Rich Padula serves as a General Partner at R7 Partners, a Chicago-based venture capital firm. See sector focus and contact routes.
Rich Padula serves as a General Partner at R7 Partners, a Chicago-based venture capital firm, and previously founded Syclo, an enterprise mobile platform acquired by SAP in 2012, after which he became SAP’s Chief Strategy Officer for Mobile. His investment thesis aligns with R7’s focus on early-stage hardtech in the industrial economy, targeting pre-seed through Series A companies in energy, biotechnology, AI, robotics, and materials science across the U.S., with offices in New York and Chicago. Typical check sizes range from $100,000 to $5 million, most commonly $250K–$2.5M for seed-stage prototypes, though the search results do not specify whether Padula leads or follows on deals. Notable portfolio companies where he serves on the board include Intelligent Flying Machines, Vodori, Xwing, and Mirata Software, a firm he founded in 2019 to digitize forms and workflows. Padula also co-founded Deep Dish Technology to incubate augmented reality and data analytics projects and currently teaches entrepreneurship at Northwestern University’s Farley Center for Entrepreneurship. While he actively mentors students at The Garage and engages with emerging Midw
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