One of the defining features of the venture market over the past year has been a lack of IPOs.
"Despite the high-profile debuts of Rubrik and Ibotta, the tech IPO pipeline has yet to begin to open up," according to the recent PitchBook National Venture Capital Association report.
Year-to-date, only 37 companies have gone public, according to the July report — "a pace just slower than the past two years."
However, Chicago was one of few metropolitan areas to see multiple exits in the second quarter, according to PitchBook, including both Tempus AI and Tegus.
Until the IPO floodgate opens, however, it's unlikely we'll see a meaningful uptick in terms of venture dealmaking activity because a lot of value is still being trapped in those mature, late-stage companies that are unable to exit.
For the rest of Chicago Inno's Fire Awards, including our "fire starters," "embers," "clean energy" and "burning hot" categories, check out the full list.
For Inno Fire's final category unveil, we present six companies that could help thaw the recent public offering freeze or continue to see late-stage fundraising success.
Startups in our "ready to explode" category include medical device company Augmedics, which closed on a $82.5 million Series D round last year, and logistics startup ShipBob, which closed $200 million in a Series E funding last August.
Here are Chicago Inno's 2024 Fire Awards "ready to explode" winners:
Medical device company Augmedics closed on a $82.5 million Series D last year, and its augmented-reality navigation system became the first to gain FDA approval for surgery and the first to be used in surgery in the United States.
After reaching unicorn status at the end of 2023, Kin Insurance announced new financing in February from Activate Capital and was one of a limited number of Chicago startups to raise a triple-digit funding rounds in the past year. The company is a direct-to-consumer home-insurance business.
Chicago-headquartered legal-tech company Relativity continues to expand its platform with artificial intelligence. Although the company, a maker of e-discovery software for lawyers, has integrated AI into its products for more than 15 years, the past 12 months has been marked by new innovation and an expansion of its generative AI solutions.
Logistics startup ShipBob is preparing to go public with a $4 billion valuation. The startup, which helps small- and medium-sized e-commerce companies ship their products, closed $200 million in a Series E round in 2023, bringing its valuation to more than $1 billion.
Tegus, a Chicago startup that gathers financial data on private and public companies for investment research, was bought by AlphaSense for $900 million in June. Tegus raised $650 million in funding as part of the deal, bringing its valuation to $4 billion.
After long being eyed as one of the startups that are next up to IPO, Tempus announced in June that it raised $410.7 million in an initial public offering. The health care technology company leverages artificial intelligence to analyze medical data.
Meet these honorees and more at Chicago Inno's first in-person Fire Awards event since 2019, to be held Tuesday, Aug. 27, at TeamWorking by TechNexus. There we will also reveal the Blazer winners, the "ready to explode" startups and other honorees that stood out in each category.
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