Nine startups from around the country, and one from across the pond, will converge onto Chicago this month to participate in a hardware accelerator program led by Chicago tech hub mHUB.
The program, a six-month accelerator designed to help physical product startups with development and commercialization, will take place May 17. Participating startups will have access to funding through mHUB's $15 million venture fund, as well as follow-on investment from the program’s corporate partners.
Startups will also have access to mHub's workspace, equipment and other resources. Companies in the inaugural cohort were chosen from a pool of nearly 500 applicants, mHUB said.
Officially launched in 2017, mHUB is a space for Chicago's hardware entrepreneurs to design and build their products. It includes an electronics lab, CNC cutting, laser cutting, 3D printing, metal fabrication, testing lab, wood shop and more equipment hardware founders need to launch their products. It's located in a 63,000-square-foot space on Chicago's West Side, which was once home to Motorola.
Its accelerator program and venture fund are ways mHUB is further working to establish Chicago as a hotbed for hardware tech, which historically has been concentrated in California.
"Chicago has long been renowned for its world-class tech and manufacturing ecosystem—making it a magnet for entrepreneurs looking for their next big break," Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said in a statement. "These regional strengths simply cannot be replicated elsewhere and further Chicago's reputation as one of the leading cities for new businesses to grow and prosper."
mHUB said since 2017, its member companies have done $430M in revenue and launched more than 1,256 products.
Below are the nine startups in mHUB's accelerator, two of which are based in Chicago and another is in Champaign.
- Ant Robotics (Oakland, CA): building a robot operation and dispatching system for warehouses and factory floors
- Ascent Integrated Tech (Champaign, IL): enhancing PPE with sensors and communication capabilities that improve safety and productivity in hazardous environments
- Compocket (San Francisco, CA): miniaturizing electronic measurement instruments in pocket format that connect to smartphones
- Iothic (Oxford, England): providing IoT end-to-end systems with post-quantum resistant security and a full interoperability communication platform
- Maxwell Labs (Minneapolis, MN): designing component cooling solutions based on solid-state using thermo-electric coolers controlled by machine learning algorithms
- Propulsioneers (San Francisco, CA): developing technology building blocks designed for autonomy and driven by software for maximum output and minimal footprint
- Rapids Air Quality (Grand Rapids, MI): creating local air pollution monitoring solutions for cities to bring greater transparency to the disparities of air quality within communities
- Stroma Vision (Chicago, IL): building computer vision models to understand human physiology in industrial settings and stop preventable accidents
- Third Wave (Chicago, IL): building a customizable, low-code IoT platform to rapidly deploy end-to-end wearable solutions, such as their product
