Nancy Sullivan
CEO & Managing Director @ Illinois Ventures
Nancy Sullivan is a seed investor at Illinois Ventures focused on Water and Hardware. Nancy Sullivan joined Illinois Ventures as CEO and Managing Director in 2013 and oversees all aspects of investing, operations and strategy as well as actively participates in guiding portfolio company growth. She is passionate about Illinois Ventures’ mission to make the world a better, healthier, and more accessible place through return-focusedseed and early investment in healthcare and technology.Nancy led the fundraise of Illinois Ventures’ third venture capital fund, Illinois Emerging Technologies Fund III, which has invested in leading life science and technology companies across the Midwest and throughout the country. Under her leadership, Illinois Ventures has invested in over 30 life science and technology ventures alongside other top-tier investors and experienced business leaders. She led investments in life science companies including Revolution Medicines (RVMD), which entered the public market in 2020. In her role as the CEO and Managing Director, she led the team’s investments in early-stage healthcare companies including Sfunga Therapeutics, Cystetic medicines, Apervita, Actuate, Photonicare, Keywise AI, and Psyonic. Nancy has first-hand experience in life science startups. Prior to joining Illinois Ventures, she served as Senior Director of Business Development for an early-stage biotechnology company where she led business development and managed the corporate office operations. She is respected for her skill in identifying, supporting, and growing successful startups and understands how life science innovation and tech investment can deliver returns while lifting economies. Nancy spent her early career in startup formation and technology commercialization with a focus on business development and deal generation. A Chicago native, Nancy is deeply invested in the local and state-wide life science and startup ecosystem. Ms. Sullivan serves on the boards of iBIO, the leading biotechnology industry organization in Illinois; MATTER, an award-winning Chicago-based health technology accelerator; Cures Within Reach, a research nonprofit that brings stakeholders together to undertake repurposing research opportunities; and is a member of ChicagoNext, a cross-section of the city’s tech and innovation community convened by the Mayor of Chicago. Nancy is a graduate of Northwestern University where she earned an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, as well as a Master’s of Science in Biotechnology. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Loyola University.
- Total investments:
- 2
- Last investment:
- Lead investor:
- 0%
Last updated:
For AI agents: llms.txt
Industries Nancy Sullivan invests in
Stages Nancy Sullivan invests in
Countries Nancy Sullivan invests in
Investment Focus
Industry
- Water 1 (50%)
- Hardware 1 (50%)
- Internet 1 (50%)
- Railroad 1 (50%)
- Wireless 1 (50%)
Stage
- Seed 1 (50%)
- Pre-Seed 1 (50%)
Investments
| Company | Description | Round | Links |
|---|---|---|---|
Xaptum
|
Xaptum’s mission is to simplify IoT security. Forever. Existing IoT solutions are fragmented and difficult to secure, implement, and manage - hindering adoption of IoT. Our multi-tenant, future-proof network as a service is a key enabling technology for enterprises to seamlessly scale and secure IoT deployments. Through any last mile provider,customers can connect their IoT devices to their own secure, logical, middle-mile network that keeps the devices and their data invisible to the public Internet. Pain points in provisioning and managing the IoT devices are addressed through zero-touch identity and key management to allow enterprises to securely scale deployments. Ultimately, our simplified architecture brings visibility, control, and flexibility to IoT. | $3.1M / Seed / Oct 01, 2018 | |
Mesh++
|
Mesh++ is a solar-powered routers developer. Mesh++ uses mobile processing power to deliver a high-speed WiFi connection to outdoors and public places. | Pre-Seed / Sep 12, 2017 |
Co-Investors
About Illinois Ventures
Illinois Ventures is a seed and early-stage technology investment firm focused on research-derived companies in information technologies, physical sciences and life sciences, with a particular emphasis on those deriving from research conducted at the University of Illinois and other regional research institutions and federal laboratories.Current investments reflect targeted practice areas in energy, device physics, advanced materials, biotechnology, medical devices and instrumentation, homeland security, and software.Illinois Ventures works with inventors & entrepreneurs to mold concepts, vision, intellectual property, sweat and passion into breakthrough, high-growth companies, and was recently named by Entrepreneur magazine to its list of the top 100 venture capital firms nationally for entrepreneurs.
Illinois Ventures Contacts
| Name | Phone | Socials | |
|---|---|---|---|
Bridget Gallagher
Assistant Director, Marketing and Project Management
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Christopher Valera
Business Administrative Associate
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Nancy M. Harvey
Senior Director, Principal
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Nancy Sullivan
CEO & Managing Director
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Patrick Casey
Senior Associate
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FAQ
What does Nancy Sullivan invest in?
Nancy Sullivan invests primarily in Water, Hardware and Internet startups, most often at Seed and Pre-Seed stage. Most of the 2 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United States. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.
When did Nancy Sullivan last invest?
The most recent investment recorded for Nancy Sullivan closed in Oct 2018. Shizune tracks 2 investments in total for this profile, including round sizes, stages and portfolio companies, all sourced from confirmed public funding rounds and refreshed monthly.
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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