If reports are to be believed, Google is about to buy Groupon for $6 billion.
When that happens, Chicago-based angel investors Brad Keywell and Eric Lefkofsky will clear close to $3 billion between them.
(Lefkofksky owns about 30% of the company. Keywell, 10%.)
For their next trick, the pair have formed a new angel-investing firm called Lightbank.
With Lightbank, Keywell and Lefkofsky are betting millions of dollars on a series of startups in Chicago, the midwestern home of successful startups FeedBurner, Groupon, Threadless and 37Signals.
Eric tells us Chicago is part of a larger story about a "migration" of Internet startups "away from the Valley."
"When we built our first shopping cart in 1999, it took 4 developers. Today my 11 year old son can download an open source shopping cart in 10 minutes. Because the reliance on technology has gone down, the other attributes of business become more important: hard work, sales. Those attributes tend to be population specific. Chicago, New York – These places wil have a great run. This is their moment in the sun"
Eric and his partner Brad have already invested in 8 companies and plan to invest in several more.
"They are studs," says New York angel investor Chris Dixon.
Click here to learn about Lightbank's Chicago startups >>Join the conversation about this story »
See Also:
- Chicago To Silicon Valley: It's Our Time Now, Pal
- What Founders REALLY Care About When They Choose Their Investors
- Startups: Find Out Who To Pitch In Just 5 Minutes With This New Tool
See The Other Startups Founded By Groupon's Soon-To-Be Billionaires
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