To help Chicago startups attract more venture capital, Mayor Lori Lightfoot and other local economic development organizations have launched a database of the city’s promising startups for investors trying to find their next deal.
The initiative, called Startup Chicago, is a database of more than 100 startups that are preparing to raise their next round of funding in 2021. The idea is for the database to be a resource for regional and national VC firms and investors looking to invest in Chicago’s tech ecosystem.
Startup Chicago will also host virtual showcases to spotlight local startups with select investors and corporate partners. Local organizations ChicagoNEXT and World Business Chicago are working with the Mayor’s office to identify startups in the database.
Some of the startups in the database include 2nd Kitchen, ChangEd, Jiobit and PartySlate. Investors can search for startups by industry.
The database was announced Thursday at Chicago Tech Day, a virtual event that included familiar local tech faces, including 1871 CEO Betsy Ziegler, ShipBob CEO Dhruv Saxena and AnitaB.org President and CEO Brenda Darden Wilkerson. Conversations centered on Chicago’s strengths as a tech hub and the work being done to make it more inclusive.
Startup Chicago is an extension of the Chicago Venture Summit, an annual conference usually hosted at Google’s Chicago headquarters for investors to connect with the city’s entrepreneurs. The event was canceled this fall due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but it is slated to resume in fall 2021.
“This initiative will connect our city’s most promising startups with investors across our region and the entire country to accelerate their growth and success right here at home,” Lightfoot said during the event. “I think it’s going to be an overwhelming success.”
