# Chingona Ventures

> Chingona Ventures is a VC fund in Chicago backing Software and FinTech. See 66 investments, check sizes, portfolio and contact details. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: VC Fund
- Location: Chicago, United States
- Total investments: 66
- Last investment: Jul 2026
- Lead investor: 20%
- Fund size: $52M
- Last fund: May 2022
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/chingona-ventures/
- X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/ChingonaVC
- Website: https://chingona.ventures/

Chingona Ventures is a VC fund in Chicago focused on Software and FinTech. Chingona Ventures focus on investing at the earliest stages.

## Contacts

5 contacts available for Chingona Ventures. Shizune tracks 2 team members at Chingona Ventures. Sign up free to unlock them: https://app.shizune.co/sign-up/investor-profiles/find-team-emails/chingona-ventures?utm_source=investor_profile

## Round sizes

| Stage | Round size |
| --- | --- |
| Seed | $1.8M–$5.5M |
| Pre-Seed | $753k–$2.6M |
| Series A | $11M–$11M |

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Software | 11 | 17% |
| FinTech | 7 | 11% |
| E-Commerce | 7 | 11% |
| Education | 6 | 9% |
| Financial Services | 6 | 9% |

95 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Seed | 33 | 50% |
| Pre-Seed | 12 | 18% |
| Series A | 2 | 3% |
| Series B | 2 | 3% |
| Funding Round | 2 | 3% |

7 stages tracked in total.

### Country

| Country | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| United States | 41 | 62% |
| Hong Kong | 1 | 2% |

## Team

| Name | Title | Investments | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Grisel Hernandez | Associate | 0 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/grisel-hernandez-9bf5 |
| Samara Hernandez | Founding Partner and Jefa | 26 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/samara-mejia |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Linker Finance | Linker Finance is an integrated mobile and Internet digital banking platform. | $5M | Seed | Jul 14, 2026 |  |
| Chord | Chord is an AI-native data platform for the agentic commerce era. It unifies commerce data in the Data Foundation, layers in the context AI needs to be accurate, reliable, and relevant via the Context Stack, and deploys Agents that optimize spend, refine audiences, and take action across your commerce stack. | $7M | Venture - Series Unknown | Apr 29, 2026 |  |
| Ciphero AI | Ciphero is the first AI Verification Layer that collects, verifies, and governs all corporate AI interactions, promoting safe and ethical AI use across all enterprises. | $3.3M | Pre-Seed | Dec 18, 2025 |  |
| SafeHill |  | $2.6M | Pre-Seed | Sep 25, 2025 |  |
| LuminX | LuminX is an AI-Powered Inventory Visibility for the Modern Warehouse | $5.5M | Seed | Jun 02, 2025 |  |
| Certiverse | Certiverse is an end-to-end exam development platform using industry-leading psychometric standards, intuitive machine learning, and an innovative, asynchronous, crowdsourced content-creation model. | $11M | Series A | Mar 25, 2025 |  |
| Optimal AI | Optimal AI is an AI platform that analyzes marketing campaigns and provides insights to improve CRM and customer engagement. | $2.3M | Pre-Seed | Feb 20, 2025 |  |
| Scout | Scout is a financial planning company that offers financial education, wealth management, and tax preparation services for athletes. |  | Seed | Jan 30, 2025 |  |
| Viva Benefits | Viva is a 'rent to invest' amenity that allows landlords to make more money by rewarding tenants with a share of the profit. Viva was founded in 2021. | $2.2M | Pre-Seed | Nov 14, 2024 |  |
| Linker Finance | Linker Finance is an integrated mobile and Internet digital banking platform. | $3.7M | Seed | Aug 27, 2024 |  |

10 of 66 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [Everywhere Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/everywhere-ventures) — VC Fund, 14 deals together
- [Techstars](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/techstars) — VC Fund, 7 deals together
- [Gaingels](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/gaing) — VC Fund, 5 deals together
- [Portfolia](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/portfolia) — VC Fund, 5 deals together
- [Everywhere Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/the-fund) — VC Fund, 5 deals together
- [Hustle Fund](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/hustle-fund) — VC Fund, 4 deals together

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## FAQ

### What does Chingona Ventures invest in?

Chingona Ventures invests primarily in Software, FinTech and E-Commerce startups, most often at Seed and Pre-Seed stage. Most of the 66 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 Chingona Ventures's check size?

Chingona Ventures typically joins rounds of $1.8M–$5.5M at Seed, $753k–$2.6M at Pre-Seed and $11M–$11M at Series A. These ranges are 10th–90th percentile round sizes calculated from confirmed public funding rounds, so they are a realistic guide to the rounds Chingona Ventures participates in.

### How do I contact Chingona Ventures?

Public channels for Chingona Ventures include LinkedIn, X (Twitter) 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 Chingona Ventures?

The team at Chingona Ventures includes Grisel Hernandez (Associate) and Samara Hernandez (Founding Partner and Jefa). 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 Aug 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.

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