The latest crop of Techstars Chicago startups were announced Monday, with a dozen early-stage firms set to participate in the annual accelerator program that offers mentoring, $120,000 in funding and a demo day in front of investors and others in Chicago's tech community.
The latest cohort includes three companies from Chicago and eight that hail from the Midwest. It also features two international startups from London and Tel Aviv.
Currently led by Managing Director Neal Sáles-Griffin, Techstars Chicago launched in 2013 and has helped launch a handful of notable Chicago tech firms, including SpotHero, LogicGate and Jiobit, which is being acquired by Life360 in a deal worth up to $54.5 million.
The 13-week accelerator culminates with a demo day on October 14. Meet this year's Techstars companies below, with descriptions provided.
- Buoy: Dynamic pricing for vacation rental hosts. (Sacramento, CA)
- The Collaboratory: An information discovery and curation engine for researchers. (Chicago)
- Equipt: Equipt levels the playing field for untapped talent by helping them learn skills and get jobs from leading companies. (London)
- Eventnoire: Eventbrite for the Black community. (Chicago)
- HiddenLogin: An alias manager that creates a unique alias for every site you visit. (Detroit, MI)
- Kichezz: An online kitchen showroom that allows brands to grow by using data driven and effective advertising. (Tel Aviv)
- Peep Connect: The new way of marketing for mom and pop shops. (Kansas City, MO)
- Slingshot: Platform connecting vetted high school talent to budding startups that need low-cost, high-quality, short-term talent. (Pittsburgh, PA)
- SplitPass: Marketplace to buy and sell digital inventory, starting with unused gym memberships. (Chicago)
- Tastebase: The home base for food lovers to discover new tastes from up-and-coming brands. (Los Angeles, CA)
- TinnCann: A curated marketplace that enables 1:1 video calls between enthusiasts and the experts who they admire most. (Cincinnati, OH)
- WeSparkle: Helping solopreneurs save time and increase sales via a simple tech stack and AI Sales Associate. (Minneapolis, MN)
