# University of Illinois Foundation

> University of Illinois Foundation is a VC fund in Urbana backing FinTech and Finance. See 8 investments, check sizes, portfolio. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: VC Fund
- Location: Urbana, United States
- Total investments: 8
- Last investment: Jun 2026
- Lead investor: 0%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/universityofillinoisfoundation/
- X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/uofi_foundation?lang=en
- Website: http://www.uif.uillinois.edu
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/uillinois.edu

University of Illinois Foundation is a VC fund in Urbana focused on FinTech and Finance. University of Illinois Foundation (UIF) is the official fundraising and private gift-receiving organization for the University of Illinois

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| FinTech | 2 | 25% |
| Finance | 2 | 25% |
| Payments | 2 | 25% |
| Mobile Apps | 2 | 25% |
| Financial Services | 2 | 25% |

16 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Seed | 2 | 25% |
| Series A | 2 | 25% |
| Series H | 1 | 13% |
| Private Equity | 1 | 13% |
| Venture - Series Unknown | 1 | 13% |

### Country

| Country | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| United States | 3 | 38% |
| Malaysia | 1 | 13% |
| South Korea | 1 | 13% |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| DiPonio Contracting | DiPonio Contracting is an infrastructure maintenance and construction company. It offers new and replacement upgrades for aged and existing water, wastewater, and storm sewer systems. |  | Private Equity | Jun 22, 2026 |  |
| Paywatch | Paywatch offers a platform that allows employees to access their earnings before payday anytime. | $20M | Series A | Nov 05, 2025 |  |
| Stash | Stash develops a personal finance application to combine banking, investing, and advice into one platform. Its application's services include personal investment accounts, retirement accounts, and custodial accounts for minors. It also provides the option to buy fractional shares of stocks, bonds, and funds with no add-on trading commissionsto help users save small sums of money and make micro-investments. | $146M | Series H | May 12, 2025 |  |
| Bilt | Rewards program for renters | $150M | Venture - Series Unknown | Aug 01, 2024 |  |
| Paywatch | Paywatch offers a platform that allows employees to access their earnings before payday anytime. | $13.8M | Series A | Jun 24, 2024 |  |
| Paywatch Korea | Paywatch is a fintech company offering an Earned Wage Access (EWA) platform. It allows employees to access their earned salary before payday as a financial wellness benefit. The company also provides employee financial services like benefits, payments, and wage-linked solutions for employers and workers. | $14.4M | Series A | Jun 24, 2024 |  |
| Paywatch Korea | Paywatch is a fintech company offering an Earned Wage Access (EWA) platform. It allows employees to access their earned salary before payday as a financial wellness benefit. The company also provides employee financial services like benefits, payments, and wage-linked solutions for employers and workers. | $9.8M | Seed | Dec 06, 2022 |  |
| Paywatch | Paywatch offers a platform that allows employees to access their earnings before payday anytime. | $9M | Seed | Dec 06, 2022 |  |

8 of 8 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [Third Prime](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/third-prime) — VC Fund, 5 deals together
- Vanderbilt University — VC Fund, 5 deals together
- [Hana Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/hana-ventures) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [Octagon Venture Partners](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/octagon-venture-partners) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [Wooshin Venture Investment](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/wooshin-venture-investment-corp) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [ACE & Company](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/ace-and-company) — VC Fund, 1 deal together

## 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 University of Illinois Foundation invest in?

University of Illinois Foundation invests primarily in FinTech, Finance and Payments startups, most often at Seed and Series A stage. Most of the 8 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 University of Illinois Foundation last invest?

The most recent investment recorded for University of Illinois Foundation closed in Jun 2026. Shizune tracks 8 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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