Even though we're just halfway through 2021, Chicago startups have already raised more venture funding than in all of 2020 — $1 billion more, in fact.
Chicago tech companies have raised $3.8 billion so far this year, including $1.7 billion last quarter, according to the latest quarterly VC data from PitchBook, which was released Wednesday. That's already greatly outpaced 2020's yearly venture funding total in Chicago, when local startups raised $2.8 billion.
This year's funding total has been spread across 175 deals. In the first quarter of this year, 99 deals took place, which was the most deals in a quarter in Chicago since at least 2014, the last year in PitchBook's dataset.
The influx of capital has been led by several mega-rounds of $100 million-plus, which has minted many new "unicorn" startups in Chicago with billion-dollar valuations. Just Wednesday, investing app M1 Finance raised $150 million at a $1.5 billion valuation, making it one of at least 11 tech companies in Chicago that have confirmed or are reported to have reached unicorn status. Others include ShipBob, Amount, Enfusion, ActiveCampaign, Relativity, G2, Project44, Cameo, Bringg and Clearcover.
Nationally, U.S. venture capital activity is expected to shatter 2020's records. Last quarter's dealmaking across angel, seed and early-stage VC financings hit record highs, according to PitchBook. The first half of the year has seen $150 billion invested across 8,406 deals in the U.S.
“U.S. venture investment levels continue to rise as mega-deals become more common and nontraditional investor participation in VC becomes standard," John Gabbert, founder and CEO of PitchBook, said in a statement.
