Round 6 Update: Choobs beat M1 Finance with more than 75% of the vote in the final round. Read more about Choobs' journey to victory here.
Round 5 Update: The championship matchup is set: Choobs will face off against M1 Finance for the title of Chicago Inno's 2021 Tech Madness Champion. In a true David vs. Goliath matchup, 16 seed Choobs, a marketplace for socially conscious brands, will face 4 seed M1, an investing app that's raised more than $170 million to date. So far, more than 31,000 votes have been cast in this year's competition.
Choobs has been the top vote-getter all tournament long, and it will look to continue that momentum in the final leg of our Tech Madness challenge. Voting for this round ends at midnight on April 1, and the winner will be revealed Friday, April 2. Scroll down to cast your vote, and scroll even further to read descriptions on all the companies on this year's bracket.
Round 4 Update: Choobs continued its winning streak, racking up the most votes in the round and knocking out Health Joy, moving on to the semi-finals. Choobs, a 16 seed that makes a marketplace for socially conscious brands, now faces off against PerkSpot, which makes an HR tech platform. PerkSpot won the last round against ActiveCampaign by only 12 votes. On the other side of the bracket, fintech startup M1 Finance and healthy vending machine company Farmer's Fridge face off in the semi-finals. So far, nearly 30,000 votes have been cast in this year's Tech Madness competition.
Round 3 Update: Chicago startup Choobs, a 16 seed, continued its upset streak last round as it knocked off Chowbus. The marketplace for socially conscious brands now faces Health Joy for a spot in the semi-finals. Health Joy narrowly escaped its matchup with Foxtrot, winning by only one vote. It was our closest matchup in Chicago Inno Tech Madness history.
All of the 1 seeds are officially out of the tournament now that M1 Finance beat Uptake and G2 outlasted Tempus. Crafty remains the only other double-digit seed left after beating Jellyvision in round 3.
Round 2 Update: Yet another 1 seed has fallen as we enter round three of our Tech Madness challenge. Jellyvision upset project44 last round, leaving just two 1 seeds left: Tempus and Uptake. Choobs, a 16 seed, continued its Cinderella run defeating The Mom Project. It will look to continue its hot streak against fast-growing Asian food delivery startup Chowbus. Last round featured some tight matchups, with Perkspot narrowly beating Nature's Fynd by 25 votes and LogicGate beating ShipBob by just 30 votes. In total, almost 23,000 votes have been cast.
Some intriguing matchups in round three include Uptake vs. M1 Finance, Tempus vs. G2, and Centro vs. Farmer's Fridge.
Round 1 Update: With more than 15,000 votes cast, we're now on to round 2 of Chicago Inno's Tech Madness tournament. In this round, 32 Chicago startups remain and will compete for votes through Thursday, March 18. The next round of voting will begin on Friday, March 19. Round one saw 16 seed Choobs, a marketplace for shopping for brands that are socially conscious, upset 1 seed Avant, a heavily VC-backed online lending firm. Other Cinderella stories from round 1 include 12 seed Cashdrop upsetting 5 seed Ocient, and 11 seed Cohesion knocking off 6 seed Keeper Security. Overall, the 2021 Tech Madness challenge has seen more top seeds advancing early on compared to years' past.
Some notable matchups to watch in round 2: Cameo and G2 face off in the Bulls Region's 5-4 contest, Cooler Screens and Chowbus have another interesting 5-4 game in the Cubs Region, Farmer's Fridge and Relativity battle it out in the Bears Region, and Choobs eyes another upset as it faces The Mom Project in the Cubs Region.
Chicago Inno's Tech Madness competition is back. And we've got 64 local startups vying for the coveted title of 2021 Tech Madness champion.
Now in its seventh year, Tech Madness is our friendly, bracket-style challenge where companies advance based on one question: Who would you invest in?
The bracket is assembled based on reader nominations, as well as editorial input from the Chicago Inno team, and seeding is based on total funding raised. The bracket includes private (non-exited) venture-backed or bootstrapped companies based in Chicago.
Leaf Trade, a Chicago startup building enterprise software for cannabis dispensaries and growers, took home the crown last year, joining 2ndKitchen (2019), SpringCM (2018), GetSet (2017), SpotHero (2016) and Kapow Events (2015) as Chicago Inno Tech Madness champs. Last year, nearly 70,000 votes were cast.
The goal of Tech Madness is to give a snapshot of some of the fastest-growing and most-promising tech companies in Chicago. It is by no means a complete list of Chicago’s best startups, which is a testament to the size of Chicago’s growing tech scene. But this year’s bracket is a good indicator of 64 Chicago tech companies you need to know.
First round voting begins now and continues through March 14. We'll open up voting round by round, ultimately crowning a Tech Madness winner on April 2. Bookmark this page and sign up for our Beat newsletter to stay on top of the competition as it unfolds.
