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Wisconsin Investment Partners
Wisconsin Investment Partners launched as a member-managed angel group anchored in Madison, Wisconsin's capital and university town.
Wisconsin Investment Partners
Wisconsin Investment Partners launched as a member-managed angel group anchored in Madison, Wisconsin's capital and university town. Co-founders Dick Leazer and Terry Sivesind structured it to channel private capital from individual accredited investors directly into early-stage companies, with a geographic emphasis on Wisconsin and the broader Midwest. The firm does not operate as a committed fund; instead, members evaluate deals collectively and invest their own capital on a per-deal basis, a model that gives WIP flexibility to write small checks into pre-revenue startups without the deployment pressure of a blind pool. WIP's investment strategy skews heavily toward pre-seed and seed-stage companies across enterprise software, digital health, industrial technology, agribusiness, and AI/ML — sectors with real density in Wisconsin's research and manufacturing corridors. The group has cultivated a co-investment ecosystem with institutional players that few angel networks match. It co-invests alongside the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, the patenting and licensing arm of UW-Madison that has seeded companies like Promega and TomoTherapy. WIP also partners with BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation, a philanthropic venture fund that deploys donations into Wisconsin startups, and with gener8tor, the nationally-ranked accelerator that feeds screened deal flow into WIP's membership. Confirmed investments span the gener8tor portfolio and WARF spin-outs, though the group rarely discloses individual position sizes. WIP is a member of the Angel Capital Association, the national professional body for angel groups, and draws its managing partners from a roster of experienced operators. The leadership team includes co-managers Brad Bodden, Andrea Dlugos, Matt Kelly, Michael Thorson, and Bob Wood, alongside founders Leazer and Sivesind. The firm also holds two mixed-use real estate assets in Madison — Capitol Point and Nolen Shore — though these appear separate from the startup investment activity and are more likely legacy holdings or parallel investment vehicles of the membership. The group's size, measured in active members rather than employees, has not been publicly disclosed. WIP's structural differentiator is its hybrid sourcing model: a member-driven angel group that behaves like an institutional co-investor when aligning with WARF and BrightStar. While most angel groups operate in isolation, WIP has embedded itself into Madison's university-to-startup pipeline, de-risking deal flow through proximity to a major R1 research institution. That proximity, combined with a gener8tor partnership that vets founders before they reach the membership, gives WIP an informational advantage that most decentralized angel networks cannot replicate.
General information
Firm type
Generalist
Year founded
—
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Madison
Corporate office
Madison, WI, United States
Principals
Dick Leazer
Co-Founder and Co-Manager
Terry Sivesind
Co-Founder
Brad Bodden
Co-Manager
Andrea Dlugos
Co-Manager
Matt Kelly
Co-Manager
Michael Thorson
Co-Manager
Bob Wood
Co-Manager
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at Wisconsin Investment Partners?
Investment decisions are made collectively by the membership, not by a central investment committee with unilateral authority. Co-managers Dick Leazer, Brad Bodden, Andrea Dlugos, Matt Kelly, Michael Thorson, and Bob Wood facilitate deal screening and due diligence, but individual members choose whether to invest their own capital in each opportunity. This distributed decision-making model is standard for angel groups affiliated with the Angel Capital Association.
How does Wisconsin Investment Partners source proprietary deal flow?
WIP sources deal flow through a structured partnership with gener8tor, a nationally-ranked startup accelerator with programs across Wisconsin and beyond. gener8tor graduates are presented to WIP members for potential investment, giving the group early access to vetted companies. WIP also reviews spin-outs from the University of Wisconsin-Madison ecosystem, often co-investing alongside the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, which holds patent rights on university-developed technologies.
Is Wisconsin Investment Partners structured as a fund or an angel group?
WIP is structured as an angel group, not a committed venture capital fund. Members are accredited investors who invest their own capital directly into portfolio companies on a deal-by-deal basis. There is no blind pool, no general partner calling capital, and no requirement that members participate in every investment. This aligns WIP with the classic Angel Capital Association model.
Does Wisconsin Investment Partners participate in fund commitments or only direct deals?
WIP's primary activity is direct investment in individual startups, consistent with its structure as an angel group. The group has not publicly disclosed making fund-of-fund commitments, LP stakes in external venture funds, or allocations to private equity vehicles. The capital deployed is almost exclusively for equity in operating companies, particularly at the pre-seed and seed stages.
What investment stages does Wisconsin Investment Partners typically target?
WIP targets pre-seed and seed-stage companies, typically writing checks before a startup has reached significant revenue or institutional Series A. The group's partnership with gener8tor gives it a pipeline into accelerator-stage companies, while its relationship with WARF provides access to new technology spin-outs that are often at the prototype or proof-of-concept phase.
How is Wisconsin Investment Partners related to BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation?
BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation is a separate philanthropic venture fund that deploys donated capital into Wisconsin startups. WIP and BrightStar frequently co-invest in the same deals, but the entities are legally and structurally distinct. BrightStar operates as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, while WIP is a member-managed angel group whose investors seek financial returns.
Does Wisconsin Investment Partners maintain real estate holdings separate from its startup investments?
Yes. WIP holds two mixed-use commercial properties in Madison — Capitol Point and Nolen Shore. These appear to be legacy holdings or parallel investments of the membership, not real estate deployed as part of the group's startup-focused strategy. WIP does not report making venture investments in real estate technology or property development startups through these assets.
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