Chingona Ventures

Chingona Ventures Research Document

Overview

Chingona Ventures is a Chicago-based, Latina-led venture capital firm founded in 2019 by Samara Hernandez. The firm is one of the very few institutionally-backed, pre-seed focused funds led by a sole Latina general partner. Operating as a pre-seed specialist, Chingona Ventures has established itself as a leader in identifying and backing underrepresented founders, particularly women and founders from non-coastal regions of the United States.

Investment Thesis

Chingona Ventures invests in the next generation of "badass founders"—individuals who are intelligent, fearless, and can get things done. The firm's thesis centers on identifying founders whose backgrounds uniquely position them to create transformative businesses in rapidly growing markets that are often overlooked by mainstream venture capital.

Focus Areas

The firm concentrates on four primary sectors:

1. Financial Technology (FinTech) - Including payments, financial services, and money movement solutions, often with AI-powered enhancements
2. Future of Work - Tools and platforms that are reshaping how teams collaborate, communicate, and operate in the modern workplace
3. Future of Learning (EdTech) - Educational technology platforms and solutions
4. Health Technology - Digital health, wellness, and healthcare-enabled startups

The firm has noted that as AI has made software faster and cheaper to build, there's been a wave of companies converging around similar business ideas, including AI-powered business intelligence tools, AI solutions for specific functions (finance, sales, marketing), consumer fintech with "AI-powered money movement," and startups exploring synthetic data use cases.

Investment Stage and Check Size

Chingona Ventures primarily invests in pre-seed and early seed companies, typically making initial investments when founders are raising their first institutional round of capital.

Check Size:

• Typical initial investment: $250,000 - $2,000,000
• The firm positions itself to write meaningful checks at the pre-seed stage, often leading or co-leading rounds
• In 2025, the firm led, co-led, or wrote the largest check in over 70% of its rounds

Stage Distribution:

• Pre-Seed: Primary focus
• Seed: Secondary focus
• Series A: Occasional follow-on investments for portfolio companies showing strong traction

Fund Details

Fund II (Current):

• Size: $52.9 million
• Closed: May 2022
• Status: Actively deploying (as of January 2026)
• Notable Limited Partners: PayPal Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners, Melinda French Gates' Pivotal Ventures, Foundry, and the Kauffman Foundation

This was the largest fund closed by a sole Latina GP at the time and represents significant institutional validation of the firm's approach.

Recent Activity and Portfolio Performance

2025 Deployment and Sourcing

In 2025, Chingona Ventures deployed nearly $9 million across new and follow-on investments while reviewing more than 1,700 deals. The firm welcomed 7 new companies to its Fund II portfolio in 2025:

1. Beagle Labs (Pre-Seed) - Founded by Dwight Neptune, Luis Guzman, Keelan Gayle, and Josie Madingo
2. Certiverse (Series A follow-on) - Founded by Ruben Garcia and Jill Burroughs
3. Ciphero (Pre-Seed) - Founded by Saoud Khalifah, Rob Gross, and Dr. Sen Tian
4. Dapta (Seed) - Founded by Nicolas Rojas Nino and Felipe Gomez
5. LuminX (Pre-Seed) - Founded by Alex Senemar and Mohammadreza Javanmard
6. SafeHill (Pre-Seed) - Founded by Mike Pena, Nicholas Gonzalez, and Hector Monsegur
7. Stealth EdTech Company (Pre-Seed)

Portfolio Exits and Milestone Companies

The firm has generated significant returns and demonstrated strong founder selection, with notable exits and milestones including:

• Teal Health - FDA approved at-home cervical cancer screening device; raised $10M additional capital (2025); invested pre-product and pre-revenue in 2021
• Certiverse - $11M Series A led by Cherryrock Capital (March 2025); invested pre-product and pre-revenue in 2020; Chingona holds board seat
• EarlyBird - Acquired by Acorns (May 2025)
• Agency - $20M Series A led by Menlo Ventures (November 2025); pre-seed investment just over 12 months prior
• Plus 3 additional Series A rounds announced in late 2025/early 2026

Sector Activity (2025)

From the 1,700+ deals reviewed in 2025:

• Top sector: Future of Work (largest focus area in current fund)
• Second: Health Tech
• Third: FinTech

Team and Leadership

Core Team

Samara Hernandez - Founding Partner & General Partner

• Background: Engineer with deep technical and operational expertise
• Education: Completed Aspen Finance Leadership Fellowship (2025)
• Known for: Building Chingona from $6M Fund I to $52.9M Fund II; establishing the firm as a leader in pre-seed investing

Grisel Hernandez - Senior Associate

• Leads "AI for VC" monthly jam sessions
• Active in portfolio and founder engagement

Caroline Muggia - MBA Associate

• From Kellogg School of Management or University of Chicago Booth

Zack Harris - MBA Associate

• From Kellogg School of Management or University of Chicago Booth

Lori Deluca - Chief Financial Officer

• Manages fund operations and financial administration

Veronica Crystal Mejia - Executive Assistant

• Supports day-to-day operations

Stella Garber - Senior Advisor

Sonia Nagar - Senior Advisor

The firm also hired and trained 5 MBA interns from Kellogg and Chicago Booth School of Business in 2025, demonstrating commitment to talent development.

