# Cleveland Avenue

> Cleveland Avenue is a VC fund backing Food and Beverage and Software. See 152 investments, check sizes, portfolio and contact details. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: VC Fund
- Location: Chicago, United States
- Total investments: 152
- Last investment: Jan 2026
- Lead investor: 36%
- Last fund: May 2017
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cleveland-avenue/
- X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/CleveAveLLC
- Website: http://www.clevelandavenue.com/

Cleveland Avenue is a VC fund in Chicago focused on Food and Beverage and Software. Cleveland Avenue invests in seed-stage, early-stage, later-stage, and growth-stage deals focused on food and beverage companies, lifestyle consumer brands, AgTech, and technology companies.

## Contacts

5 contacts available for Cleveland Avenue. Shizune tracks 12 team members at Cleveland Avenue. Sign up free to unlock them: https://app.shizune.co/sign-up/investor-profiles/find-team-emails/cleveland-avenue?utm_source=investor_profile

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Food and Beverage | 26 | 17% |
| Software | 15 | 10% |
| Artificial Intelligence | 11 | 7% |
| Food Processing | 7 | 5% |
| Internet | 6 | 4% |

114 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Convertible Note | 22 | 14% |
| Series A | 19 | 13% |
| Seed | 16 | 11% |
| Series B | 16 | 11% |
| Funding Round | 9 | 6% |

16 stages tracked in total.

### Country

| Country | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| United States | 59 | 39% |
| Israel | 2 | 1% |
| South Korea | 2 | 1% |
| Chile | 1 | 1% |
| Ireland | 1 | 1% |

7 countries tracked in total.

## Team

| Name | Title | Investments | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Andrea Zopp | Managing Partner | 33 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/andrea-zopp |
| Donald Thompson | CEO and Founder | 7 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/donald-thompson-b9ee |
| Mingu Lee | Managing Partner | 13 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/mingu-lee-869a |
| Booker Whitt | Managing Director | 0 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/booker-whitt-fce6 |
| Donald Thompson | CEO and Founder | 7 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/don-thompson-2 |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Outtake | Outtake provides agentic AI cyber defense through the use of AI agents for automated response, real-time classification, and advanced threat detection. In order to combat fraud and impersonation, it focuses on open-source intelligence, multi-surface anti-phishing, and digital identity protection. | $40M | Series B | Jan 28, 2026 |  |
| Sustainable Beverage Technologies | Sustainable Beverage Technologies focuses on unlocking unprecedented efficiencies in brewing, distribution, and draft beer. The company's brewery specializes in producing beer concentrate that mixes with water and carbon dioxide in a bottle, enabling hikers and adventurers to get the taste of delicious beer while traveling.It wasincorporated in 2010 and is based in Denver, Colorado. | $6M | Venture - Series Unknown | May 29, 2025 |  |
| SparkCharge | SparkCharge is an automotive company that manufactures and develops charging stations for electric vehicles. The company's product offerings include mobile battery charging units, off-grid power hubs, and permanent EV infrastructure solutions. These services cater to a diverse clientele, including fleets, delivery services, events, autooriginal equipment manufacturers (OEMs), ports, transportation sectors, autonomous vehicles, and rideshare companies. By providing rapid deployment and flexible service levels, SparkCharge aims to eliminate common barriers to EV adoption, such as infrastructure costs and deployment delays. | $15.5M | Series A | May 20, 2025 |  |
| Hero Bread | Hero Bread is a food product company that specializes in providing nutritious foods. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, USA. | $21M | Series B | Jun 26, 2024 |  |
| Hero Bread | Hero Bread is a food product company that specializes in providing nutritious foods. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, USA. | $21M | Series B | Jun 26, 2024 |  |
| Hero Bread | Hero Bread is a food product company that specializes in providing nutritious foods. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, USA. | $21M | Series B | Jun 26, 2024 |  |
| The Desire Company | In a world of fake influencers, anonymous reviews, and misleading information, honest advice matters more than ever before. Through our video-led platform, The Desire Co. gives consumers access to hands-on classes, easy to follow how tos and authentic product reviews from experts at the top of their game. Through access to Pro wisdom and advice wegive consumers the confidence to learn new skills, and make more informed purchase decisions. |  | Series B | May 29, 2024 |  |
| Eliyan | Eliyan manufactures semiconductor interconnects to accelerate chiplet-based systems. | $60M | Series B | Mar 25, 2024 |  |
| NeuReality | NeuReality is a semiconductor start-up that designs AI-as-a-service infrastructure. It addresses the challenges posed by the growing deployment of AI in the cloud, edge, and fog systems. | $20M | Series A | Mar 19, 2024 |  |
| CurlMix | CurlMix, founded by Kimberly Lewis, is a monthly subscription service that sends customers five to seven all-natural ingredients, along with step-by-step instructions, to mix their own hair products. The company was founded in 2015 and based in Chicago, Illinois. | $1.2M | Equity Crowdfunding | Feb 02, 2024 |  |

10 of 152 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [GreatPoint Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/greatpoint-ventures) — VC Fund, 11 deals together
- [DNS Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/dns-capital) — VC Fund, 10 deals together
- [Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/rise-of-the-rest) — VC Fund, 9 deals together
- [Composite Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/composite-ventures) — VC Fund, 6 deals together
- [Gordon Food Service](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/gordon-food-service) — VC Fund, 6 deals together
- [Scribble Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/scribble-ventures) — VC Fund, 6 deals together

## Similar investors

### Similar stage
- [Right Side Capital Management](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/right-side-capital-management) — VC Fund
- [SOSV](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/sosv) — VC Fund
- [Innova Memphis](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/innova-memphis) — VC Fund

## FAQ

### What does Cleveland Avenue invest in?

Cleveland Avenue invests primarily in Food and Beverage, Software and Artificial Intelligence startups, most often at Convertible Note and Series A stage. Most of the 152 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United States. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### How do I contact Cleveland Avenue?

Public channels for Cleveland Avenue 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 Cleveland Avenue?

The team at Cleveland Avenue includes Andrea Zopp (Managing Partner), Donald Thompson (CEO and Founder) and Mingu Lee (Managing Partner), among 12 team members tracked by Shizune. 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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