Drive Capital’s Midwest Bet Pays Off After Founders Split

Drive Capital rebounds after co-founder split, returning $500M to LPs with a bold Midwest-focused VC strategy.
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Drive Capital’s Midwest Bet Pays Off After Founders Split
Drive Capital Success Story: A Midwest Comeback After Co-Founder Split Venture capital firms rarely make headlines for turning away from Silicon Valley, but the Drive Capital success story proves that betting on the Midwest can yield massive results. Once shaken by a dramatic co-founder split, the Columbus-based VC firm has re-emerged with a bold, region-first strategy that returned $500 million to its investors in just one week. With exits from startups like Root Insurance and Thoughtful Automation, Drive Capital's unorthodox approach—investing outside the coastal echo chambers—has started to shift how venture success is measured in 2025. Image Credits:Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Universal Images Group / Getty Images In a tech ecosystem that often revolves around unicorns and billion-dollar valuations, Drive Capital has chosen a different path. Co-founder and current sole managing partner Chris Olsen described this as a “deliberately contrarian” strategy—choosing to back resilient, …