Blue Chip Venture Company

Headquartered in Cincinnati and founded in 1990, Blue Chip Venture Company is the first resident venture capital fund in Cincinnati. The firm invests in a range of industries with a concentration on healthcare, marketing and media services, and software and services. Blue Chip invests in early and growth-stage companies with about 50 percent of their capital invested in companies located in the Midwest. The firm will invest generally $1 to $4 million per company. Blue Chip has $800 million under management and has invested in over 170 companies located throughout the United States. The firm's strategy has been to invest in last financing rounds, which are usually intended to strengthen the balance sheet to bridge the company to a near term liquidity event. Blue Chip V, which closed in May 2012, has seen the completion of 15 investments and several exits in a two-year period. These exits include two IPOs (LifeLock and Endocyte) and the sales of BioVex and Nexsan. The firm's second fund with this same investment strategy, Blue Chip VI, closed in June 2013.