Though venture capital funding raised among Chicago’s startups in 2018 was strong, final data shows the total amount landed slightly lower than 2017, a year when the city’s VC funding was the highest it had been since the dot-com boom of 2000.
In 2018, Chicagoland startups raised more than $1.8 billion across 140 deals, according to a MoneyTree report from PwC and research firm CB Insights that includes companies in nearby suburbs, such as Evanston and Naperville. The figure is slightly down compared to 2017, when Chicago startups raised nearly $2 billion over 152 deals, the most raised since the dot-com peak in 2000 when $2.6 billion was raised.
“From my perspective, it’s a dip, but it’s still a really strong year,” said Tom Ciccolella, a U.S. venture capital leader at PwC. “This is the third-greatest year we’ve seen.”
The MoneyTree report shows that Ryan Specialty Group, an insurance company launched by Aon founder Pat Ryan Sr., raised the most money in 2018 with $203.9 million over two rounds.
Other big 2018 funding deals include two funding rounds raised by Eric Lefkofsky’s Tempus Labs. In March, the cancer-fighting company raised $80 million, and later in August, raised $110 million.
Another local healthcare company, VillageMD, also led the year’s fundings with its $80 million round at the beginning of 2018.
The data shows that the majority of the funding raised in Chicago in 2018—a whopping $635 million of it—was given to later stage tech companies across just 16 deals.
Nationally, the data shows that U.S. companies raised $99.5 billion, the highest yearly funding amount since 2000. 2018 also holds a record number of mega-rounds, with 184 deals worth $100 million or more.
Top 10 U.S. Cities/Regions That Raised The Most Funding in 2018
- San Francisco/San Jose—$45B over 1,745 deals
- New York—$13B over 763 deals
- Boston—$10M over 483 deals
- Los Angeles—$6B over 406 deals
- San Diego—$2.5B over 108 deals
- Washington, D.C.—$2.1B over 149 deals
- Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill—$2B over 49 deals
- Seattle—$1.9B over 172 deals
- Chicago—$1.8B over 140 deals
- Austin—$1.3B over 125 deals
“Private companies are staying private a little bit longer and are getting larger deals as a result,” Ciccolella said. “Ultimately, what’s happening is we’re seeing bigger deals drive some of these values up. That’s a trend we’ve seen over the last four to five years.”
