# Motivate Venture Capital

Motivate Venture Capital is a Venture Capital based in Chicago, United States.

## Overview

- **Organization type:** Venture Capital
- **Headquarters:** Chicago, United States
- **Region:** North America
- **Address:** 110 North Peoria #104, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
- **Founded:** 2019
- **Assets under management:** Undisclosed
- **Website:** motivate.vc
- **LinkedIn:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/motivatevc

## Regulatory record

- **Reports private funds:** No

## About

Motivate Venture Capital helps ambitious founders realize their vision of tomorrow. They invest across the earliest stages of a company's lifecycle, providing experience, connections, and capital. They are early stage specialists targeting pre-seed and seed opportunities, and also support new venture creation and emerging VC funds.

## Sectors

- AI/ML
- Enterprise Software
- FinTech
- Marketplace

## People

- David Wieland — Co-Founder & General Partner
- Lauren Deluca — Co-Founder & General Partner
- Andy Will — General Partner

## Questions

### Who runs investment decisions at Motivate Venture Capital?

Co-founders David Wieland and Lauren DeLuca serve as General Partners, each drawing on extensive operating and angel investment histories. Andy Will joined as a third General Partner after Motivate acquired his firm, Willpower VC. The partnership invests collectively, with DeLuca focusing on earliest-stage fintech and B2B software, Wieland contributing his 150-plus-company angel portfolio lens, and Will adding his fintech and HR-tech background.

### How does Motivate source proprietary deal flow?

Motivate sources through three overlapping channels: the personal networks of GPs who have backed more than 150 early-stage companies between them, their roots in the Notre Dame angel community via IrishAngels, and a fund-of-funds practice that invests in emerging pre-seed and seed VC managers. Those fund relationships generate referrals, co-investment invitations, and early looks at companies the underlying managers are backing.

### Does Motivate participate in fund commitments or only direct deals?

Both. The firm makes direct pre-seed and seed equity investments, and explicitly invests in and supports emerging pre-seed and seed-stage VC funds. This dual route is described as a core part of the firm’s strategy, giving portfolio companies exposure to a broader investor base.

### How is Motivate related to IrishAngels?

Co-founder David Wieland co-founded and chaired IrishAngels, a Notre Dame-affiliated angel group that deploys more than $10 million per year into early-stage companies. He and co-founder Lauren DeLuca met through the Notre Dame network, and their co-investment relationship predates Motivate’s 2019 founding. Motivate itself is a separate venture capital firm, not a successor entity.

## Related profiles

- [Motiv8 Advisors](https://altss.com/profile/motiv8-investments)
- [Motive Partners](https://altss.com/profile/motive-partners)

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Last updated: 2026-08-11T15:07:26.757Z

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