Dennis Beard is the Managing Partner of Serra Ventures, a Champaign-based microventure firm he co-founded in 1998. See sector focus and contact routes.
Dennis Beard is the Managing Partner of Serra Ventures, a Champaign-based microventure firm he co-founded in 1998, with a 40-plus year career spanning financial services, healthcare, and technology including ag tech. He has served as Managing Partner since 2010 and previously worked over twenty years with the University of Illinois technology community as a charter member of its Entrepreneur-in-Residence program. Serra Ventures invests in early-stage technology companies, specializing in agriculture technologies (AgTech), and targets seed, Series A, Series B, and convertible note rounds across the United States. The firm’s typical check size and lead/follow behavior are not publicly disclosed in available sources. Notable portfolio companies are not explicitly named in the provided search results, though the firm focuses on deep technology solving industry-specific problems. Beard has discussed venture capital in AgTech at events like the AgTech Summit 2024 and serves as an Adjunct Instructor for the University of Illinois Gies College of Business and Millikin University’s MBA Program. He holds a CPA designation (1983) and completed the National Ven
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