BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation
VC Fund
Milwaukee, United States
BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation is a non-profit organization focused on funding for-profit early-stage companies. It works with works with government, educational institutions, other charitable organizations, angel groups, and venture funds to identify, invest or co-invest in, mentor, and promote fast growing early-stage companies to createtechnology-based jobs in Wisconsin.BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation was founded in 2013 and is based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
- Total investments:
- 70
- Last investment:
- Lead investor:
- 26%
Last updated:
For AI agents: llms.txt
Industries BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation invests in
Stages BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation invests in
Countries BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation invests in
Round sizes
Contacts
| Name | Phone | Socials | |
|---|---|---|---|
Round size
- Seed
- $50k–$2.5M
- Venture - Series Unknown
- $350k–$3.1M
Investment Focus
Industry
- Software 19 (27%)
- Health Care 16 (23%)
- Information Technology 8 (11%)
- Medical 7 (10%)
- SaaS 4 (6%)
Stage
- Seed 33 (47%)
- Venture - Series Unknown 10 (14%)
- Funding Round 7 (10%)
- Series A 4 (6%)
- Angel 2 (3%)
Country
- United States 49 (70%)
- Singapore 1 (1%)
Team
| Name | Title | Investments | Links | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Andy Shrago
Investment Committee
|
Investment Committee | Total investments: 0 | Find email | |
Jeffery Harris
Founder & Chairman
|
Founder & Chairman | Total investments: 1 | Find email | |
Michael Malatesta
Investment Committee Member
|
Investment Committee Member | Total investments: 0 | Find email | |
Thomas Shannon
President and CEO
|
President and CEO | Total investments: 4 | Find email |
Investments
| Company | Description | Round | Links |
|---|---|---|---|
| Optical X is an online and offline retail platform that offers eyecare products including eyewear, contact lenses, and dry-eye products. | $2M / Seed / Jan 15, 2025 | ||
| Midwest Games is a video game publisher focused on creating opportunities that build meaningful change take a community working together. | $3M / Seed / Oct 30, 2023 | ||
| Child Health Imprints is engaged in the development and application of cutting edge informational and computational technologies including IoT, artificial intelligence and predictive analytics to the practice of medicine in neonatal intensive care units across the world with the objective of making early diagnosis of critical diseases and improvingoverall quality of healthcare which is being provided to neonates. | $2.5M / Seed / Jan 09, 2023 | ||
| DropCap is a tech-enabled rights agency (dropcap.com) and a global rights marketplace used by rights agents and acquisitions editors around the world to find great books (dropcapmarketplace.com). Our mission is to provide independent authors and publishers access to rights licensing opportunities and help indie books go global through foreignrights, audio, and film rights licensing. | $830.5K / Seed / Jun 24, 2022 | ||
| ReadySet is the first immersive 3D VR software designed for product manufacturers, retailers and researchers to autonomously design, test, and implement retail solutions. Learn how CPGs are using virtual reality to innovate amid inventory shortages. This white paper explores how companies are using virtual reality as a collaborative space forin-store planning and market research. It includes information on 3D product libraries, digital store planning, VR market research, and the case study "Does Life-Size VR Replicate Real-World Testing". | $3.3M / Seed / May 27, 2022 | ||
| Spotz is a marketplace that connects renters seeking space with hosts. With Spotz, almost any space can be rented and monetized, and we give hosts the tools they need to ensure the process is painless. | $100K / Seed / Mar 15, 2022 | ||
| Immuto Scientific is a biotechnology services company that provides analytical insights to pharmaceutical companies for drug discovery. | $2.3M / Seed / Oct 08, 2021 | ||
| Provider of organic dried fruits intended to empower rural women farmers by transforming waste into opportunity. The company provides all-natural, organic dried fruits and gluten-free flour while empowering women to have sustainable, local jobs and provide them with resources to enable them to better care for their families and themselves,providing consumers with healthy, free and additive free snacks. | $2.4M / Seed / Sep 10, 2021 | ||
| Agricycle is a house of ethical brands using a systems-based zero waste approach to international development. The company transforms food waste and agricultural byproducts across the world into all-natural and organic CPG brands.Agricycle buys the products created using their technology and makes on-trend brands focused on storytelling, naturalfoods, sustainability, and transparency. Each brand uses the byproducts of others, and local products and industries are created with what cannot be exported. This maximizes margins because each brand uses the same supply chain and very similar production process. | $2.4M / Seed / Sep 01, 2021 | ||
| Agricycle is a house of ethical brands using a systems-based zero waste approach to international development. The company transforms food waste and agricultural byproducts across the world into all-natural and organic CPG brands.Agricycle buys the products created using their technology and makes on-trend brands focused on storytelling, naturalfoods, sustainability, and transparency. Each brand uses the byproducts of others, and local products and industries are created with what cannot be exported. This maximizes margins because each brand uses the same supply chain and very similar production process. | $1.5M / Seed / Apr 24, 2020 | ||
| See all 70 investments → | |||
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FAQ
What does BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation invest in?
BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation invests primarily in Software, Health Care and Information Technology startups, most often at Seed and Venture - Series Unknown stage. Most of the 70 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United States. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.
What is BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation's check size?
BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation typically joins rounds of $50k–$2.5M at Seed and $350k–$3.1M at Venture - Series Unknown. These ranges are 10th–90th percentile round sizes calculated from confirmed public funding rounds, so they are a realistic guide to the rounds BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation participates in.
How do I contact BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation?
Public channels for BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation include LinkedIn and the website linked on this profile. For a verified work email and phone number, create a free Shizune account — contact data is searched across 20+ sources and validated before delivery, so your outreach lands in the right inbox.
Who are the partners at BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation?
The team at BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation includes Andy Shrago (Investment Committee), Jeffery Harris (Founder & Chairman) and Michael Malatesta (Investment Committee Member). The Team section lists each member with their title, investment count and links.
Is Shizune's investor data accurate?
Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Oct 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.
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