Chris Gaughan, Founder/ Managing Partner

Chris Gaughan is the founder and Managing Partner of Caelum Ventures, which he and his founding partners created to help promising companies navigate the complexities of working with the government. 

Prior to launching Caelum Ventures, Chris was Co-Founder and General Partner of SineWave Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm focused on accelerating digital transformation across public sector and commercial ecosystems. Chris was a voting member of the Investment Committee on SineWave’s maiden 2015 vintage fund that generated top-decile returns (for both DPI and TVPI), and led asset raising efforts that attracted over $300mm across 3 fund vintages and related co-investment SPVs.

Chris began his career at Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers in the 1990s, after which he was the co-founder and President of hedge fund Big Sky Capital (’98-’06), founder and CEO of specialty finance company Condesa Financial Holdings (’06-’10), and co-founder and President of hedge fund Illumination Asset Management (’11-’14).

Chris graduated from Yale University in 1991 with a B.A. in Economics & Political Science, and splits time living in Chicago and Jackson Hole. Chris serves on the advisory boards of SineWave Ventures and the Concussion Legacy Foundation.