JT

John Tough

Managing Partner at Energize Capital

Greater Chicago Area

Overview 

John Tough is the Co-Founder & Managing Partner at Energize Capital in the Greater Chicago Area, with expertise in Mergers & Acquisitions, Due Diligence, and Investments. His career highlights include leading successful investments in various startups and serving on the boards of companies like PVcase, Sitetracker, and DroneDeploy. With an MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a background in corporate finance and private equity, John Tough has made significant contributions to the growth and development of numerous companies through strategic partnerships and capital raising initiatives.

Work Experience 

  • Co-Founder & Managing Partner

    2017 - Current

    Oversee all investments, strategy and execution at Energize Capital Member of Investment Committee for Energize Ventures, Energize Growth Member of Management Committee

  • Board Member

    2023

    Leading solar software company focused on commercial and utility scale assets. Energize participated in the $100M Series B.

  • Board Member

    2019

  • Board Member

    2018

DroneDeploy is a cloud-based drone mapping and analytics platform to help businesses get things done.

Raised $142,552,368.00 from Bessemer Venture Partners, Emergence, Uncork Capital, Frontline Ventures, Airtree Ventures, Scale Venture Partners, AngelPad, Energize Capital and BluePointe Ventures.

  • Board Member

    2017

Nozomi Networks is a cybersecurity company specializing in operational technology and IoT security for critical infrastructure.

Raised $265,999,996.00 from Energize Capital, Porsche Ventures, Samsung Ventures, Keysight Technologies, Johnson Controls, Triangle Peak Partners, Activate Capital Partners, Mitsubishi Electric, GGV Capital and Schneider Electric.

  • Board Member

    2020

Matroid provides a studio to create, combine, and use computer vision detectors, without programming.

Raised $33,500,000.00 from New Enterprise Associates, Intel Capital and Energize Capital.

  • Board Observer

    2019

ZEDEDA is a provider of distributed orchestration and virtualization software for Edge AI Compute.

Raised $129,484,000.00 from Almaz Capital, The Hillman Company, Rockwell Automation, Juniper Networks, Coast Range Capital, Forward Investments, LDV Partners, Chevron Technology Ventures, Emerson Ventures and Endeavor Catalyst.

  • Venture Investor

    2017

  • Board Member

    2018 - 2023

  • Board Member

    2021 - 2023

Smartcar is a software platform that integrates mobility apps and services with cars.

Raised $36,000,000.00 from New Enterprise Associates, Energize Capital and Andreessen Horowitz.

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