Lightbank, the Chicago-based venture capital firm founded by serial entrepreneur duo Eric Lefkofsky ⇒ and Brad Keywell ⇒, has a new managing partner, the firm announced Monday.

Victor Pascucci III is the new full-time head of the nearly seven-year-old firm. He was most recently a partner at Munich Re, a German reinsurance company. He previously ran the $330 million corporate venture program at USAA, he said.

Pascucci moved to Chicago from San Francisco and started the job earlier this month.

The move signals a step back for Lefkofsky and Keywell, who are each working on their own fast-growing companies. Lefkofsky is CEO of Tempus Labs, the cancer-fighting startup he launched in 2015, and Keywell is CEO of Uptake, the $2 billion data analytics for industry startup started in 2014. 

Uptake raises $40 million from AOL co-founders' firm; now worth $2 billion Amina Elahi

Uptake Technologies, the Chicago-based provider of predictive analytics for industry led by Groupon co-founder Brad Keywell ⇒, has raised $40 million, the company announced Wednesday.

The company was valued at $2 billion in the deal, a person with knowledge of the terms said.

Uptake quietly launched...

Uptake Technologies, the Chicago-based provider of predictive analytics for industry led by Groupon co-founder Brad Keywell ⇒, has raised $40 million, the company announced Wednesday.

The company was valued at $2 billion in the deal, a person with knowledge of the terms said.

Uptake quietly launched...

(Amina Elahi)

Lefkofsky had previously served as CEO of Groupon, the best-known of several companies he and Keywell started together. When he stepped down from Groupon in 2015, Lefkofsky retook the reins as Lightbank managing partner. Keywell also shared the title of managing partner at the firm. Lightbank is based at 600 W. Chicago Ave., which is also home to Groupon and several other of the pair's companies.

They will stay on as founding partners of Lightbank and advisers to Pascucci on investment decisions, the firm said. Lefkofsky and Keywell were not made available for comment. 

Pascucci said he met Keywell in 2012 when USAA invested in Snapsheet, a Chicago company that counts Lightbank as an investor. He said he had reached a point in his career when he was setting new goals for the type of impact he wanted to make.

"It just turned out to be the same time that Lightbank was like, 'This is the time to really grow and build this company,'" he said, adding that his conversations with Lightbank grew more serious in the past several months. 

Pascucci said he will execute plans to grow Lightbank's team, portfolio and fund. He declined to share details but said Lightbank has available capital and plans to raise more from limited partners.

Groupon co-founder's cancer-fighting startup Tempus partners with Mayo Clinic Meg Graham

Tempus, the genomics startup led by Groupon co-founder Eric Lefkofsky ⇒, has partnered with Mayo Clinic to help doctors use data to treat cancer patients — the latest in a series of partnerships with high-profile health care organizations around the country.

The Chicago company, which has drawn...

Tempus, the genomics startup led by Groupon co-founder Eric Lefkofsky ⇒, has partnered with Mayo Clinic to help doctors use data to treat cancer patients — the latest in a series of partnerships with high-profile health care organizations around the country.

The Chicago company, which has drawn...

(Meg Graham)

Lightbank has traditionally participated in early stage — seed and series A — investments. Pascucci sees an opportunity to double down on what's working best.

Pascucci said he thinks Lightbank can be a leader in the Chicago market by writing larger series A or seed checks to spur growth in local companies. He said the firm will focus more on the sectors where he thinks it can add the most value and have the highest opportunity for success, including fintech, marketplaces, consumer and software.

"Where Lightbank has had the biggest wins for themselves, it's when they've written the larger checks and leaned in with their network, with their support and actively engaged," he said.  

Bill Pescatello, a partner at Lightbank, agreed that the companies in which the firm has invested more and been more involved have exhibited the best performance. Examples of current winners include social media tools company Sprout Social and corporate catering company Fooda, both based in Chicago, as well as Udemy, a San Francisco-based platform for online learning, he said.

"We've had a clear correlation between our involvement, taking larger stakes in companies that have superior returns," he said.

Lightbank has typically invested about $20 million in 10 to 20 deals a year, he said.  

Given its home base in Chicago, the two said Lightbank will continue to invest locally and across the Midwest. They said they would continue to pursue deals nationwide, as they have in the past, as well.

The firm has a nearly $200 million fund, it said. It has made 109 investments, 75 of which are active, a spokeswoman said. 

Lightbank did 17 deals in 2016, according to Pitchbook. 

aelahi@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @aminamania

A previous version of this story referenced investment data from a third-party source. That has been replaced with data from Lightbank.

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