The Chicago Venture Summit series will look to bring hundreds of startup founders and investors into the same room once again in 2023 with plans to return this spring to promote Chicago as a global capital for food and agriculture innovation.
Set to take place at 167 Green St. in Fulton Market on May 3–4, the Future-of-Food summit returns with a continued focus on Chicago's food startup scene.
One thing that will set this conference apart from others in the space is that it is inviting only investors and startup founders who are getting ready to fundraise in the next 12 months, with two-thirds of the summit participants from Chicago and the Midwest.
The sector has seen tremendous growth in Chicago in recent years with 24 known corporate innovation centers, many of which are food-related, like Mars Wrigley, McDonald's and Ferrero, and other incubators and accelerators, like the Hatchery, the Food Foundry and FoodLab Chicago.
Investment in food innovation increased more than 500% between 2019 and 2021 in terms of capital raised, according to data from World Business Chicago, compared to 73% nationwide.
World Business Chicago's Abin Kuriakose, who was recently promoted to chief strategy and innovation officer, said the decision to repeat Future-of-Food was made due to all of the momentum and dynamism happening across Chicago's food startup ecosystem.
"That's why the logistics summit was so important," he told Chicago Innno. "You've got a 19th-century industry, with 20th-century technology using 21st-century software that's being built here in Chicago. And I think here with food we're talking about alternative proteins, diverse [consumer packaged goods], restaurant tech and all the other sectors in play."
Kuriakose added that not only has the startup scene seen tremendous growth, but the summit also puts a spotlight on some of the Chicago food-focused VCs that are making waves.
World Business Chicago will be announcing the keynote speakers for the event before the end of February. The theme of the second summit, which is expected to take place in the fall, will be announced at a later date.
"My original thinking was that we would do two new sectors in 2023, but when we talk to our steering committee members and people in the space, the one demand they had was to bring back the food summit," Kuriakose said.
