# Samara Hernandez

> Samara Hernandez is a seed investor at Chingona Ventures (Chicago) backing Software and FinTech. See 26 investments, check sizes, portfolio. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: Angel Investor
- Fund: [Chingona Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/chingona-ventures)
- Location: Chicago, United States
- Total investments: 26
- Last investment: Jul 2026
- Lead investor: 38%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samaramejia/
- X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/samaramhernandz
- Website: http://www.chingona.ventures

Samara Hernandez is a seed investor at Chingona Ventures in Chicago focused on Software and FinTech. Samara is the Founding Partner and Jefa of Chingona Ventures. Samara earned an Industrial and Operations Engineering degree from the University of Michigan and a master’s degree in Business Administration from Northwestern University.

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Software | 4 | 15% |
| FinTech | 3 | 12% |
| Financial Services | 3 | 12% |
| Enterprise Software | 3 | 12% |
| EdTech | 2 | 8% |

57 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Seed | 14 | 54% |
| Pre-Seed | 6 | 23% |
| Series A | 1 | 4% |
| Funding Round | 1 | 4% |

## 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 |  |
| 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 |  |
| 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 |  |
| 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 |  |
| Agency AI | Agency AI helps to manage workflows of B2B Customer Success teams | $12M | Seed | Oct 17, 2024 |  |
| Linker Finance | Linker Finance is an integrated mobile and Internet digital banking platform. | $3.7M | Seed | Aug 27, 2024 |  |
| Hoop | Hoop helps make sure you don't miss a thing by automatically capturing your todos and action items from meetings and chat. | $5M | Seed | Jun 05, 2024 |  |
| Cartwheel | We help businesses launch in-house delivery or upgrade their third-party delivery infrastructure. Companies save on costs, keep their brand identity, and have full control over visibility and data. We have dozens of integrations including Olo and ezCater. Our clients include P.F. Changs, Portillo's, and Charleys Philly Steaks, to name a few.We are hiring! |  | Seed | Mar 01, 2024 |  |
| Suma Wealth | SUMA is a revolutionary financial wellness company with the mission to engage, educate, and empower the Latinx community via a holistic approach of Digital Media, Experiences, and FinTech. By creating culturally relevant content, virtual experiences, and providing financial tools that demystify and reimagine financial wellness throughentertainment, we aim to become the trusted source to help Latinos own their economic power, overcome financial challenges, and better prepare for a more prosperous future. | $2.2M |  | Feb 06, 2024 |  |
| Suma Wealth | SUMA is a revolutionary financial wellness company with the mission to engage, educate, and empower the Latinx community via a holistic approach of Digital Media, Experiences, and FinTech. By creating culturally relevant content, virtual experiences, and providing financial tools that demystify and reimagine financial wellness throughentertainment, we aim to become the trusted source to help Latinos own their economic power, overcome financial challenges, and better prepare for a more prosperous future. | $2.2M | Seed | Feb 06, 2024 |  |

10 of 26 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [Everywhere Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/everywhere-ventures) — VC Fund, 10 deals together
- [ANIMO Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/animo-ventures) — VC Fund, 3 deals together
- [Listen](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/listen-llc) — VC Fund, 3 deals together
- [OVO Fund](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/ovo-fund) — VC Fund, 3 deals together
- [TenOneTen Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/tenoneten-ventures) — VC Fund, 3 deals together
- [VamosVentures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/vamosventures) — VC Fund, 3 deals together

## About Chingona Ventures

VC Fund · Chicago, United States

Chingona Ventures focus on investing at the earliest stages.

2 contacts available at Chingona Ventures.

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

## Similar investors

### Similar stage
- [Antler](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/antler-be9c) — VC Fund
- [Alumni Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/alumni-ventures-group) — VC Fund
- [Right Side Capital Management](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/right-side-capital-management) — VC Fund

## FAQ

### What does Samara Hernandez invest in?

Samara Hernandez invests primarily in Software, FinTech and Financial Services startups, most often at Seed and Pre-Seed stage. Most of the 26 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 Samara Hernandez last invest?

The most recent investment recorded for Samara Hernandez closed in Jul 2026. Shizune tracks 26 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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