Motivate Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm based in Chicago, Illinois, founded in 2019 by David Wieland and Lauren DeLuca. The firm focuses on pre-seed and seed-stage investments, typically deploying $250k-$1M for pre-seed and $1.5M-$3M for seed opportunities. Motivate Venture Capital empowers trailblazing founders by providing not only capital but also operational expertise, strategic connections, and hands-on mentorship. Their investment philosophy emphasizes backing founders with strong domain knowledge who are addressing real, high-growth potential problems in large and expanding markets, with a particular focus on B2B software and automation for legacy industries like financial services, manufacturing, and insurance. Beyond direct company investments, Motivate also acts as a "meta-investor" by actively supporting emerging pre-seed and seed-stage VC funds, strengthening the broader venture ecosystem.