Investment Philosophy and Founder Selection

The "Chingona Factor"

Chingona Ventures has developed a distinctive investment thesis around what they call the "Chingona Factor." This is defined as the combination of:

• Market fluency: Deep understanding of customer problems and market opportunities
• Lived experience: Founders whose backgrounds give them unique insights into underserved markets
• Sheer will: The determination and tenacity to build and scale businesses despite obstacles

The firm actively evaluates this factor through its application process, asking founders to articulate their Chingona Factor alongside business fundamentals.

Founder Profile

Chingona Ventures has demonstrated a preference for:

• Experienced founders: All 2025 portfolio additions had previously started companies (bootstrapped or venture-backed)
• Underrepresented entrepreneurs: Particular focus on women founders and founders from non-coastal regions
• Technical founders: Many portfolio companies have technical co-founders
• Market-aware builders: Founders with deep domain expertise and understanding of their target markets
• Exit potential: Historical pattern shows portfolio founders have successfully exited previous ventures

Geographic Focus

While based in Chicago, Chingona Ventures has expanded its geographic reach:

• Primary focus: United States, with particular emphasis on Midwest and non-coastal regions
• Secondary focus: Increasingly national, with presence in major tech hubs (SF Bay Area, NYC)
• International presence: Selective global sourcing, particularly for global market opportunities
• 2025 expansion: Hosted first-ever LA Tech Week event; attended VC Platform and Let's Talk Ops Summits; reconnected with investors and founders at Equity and Allocate Summits

Lead Tendency

Chingona Ventures has a strong lead tendency in pre-seed investing:

• Led, co-led, or wrote the largest check in over 70% of 2025 rounds
• Positioned as the first institutional investor in many cases
• Board seat in at least one portfolio company (Certiverse)
• Actively manages follow-on investments from later stage rounds

Decision Process and Timeline

The firm operates as a partnership with distributed decision-making:

• Solo GP model (Samara Hernandez) with a strong team supporting diligence and portfolio management
• Multiple rounds of founder meetings and due diligence
• Investment committee approach with team input
• Estimated decision timeline: 2-4 weeks for strong pre-seed candidates with clear product-market fit signals

Warm Introduction Preference

While the firm maintains an active inbound pipeline through its website submission form, there is evidence of a preference for:

• Warm introductions from existing investors, founders, and network
• Direct sourcing from industry events and conferences
• Referrals from limited partners and advisory relationships

The firm does accept cold outreach through its application form (www.chingona.ventures/apply), though warm introductions are preferred for faster evaluation.

Notable Portfolio Companies

The firm has invested in a diverse portfolio of companies including:

• Agency (agentic AI for customer success)
• Beagle Labs (AI-powered applications)
• Beni (HR/benefits)
• Better Leave (leave management)
• BoomPay (payments/fintech)
• Cartwheel (financial services)
• Certiverse (certification platform)
• Connect Care Hero (healthcare operations)
• Crate (commerce/logistics)
• Dame Products (consumer health)
• EarlyBird (family wealth/memories - acquired)
• Encantos Brands (consumer brands)
• Finix (payments)
• HeyC (AI/chat)
• Hoop (consumer app)
• Hologram (IoT)
• Honey Homes (real estate)
• iAsk (AI)
• Innovare SIP (communication)
• Joinkudos (employee engagement)
• Leaf Trade (trading/finance)
• Linker Finance (fintech)
• Lirvana Labs (healthtech)
• LuminX (AI applications)
• Meili Technologies (tech)
• Optimal AI (optimization/AI)
• Outrival (competitive intelligence)
• Papaya Tutor (edtech)
• Plasma (finance/blockchain)
• SafeHill (security/wellness)
• Scout (sports/data)
• Sigo Seguros (insurance)
• Suma Wealth (wealth management)
• Teal (healthtech - FDA approved)
• Tendrel (trading/finance)
• Viva (financial products)

Headquarters and Operations

Location: Chicago, Illinois Address: 4511 North Sawyer Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60625 Website: www.chingona.ventures Application: www.chingona.ventures/apply

The firm is actively recruiting founders in pre-seed and seed stages across FinTech, Future of Work, EdTech, and Health Tech sectors.

Differentiation and Market Position

Chingona Ventures has established itself as a distinctive player in pre-seed investing through:

1. Founder-centric approach: Deep focus on founder DNA, lived experience, and potential
2. Non-coastal bias: Intentional focus on overlooked markets and founders outside traditional VC hubs
3. Institutional backing: One of the few solo Latina GP-led funds with major institutional LP support
4. Speed: Ability to move quickly at pre-seed stage with meaningful checks
5. Access to LP networks: Strong relationships with strategic LPs who bring portfolio value beyond capital
6. Community building: Active engagement with founder community, portfolio support, and events

Fund Status

As of January 2026, Chingona Ventures Fund II is in active deployment mode with:

• Dry powder remaining to deploy in 2026
• Strong portfolio momentum (multiple Series A announcements pending)
• Expanded team with recent MBA hires
• Geographic expansion and increased brand awareness
• Continued focus on the Chingona Factor and underrepresented founders

The firm is actively accepting applications from pre-seed and seed-stage founders in their focus sectors through www.chingona.ventures/apply.