# Stuart Larkins

> Stuart Larkins is a Series A investor at Chicago Ventures backing Software and E-Commerce. See 80 investments, check sizes, portfolio. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: Angel Investor
- Fund: [Chicago Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/chicago-ventures)
- Location: Chicago, United States
- Total investments: 80
- Last investment: May 2026
- Lead investor: 33%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/stuartlarkins
- X (Twitter): http://twitter.com/stuartlarkins
- Website: https://x.com/stuartlarkins
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/stuart.larkins

Stuart Larkins is a Series A investor at Chicago Ventures in Chicago focused on Software and E-Commerce. Stuart is an Internet entrepreneur and digital marketing expert with more than twelve years of experience leading Internet companies and start-up organizations. Stuart is a co-founder and Partner of Chicago Ventures, a seed stage venture capital fund, where he is overseeing all aspects of Chicago Ventures including fund management, deal sourcingand investments, and working directly with portfolio companies.Prior to joining the Chicago Ventures, Stuart’s digital marketing career was focused on early stage startups. He was Senior Vice President and part of the founding management team at Performics, a pioneer in affiliate and search engine marketing. During his eight years at Performics, he helped lead the business through rapid growth and subsequent acquisitions by Doubleclick, Hellman & Friedman, Google, and Publicis. Stuart was also involved in many online advertising industry groups and associations, such as the IAB, Yahoo Search Advertiser Council, MSN Search Committee, and the Google SEM Council.In addition to his involvement with the Chicago Ventures, Stuart is the Founder and Managing Partner of Twin Capital, where he is an investor in early-stage interactive marketing service and technology companies. He sits on the board of directors of Performline and Trunk Club.Stuart is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Shedd Aquarium, a member of the Economic Club of Chicago, and a member of the Springboard Foundation.Stuart holds a B.S. in Economics from Southern Methodist University.

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Software | 9 | 11% |
| E-Commerce | 9 | 11% |
| Internet | 8 | 10% |
| SaaS | 6 | 8% |
| Advertising | 6 | 8% |

103 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Series A | 25 | 31% |
| Seed | 21 | 26% |
| Series B | 10 | 13% |
| Funding Round | 10 | 13% |
| Series C | 3 | 4% |

9 stages tracked in total.

