A Chicago Startup Exits For $43M | BLUE 1647 Expands Again

Karis: A Chicago autotech startup just exited for $43M.

Jim: Drivin, a Chicago startup launched by Groupon founders Brad Keywell and Eric Lefkofsky, has sold to a major car auction company for $43 million in stock.

KAR, a Carmel, Indiana-based used car auction services company, announced Wednesday it has acquired Drivin and will use the startup to help expand its product offerings. Drivin's CEO Kayne Grau and COO Justin Mahlik will remain with KAR as president and COO, respectively. The company will remain in its Chicago location.

Karis: As a reminder, Drivin was founded in 2015 and is a tool for car dealerships to sell, source and acquire vehicles for their lots. It uses data analytics to show dealerships what vehicles they should acquire based on what's likely to sell. Drivin then buys the car and delivers it to the dealer, saving them from wasting time at vehicle auctions and buying makes and models that won't sell.

Drivin raised over $17 million in equity from investors such as Lightbank and Columbus Nova Technology Partners, and another $6.5 million in debt from Silicon Valley Bank.

While it's no Cleversafe-style $1B exit, going from launch to a $43M acquisition in two years is not a bad move. Zoom zoom. [More here]

Karis: Chicago-based nonprofit Shared-Use Mobility Center is teaming up with the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to support transit agencies and communities working to integrate new mobility tools, including apps, bikesharing, carsharing and on-demand vehicle services. Already the SUMC is managing a pilot to study peer-to-peer carsharing in Chicago. [More here]

Jim: BLUE 1647 is expanding--again. This time they're launching a location in the south suburbs (opening later this summer), founder Emile Cambry and a host of several local community leaders/politicians announced today in Dolton, Ill. The coworking hub that focuses on underserved neighborhoods has locations across the US and even international, including Compton, St. Louis, and Haiti.

Karis: While we already noted this in our recent profile of InvestHer Ventures, 1871's WiSTEM has officially announced that InvestHer is an official programming partner of their women-led startup accelerator. [More here]

I stopped by Future Founders' first ever Entrepreneurship U awards last night, which brought together and celebrated members of Chicago's university-level entrepreneurship community. Given I've covered the university startup scene in Chicago for the last two years, I thought I knew the lay of the land pretty well. However, I was pleasantly surprised to hear a few names and schools that aren't usually discussed called on stage as winners.

Future Founders had over 300 nominations across all categories and executive director Scott Issen said they're likely to repeat the event next year. Here's a look at the winners of this year's awards:

Outstanding Student Startups of the Year

Entrepreneurial Student Leader of the Year – Alex Sofranas, DePaul University Undergraduate Entrepreneurship Course of the Year – Omar Sweiss, Trinity Christian College (for his Lean Startup course) Graduate Entrepreneurship Course of the Year – Brian O’Connor and Mark Agnew, University of Chicago (for their Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition course) Future Founders Entrepreneurial Champion Award – Illinois Institute of Technology Entrepreneurship Club of the Year – EPIC, Northwestern University Campus Entrepreneurial Event of the Year – Cozad New Venture Competition, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Social Entrepreneurship Initiative of the Year Led By a University – Social Innovation Challenge, North Central College Social Entrepreneurship Initiative of the Year Led By a Student – Tyler Bradley, Columbia College Chicago (HUMANITY)

Feed the Beat and tell your colleagues about the newsletter. (It's more fun with friends).

Karis: Fun story of Silicon Valley being classic f**king Silicon Valley: There's a startup that sold a $400 IoT juicer along with a subscription of juice ingredient packets that raised $120M in funding (including from Google's venture arm). Cool. Only, investors JUST realized the juice could also be made if they just squeezed the packets really tight with their hands. Woops.

Jim: What am I supposed to do? Squeeze this juice with my hands LIKE AN ANIMAL??

Karis: Buzzfeed recently did a breakdown on what ~$1,000 can get you in housing across different states and cities, and I'm going to use this list as a shameless plug for my favorite Chicago neighborhood--Rogers Park--where you can get a spacious one-bedroom (steps from beaches and the lake) for $700 per month (see #14).

Jim: That reminds me of another report that looked at median home prices in each city where Google has an office. You can buy almost 3 homes in Chicago for what you can get in Mountain View.

From Patrick Brady's guest post on Payline's new office:

"It’s no doubt that growth strategies played a heavy role in this decision, but so did the opportunity to stay ahead of the curve when it came to utilizing the space to spur employee creativity and attract top talent. Payline CEO Jeff Shea was part of every decision going into the build-out of the space, making sure each aspect was parallel to the culture and mission of Payline."

What do you want to see in this email?

Will@chicagoinno.com, Karis@chicagoinno.com, Jim@chicagoinno.com 

Our mailing address is:

233 N. Michigan Suite 1810 | Chicago, IL. | 60610

Want to change how you receive these emails?

You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list