sharpen their theses.

A focused, data-driven model could prove advantageous in this kind of environment.

When capital is scarce, precision matters.

What’s Next?

With the fund officially closed, deployment begins in earnest.

Expect Multimodal to continue writing early-stage checks into YC batches over the next several years.

The typical lifecycle of a seed fund stretches 8–10 years, meaning the real test will be portfolio performance over time.

If Midas delivers strong signal detection and the team continues to build relationships with promising founders, the firm could position itself well for a larger second fund.

The next milestones to watch:

• Initial breakout portfolio companies

• Follow-on participation in strong performers

• Expansion of the data platform

• Fund II fundraising

For now, the focus is on disciplined execution.

Why It Matters

Seed-stage capital plays a crucial role in the startup ecosystem.

It’s often the first institutional vote of confidence a founder receives.

By targeting YC-backed startups with a structured, analytical lens, Multimodal Ventures is attempting to carve out a repeatable edge in a competitive market.

Whether the formula works at scale remains to be seen — but closing a $15 million first fund with 99 backers suggests there’s confidence in the experiment.

Summary

Multimodal Ventures, a Naperville-based seed-stage venture firm, has closed its first $15 million fund with backing from 99 limited partners.

Led by Jeff Heitzman, Niraj Shah, and Ryan Havlick, the firm focuses on investing in Y Combinator-backed startups and uses a proprietary AI algorithm called Midas to analyze data and guide investment decisions.

Operating from the Midwest while targeting globally recognized startup pipelines, the firm enters the market at a time when disciplined, data-driven investing may offer an edge.

The next phase will test whether its focused strategy can translate into long-term portfolio success.