# Higher Ground Labs

> Higher Ground Labs is a VC fund in Chicago backing Software and Politics. See 56 investments, check sizes, portfolio and contact details. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: VC Fund
- Location: Chicago, United States
- Total investments: 56
- Last investment: Dec 2024
- Lead investor: 27%
- Fund size: $10M
- Last fund: Jun 2019
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/highergroundlabs
- X (Twitter): https://www.twitter.com/highergroundlab
- Website: https://www.highergroundlabs.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/highergroundlabs

Higher Ground Labs is a VC fund in Chicago focused on Software and Politics. Higher Ground Labs is building an ecosystem for progressive political technology. The company provides capital, assistance, programming, and mentorship to talented individuals and early-stage companies that are building the next generation of progressive political technology that can help win campaigns.Founded in 2017, the company isheadquartered in Chicago, Illinois, United States.

## Contacts

5 contacts available for Higher Ground Labs. Shizune tracks 6 team members at Higher Ground Labs. Sign up free to unlock them: https://app.shizune.co/sign-up/investor-profiles/find-team-emails/higher-ground-labs?utm_source=investor_profile

## Round sizes

| Stage | Round size |
| --- | --- |
| Seed | $50k–$100k |
| Pre-Seed | $100k–$1.2M |
| Series A | $3.8M–$10M |

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Software | 19 | 34% |
| Politics | 11 | 20% |
| SaaS | 7 | 13% |
| Government | 7 | 13% |
| Advertising | 6 | 11% |

70 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Seed | 26 | 46% |
| Pre-Seed | 15 | 27% |
| Series A | 6 | 11% |
| Venture - Series Unknown | 2 | 4% |
| Funding Round | 1 | 2% |

6 stages tracked in total.

### Country

| Country | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| United States | 39 | 70% |
| Canada | 2 | 4% |
| United Kingdom | 1 | 2% |

## Team

| Name | Title | Investments | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Andrew McLaughlin | Co-founder & Partner | 1 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/andrew-mclaughlin |
| Betsy Hoover | Founder and Managing Partner | 5 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/betsy-hoover |
| Hillary Lehr | Principal | 0 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/hillary-lehr |
| Sarah Eberhard | Principal + General Counsel | 0 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/sarah-eberhard |
| Shomik Dutta | Co-Founder & Partner | 8 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/shomik-dutta |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Momentum | Momentum is an OS/inbox and copilot for anyone who runs a pipeline (sales, fundraising, success, hiring, etc). Powered by behavioral science, useful AI, and thoughtful people. |  | Seed | Dec 01, 2024 |  |
| Quiller | Quiller is an artificial intelligence copilot campaign helps to develop quality, effective fundraising content. | $1.2M | Pre-Seed | Jul 11, 2023 |  |
| Quiller | Quiller is an artificial intelligence copilot campaign helps to develop quality, effective fundraising content. | $1.2M | Pre-Seed | Jul 11, 2023 |  |
| Measure Studio | Measure Studio is an engine designed to create a social media content strategy that is informed by data. Digital publishers, companies, agencies, and influencers may consolidate and analyze their social media data using the company's engine in order to create better content. The engine offers a safe environment for managing social mediaanalytics. |  | Seed | Apr 21, 2023 |  |
| Plural | Plural is a company that provides public policy tools to help teams save time and discover opportunities in workflows. |  | Seed | Jan 01, 2023 |  |
| Plural | Plural is a company that provides public policy tools to help teams save time and discover opportunities in workflows. |  | Venture - Series Unknown | Jan 01, 2023 |  |
| JusticeText | JusticeText is a software platform that makes it easier for public defenders to process and incorporate crucial audio and video evidence in defense of their clients. | $2.2M | Seed | Sep 06, 2022 |  |
| Plural | Plural is a company that provides public policy tools to help teams save time and discover opportunities in workflows. | $10M | Series A | May 12, 2022 |  |
| Civic Eagle | Civic Eagle develops software that helps companies discover and analyze legislation and regulations with no manual work. Civic Eagle's platform searches, tracks, and works with legislations across the country and does the discovery work so that policy advocates can focus on winning campaigns, thereby enabling clients to promote betterdemocratic outcomes for people and their communities.The company was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. | $10M | Series A | May 11, 2022 |  |
| OpenGrants | OpenGrants is a grant search engine and marketplace of independent grant consultants. You can find grants on your own, or hire an expert to help you search, apply for, and manage your grant. | $100K | Convertible Note | Apr 22, 2022 |  |

10 of 56 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [Backstage Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/backstage-capital) — VC Fund, 4 deals together
- [New Media Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/new-media-ventures) — VC Fund, 4 deals together
- [Comeback Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/comeback-capital) — VC Fund, 3 deals together
- [Boomtown Accelerators](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/boomtown-accelerator) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [Debut Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/debut-capital) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [Designer Fund](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/designer-fund) — VC Fund, 2 deals together

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## FAQ

### What does Higher Ground Labs invest in?

Higher Ground Labs invests primarily in Software, Politics and SaaS startups, most often at Seed and Pre-Seed stage. Most of the 56 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 Higher Ground Labs's check size?

Higher Ground Labs typically joins rounds of $50k–$100k at Seed, $100k–$1.2M at Pre-Seed and $3.8M–$10M 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 Higher Ground Labs participates in.

### How do I contact Higher Ground Labs?

Public channels for Higher Ground Labs 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 Higher Ground Labs?

The team at Higher Ground Labs includes Andrew McLaughlin (Co-founder & Partner), Betsy Hoover (Founder and Managing Partner) and Hillary Lehr (Principal), among 6 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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