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| InstaSwitch | InstaSwitch is account activation infrastructure for business banking. | $4.7M | Seed | May 05, 2026 |  |
| FranShares | FranShares will soon let you invest in a diversified portfolio of franchise locations for as little as $500. By adding franchise ownership to your investments, your equity will increase in value over time while you earn passive income from franchise cash flows. FranShares was founded by Kenny Rose, a world renowned franchise expert with a mediareach exceeding 300 million people. He has been featured in Business Insider, Forbes, ABC, and other leading publications. FranShares is partnered with over 500 franchise brands and backed by Chicago Ventures. Join the waitlist today at www.franshares.com. | $4.1M | Seed | Jul 30, 2024 |  |
| project44 | project44 is on a mission to make supply chains work. As the supply chain connective tissue, project44 operates the world’s most trusted end-to-end visibility platform that manages more than 1 billion unique shipments annually for over 1,300 of the world’s leading brands, including top companies in manufacturing, automotive, retail, life sciences,food & beverage, CPG, and oil, chemical & gas. Using project44, shippers and carriers across the globe drive greater predictability, resiliency and sustainability. The undisputed leader in the market and innovator of Movement GPT, project44 was named the Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant, #1 in FreightWaves FreightTech 2023, a ten-time leader in customer satisfaction on G2’s Supply Chain Visibility Grid, one of SupplyChainBrain’s 100 Great Supply Chain Partners of 2022, and the Customer’s Choice in Gartner Peer Insights Voice of the Customer report. project44 is headquartered in Chicago with a diverse team spanning 15 global offices including Amsterdam, Kraków, Paris, São Paulo, Shanghai and Tokyo. Learn more at project44.com. | $80M | Venture - Series Unknown | Nov 03, 2022 |  |
| Meritize | About Meritize Meritize is a leading provider of funding solutions for skills-based education and workforce development. The company’s proprietary merit-based lending program goes beyond traditional underwriting and uses an individual’s academic, military and work achievements to enhance credit evaluation and expand funding opportunities, resultingin increased access to educational funding and improved outcomes. In addition to its merit-based lending platform for students and training partners, Meritize works directly with employers on customized talent development solutions to help meet the demand for qualified workers. |  | Venture - Series Unknown | Jun 30, 2022 |  |
| project44 | project44 is on a mission to make supply chains work. As the supply chain connective tissue, project44 operates the world’s most trusted end-to-end visibility platform that manages more than 1 billion unique shipments annually for over 1,300 of the world’s leading brands, including top companies in manufacturing, automotive, retail, life sciences,food & beverage, CPG, and oil, chemical & gas. Using project44, shippers and carriers across the globe drive greater predictability, resiliency and sustainability. The undisputed leader in the market and innovator of Movement GPT, project44 was named the Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant, #1 in FreightWaves FreightTech 2023, a ten-time leader in customer satisfaction on G2’s Supply Chain Visibility Grid, one of SupplyChainBrain’s 100 Great Supply Chain Partners of 2022, and the Customer’s Choice in Gartner Peer Insights Voice of the Customer report. project44 is headquartered in Chicago with a diverse team spanning 15 global offices including Amsterdam, Kraków, Paris, São Paulo, Shanghai and Tokyo. Learn more at project44.com. | $420M | Private Equity | Jan 11, 2022 |  |
| project44 | project44 is on a mission to make supply chains work. As the supply chain connective tissue, project44 operates the world’s most trusted end-to-end visibility platform that manages more than 1 billion unique shipments annually for over 1,300 of the world’s leading brands, including top companies in manufacturing, automotive, retail, life sciences,food & beverage, CPG, and oil, chemical & gas. Using project44, shippers and carriers across the globe drive greater predictability, resiliency and sustainability. The undisputed leader in the market and innovator of Movement GPT, project44 was named the Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant, #1 in FreightWaves FreightTech 2023, a ten-time leader in customer satisfaction on G2’s Supply Chain Visibility Grid, one of SupplyChainBrain’s 100 Great Supply Chain Partners of 2022, and the Customer’s Choice in Gartner Peer Insights Voice of the Customer report. project44 is headquartered in Chicago with a diverse team spanning 15 global offices including Amsterdam, Kraków, Paris, São Paulo, Shanghai and Tokyo. Learn more at project44.com. | $320.1M |  | Jan 11, 2022 |  |
| project44 | project44 is on a mission to make supply chains work. As the supply chain connective tissue, project44 operates the world’s most trusted end-to-end visibility platform that manages more than 1 billion unique shipments annually for over 1,300 of the world’s leading brands, including top companies in manufacturing, automotive, retail, life sciences,food & beverage, CPG, and oil, chemical & gas. Using project44, shippers and carriers across the globe drive greater predictability, resiliency and sustainability. The undisputed leader in the market and innovator of Movement GPT, project44 was named the Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant, #1 in FreightWaves FreightTech 2023, a ten-time leader in customer satisfaction on G2’s Supply Chain Visibility Grid, one of SupplyChainBrain’s 100 Great Supply Chain Partners of 2022, and the Customer’s Choice in Gartner Peer Insights Voice of the Customer report. project44 is headquartered in Chicago with a diverse team spanning 15 global offices including Amsterdam, Kraków, Paris, São Paulo, Shanghai and Tokyo. Learn more at project44.com. | $420M | Series F | Jan 11, 2022 |  |
| OneRail | OneRail is a final mile delivery orchestration platform providing real-time visibility, actionable data, and data-driven optimization capabilities for its enterprise clients. OneRail’s cloud-based “delivery switch” simplifies same-day and on-demand delivery execution by connecting the demand signal (POS, eCommerce, ERP) with the ecosystem ofdelivery networks and internal fleets in real-time. The result of OneRail’s centralized view of disparate final mile data enables data-driven optimization, positively impacting the dependability, speed, and cost of final mile fulfillment. | $9M | Series A | Aug 31, 2021 |  |
| FranShares | FranShares will soon let you invest in a diversified portfolio of franchise locations for as little as $500. By adding franchise ownership to your investments, your equity will increase in value over time while you earn passive income from franchise cash flows. FranShares was founded by Kenny Rose, a world renowned franchise expert with a mediareach exceeding 300 million people. He has been featured in Business Insider, Forbes, ABC, and other leading publications. FranShares is partnered with over 500 franchise brands and backed by Chicago Ventures. Join the waitlist today at www.franshares.com. | $1.4M | Pre-Seed | Aug 11, 2021 |  |
| Quake Media | Quake Media is a subscription podcast company that develops a unique and exclusive content for audiences. Its network leverages its direct relationships with premium talent in politics, religion, sports, and true crime to build a paid subscription podcast network, enabling audiences to be up to date regarding what is happening around them.Thecompany was founded in 2018 and is based in Olympia, Washington. | $3.5M |  | Aug 03, 2021 |  |

10 of 80 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [Pritzker Group Venture Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/pritzker-group-venture-capital) — VC Fund, 14 deals together
- [Corazon Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/corazon-capital) — VC Fund, 10 deals together
- [Bullpen Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/bullpen-capital) — VC Fund, 6 deals together
- [Emergence Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/emergence-capital-partners) — VC Fund, 5 deals together
- [Insight Partners](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/insight-partners) — VC Fund, 5 deals together
- [Lakewest Venture Partners](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/lakewest-venture-partners) — VC Fund, 5 deals together

## About Chicago Ventures

VC Fund · Chicago, United States

Chicago Ventures partners closely with exceptional entrepreneurs building companies in undercapitalized high-potential ecosystems.

5 contacts available at Chicago Ventures.

| Name | Title | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kevin Willer | Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/kevin-willer |
| Lindsay Knight | Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/lindsay-knight |
| Peter Christman | Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/peter-christman |
| Rob Chesney | Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/rob-chesney |
| Stuart Larkins | Co-Founder and Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/stuart-larkins |

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## FAQ

### What does Stuart Larkins invest in?

Stuart Larkins invests primarily in Software, E-Commerce and Internet startups, most often at Series A and Seed stage. Most of the 80 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 Stuart Larkins last invest?

The most recent investment recorded for Stuart Larkins closed in May 2026. Shizune tracks 80 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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