Lightbank

Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell serve as the firm's co-founders and primary investment decision-makers. Lefkofsky is the most active, combining his Lightbank role with his position as CEO of Tempus, the AI-driven precision-medicine company. Keywell, a serial entrepreneur who also co-founded Uptake Technologies, remains involved in portfolio strategy. The firm does not publicly list additional investment partners, consistent with a lean principal-led structure.

Lightbank's capital derives primarily from the personal wealth of Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell, generated by the 2011 IPO of Groupon — the daily-deals platform they co-founded — which reached a market valuation above $12 billion. The firm does not raise blind-pool funds from outside limited partners, giving it the structural flexibility of permanent, discretionary capital.

Lightbank's deal flow leans heavily on the founders' deep Chicago and broader Midwest network, as well as relationships built through previous startups including Groupon, InnerWorkings, Echo Global Logistics, and MediaBank. Lefkofsky's position as CEO of Tempus also creates a gravitational pull in health-tech and AI, generating proprietary looks at companies operating at the intersection of data science and real-world industry.

Lightbank operates in a hybrid space — it is formally a private investment firm rather than a registered family office, but its capital base is the co-founders' personal wealth rather than a committed LP fund. Unlike a typical VC, it has no fund-life clock, no external capital-return mandate, and the flexibility to hold positions indefinitely. Unlike a pure single-family office, it brands itself publicly as a tech investor and competes for deals alongside institutional venture firms.

Lightbank focuses on early-stage technology investing, primarily Seed and Series A rounds. Initial check sizes have historically ranged from $1 million to $5 million, with the firm reserving capital for follow-on participation through later-stage rounds. The firm has occasionally participated in growth-stage rounds for existing portfolio companies but does not operate a dedicated growth-equity vehicle.

Lightbank and Tempus are separate entities with overlapping leadership: Eric Lefkofsky is the CEO of Tempus, the AI-enabled precision-medicine company he founded in 2015, and simultaneously serves as Lightbank's co-founder and managing partner. While Lightbank's thesis includes digital health, Tempus operates as an independent company that went public via Nasdaq in June 2024, and Lightbank's investment activity is not limited to Tempus's ecosystem.

Yes. Eric Lefkofsky and his wife Liz established the Lefkofsky Family Foundation in 2006, a separate 501(c)(3) entity focused on education, medical research, and human rights. The foundation operates independently of Lightbank's investment activities, though its healthcare-research mandate is thematically adjacent to some of the firm's health-tech investments. Brad Keywell's philanthropic activity runs through separate vehicles.