Listen Ventures IV: A $44.7 Million Consumer Venture Capital Fund and How to Pitch It

Listen Ventures IV, LP filed a Form D on October 29, 2026 reporting $44.655 million sold, with Jeffrey Cantalupo named as the executive officer. It was the largest venture capital vehicle in the day's filings. This profile covers what the filing shows, what public sources say about the Chicago firm, and how consumer brand founders can approach it. Where sources disagree, we say so.

What the Filing Shows

• Vehicle: Listen Ventures IV, LP, tagged as a venture capital fund with a generalist or unspecified sector in our data
• Amount: $44.655 million reported sold, filed October 29, 2026
• Named person: Jeffrey Cantalupo, listed as executive officer

A Form D shows that a vehicle exists and what it reports as sold. It is not a final close announcement, and it does not say how the money will be invested. The firm's generalist tag comes from the filing form, not from its strategy, which public sources describe as consumer-focused.

Who Is Behind Listen

Jeff Cantalupo started Listen Ventures in Chicago in 2010. Public profiles say he spent close to a decade in advertising, including a role as vice president and strategy director at Leo Burnett, and that he teaches startup branding at Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management. That background fits the firm's focus: brands, consumer behaviour and how products reach customers.

What Listen Backs

Profiles describe a concentrated investor in consumer categories at the pre-seed, seed and Series A stages. Companies named in these profiles include Calm, Dame, Factor and Interior Define. One profile says the firm has backed more than 20 consumer startups. These are aggregator and profile sites, not the firm's own materials, so treat the portfolio list as indicative.

Where Public Sources Disagree

• Check size: one source gives $500,000 to $5 million, while others list $1 million to $10 million
• Fund history: one profile says Fund III raised $62 million in January 2022 and that a $30 million opportunity fund supports follow-on investing, while another says the firm has raised $92 million across funds
• Stage: some listings say pre-seed and seed, others say seed and Series A

We could not check the firm's own website or earlier SEC filings, so we do not state a single check size or fund history as fact. The practical lesson for founders is to ask the firm directly before you tailor a pitch.

Why a $44.7 Million Fund Matters to Founders

Fund size shapes behaviour. Three things follow from a fund of this size:

• Small funds write small checks, so the firm is most useful as an early lead or co-lead and not as the source of a large round
• A concentrated fund backs few companies, so each one gets attention, but the bar for getting in is high
• Follow-on capital matters, so ask how much the firm reserves for later rounds in the companies it already owns

Our arithmetic: if a fund of about $45 million backs 10 to 12 companies, as one profile says earlier funds did, the average total commitment per company would be roughly $3.7 million to $4.5 million before fees and reserves. That is an illustration, not a statement about this fund.

How Listen Compares With the Rest of the Day's Filings

On October 29, our data shows 44 venture capital vehicles reporting $87.6 million in total, and 18 of them reported $0. Listen IV alone accounts for about 51 percent of that total by our arithmetic.

• Generalist or unspecified vehicles: 17 filings, $63.2 million
• SPV or deal-by-deal vehicles: 27 filings, $24.4 million
• Median amount among the 26 vehicles that reported money: about $675,000

Most of the day's venture filings were small, single-deal vehicles. A fund-level filing like Listen's is the exception, which makes it a useful signal of who is raising a pooled fund.

Who Listen Is a Fit For

• Consumer brand founders selling physical or subscription products
• Teams with early sales and a clear story about brand, customer and repeat purchase
• Founders who want a lead investor with marketing and branding experience

It is less obviously a fit for deep technology, enterprise software or capital-heavy hardware companies, since the reported portfolio centres on consumer products.

What Consumer Investors Look For

Expect questions about repeat purchase rates, customer acquisition cost, gross margin after shipping and returns, and how much of your growth comes from paid advertising. Brand investors also want to see why customers choose you again, so bring cohort data and customer reviews alongside your top-line numbers.

How to Approach Listen

• Get a warm introduction from a portfolio founder, a co-investor or a Kellogg contact
• Send a short note with what you sell, two or three traction numbers, the round size and why this firm
• Prepare your data room, check your cap table and model your dilution
• Ask whether the firm expects to be the lead investor and what its term sheet usually includes
• If you already have a lead, ask whether Listen would co-invest

Questions to Ask Before You Pitch

• Which fund would invest in my company, Fund IV or an earlier vehicle?
• What is the typical first check, and how much is reserved for follow-ons?
• Does the firm take a board seat at seed?
• How does it help with brand, marketing and retail partnerships after the round?

What We Could Not Confirm

We could not confirm Fund IV's target size, its first investments, the firm's current check size or whether the filing is a final close. Check Listen's own materials for the latest details.

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