Meet the players:
Tempus: Led by Groupon founder Eric Lefkofsky, Tempus uses machine learning and genomic sequencing to better understand cancer tumors, and it provides physicians with data to personalize patient treatment.
Avant: An online lending startup.
Uptake: A startup specializing in predictive analytics for industrial sectors.
Project44: A startup that provides software to shippers and third-party logistics firms to help them track their shipments and communicate with the supply chain in real time.
Nature's Fynd: A startup that’s created a new method for producing meatless and dairy-free foods.
Amount: A startup that creates tech-powered lending products for banks.
Relativity: A maker of e-discovery software for lawyers.
ShipBob A logistics startup that helps small- and medium-sized e-commerce companies ship products.
ActiveCampaign: A marketing tech company that lets companies send and design email newsletters, automate marketing channels and get sales leads.
Clearcover: An online car insurance startup.
SpotHero: An app for finding and booking parking.
FourKites: A startup that makes software to help companies predict when shipments will arrive at scheduled stops.
G2: A B2B software review platform and marketplace.
Cooler Screens: A startup making digital screens for retailers' refrigerated cooling doors.
M1 Finance: A no-fee investing app that offers users an automated brokerage, portfolio lines of credit and digital banking.
Kin Insurance: A home insurance startup.
Cameo: A celebrity-shoutout app and marketplace for connecting fans and celebs.
Fast Radius: A manufacturing startup that helps companies bring products to market.
Chowbus: A food delivery startup specializing in Asian cuisine.
Ocient: A startup led by Chris Gladwin that helps large companies analyze massive amounts of data.
Tovala: A smart oven and meal delivery service
Foxtrot: A food delivery startup and convenience store that's reimagining the corner store.
Keeper Security: A cybersecurity firm that makes password management software for people and businesses.
Centro: An adtech firm that helps clients organize and automate their digital media campaigns.
PerkSpot: A startup that makes an HR tech platform.
HealthJoy: A startup simplifying how employees find and use health care benefits.
LogicGate: A startup that helps companies automate risk and compliance programs.
Farmer's Fridge: A maker of healthy vending machines.
Catalytic: A startup that creates no-code software that helps companies automate business processes.
The Mom Project: A startup that helps companies hire female candidates.
Jellyvision: An employee communication firm that helps workers understand complex concepts like signing up for health care coverage.
Fyllo: A marketing and compliance startup for the cannabis industry.
Convr: An insuretech startup working to simplify the underwriting process.
NOCD: A telehealth app that provides 1-on-1 virtual therapy sessions between OCD patients and licensed therapists.
UpShow: A startup that turns TVs inside restaurants and bars into social media engagement tools.
Hologram: A startup creating a cellular platform for IoT.
K4 Mobility: A startup working to bring internet connection to yachts and other large ships.
Azul 3D: A startup that manufactures 3D printers to quickly print highly-customizable structures.
Popular Pays: A startup that helps brands connect with social media influencers on digital ad campaigns.
PartySlate: An event planning startup that connects users to event professionals and venues.
Rheaply: A startup that specializes in recycling and sourcing unused items.
CancerIQ: A startup that helps health care providers identify patients who have a genetic predisposition to certain cancers.
Cohesion: A SaaS platform for building managers.
Purchasing Platform: A B2B online marketplace for real estate developers to buy products for their properties.
Leaf Trade: A startup building enterprise software for cannabis dispensaries and growers.
BallotReady: A voter information platform that gives users info about candidates up and down their ballot.
CircleIt: A platform that acts as a digital time capsule and a way to stay in touch with family in the future.
Cashdrop: A startup that's developed a new contactless commerce platform for small businesses.
Quevos: A startup that makes snack chips out of egg whites, packing the nutrition of an omelette into a bag of chips.
CurlMix: A startup making beauty products for women with curly hair.
Crafty: A startup that delivers beer, snacks, cold brew and other items to offices.
Anthill: An HR startup that's created "talent mapping" software that gives companies data about all of their employees.
Bottlecode: A skincare startup for men.
Songfinch: A startup that lets you make personalized, one-of-a-kind songs for loved ones by connecting users with songwriters.
RealtyAds: A software platform that uses artificial intelligence to help commercial real estate firms advertise office, industrial and retail space on social media.
Screencastify: A chrome extension to record, edit and share videos.
Pixit: Facility and events management tools for venues.
Crowd Point: A startup that connects brands with social media influencers.
Visual Feeder: A startup that connects landlords with brands that want to use their vacant retail window space for digital, street-level ad campaigns.
HappyWork: An employee engagement startup.
Hucu.ai: Hucu.ai makes it easier for health care teams to stay connected through HIPPA-compliant text messaging.
Choobs: A marketplace for shopping for goods made by brands that are socially conscious.
BidPro: An online platform for home repair.
Rapid Rona: A maker of Covid-19 self-collection test kits.
One vote per person per day. Read contest rules here
