Chicago is known for many things, such as Michael Jordan, the famous moniker of the Windy City and deep dish pizza, to name a few. But apart from these, the city also has a great reputation as a premier startup ecosystem in the United States. Chicago startups benefit from a range of factors in their environment that makes the city an ideal hotbed for startup development, with numerous top startups calling the city their home.
These startups have access to a large number of world-leading VC firms participating in the ecosystem. On top of this, early stage startups can benefit from the assistance of the numerous startup incubators and accelerators in the city which can help to bring a fledgling startup to the next level.
The local government in Chicago has also played an active role in the development of the ecosystem. An example of this is the establishment of Neighborhood Business Development Centres, which help local entrepreneurs with every step of their business journey. This helps entrepreneurs to develop their business with the support of more than 60 agencies.
1. Nutrisense
Year Founded: 2019
HQ: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Size: 101-250
Founders: Alex Skyrl, Dan Zavoronty
Nutrisense is a Chicago startup that was founded in 2019 and maintains its headquarters in the city. The company works in the wellness market and has developed a smartphone application that allows users to know more about their own nutrition and get advice on how to better it, such as advice and monitoring for glucose levels which allows users to make better habits.
The startup has seen a large amount of backing from institutional investors, with the business raising a total of $31.5 Million in startup funding since being founded. This funding was achieved with the support of 13 investors.
2. GigaStar
Year Founded: 2022
HQ: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Size: 11-50
Founders: Hazem Dawani, Jason Aubrey, Mohammed Asfour
Gigastar is a startup in Chicago that was founded in 2022 and is currently still headquartered in the city. The company has created an environment where online creators are better able to connect with their fans, and they can also generate support from their fans to help fund and further their professional careers. Fans can also get a range of perks and benefits from their favourite creators.
The company has recently closed its first Seed Funding round, which has generated the team a total of $4.8 Million to further develop their platform and their offering. This funding round was completed in March 2023.
3.Janus Health
Year Founded: 2020
HQ: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Size: 1-10
Founders: Brendan Downing, Brian Kaufman
Janus Health is a Chicago startup that was founded in 2020 and is currently based in the city. The company works in the healthcare market and assists healthcare providers with maximising their revenue. This is achieved through a technological solution that manages the entire payment infrastructure, including automation on tasks where applicable to increase the efficiency of their revenue teams.
The team at Janus Health have done a great job of convincing investors to back the company, with a total of $53.1 Million being raised in the short amount of time the company has operated for.
4. Leaf Trade
Year Founded: 2016
HQ: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Size: 51-100
Founders: James Yi
Leaf Trade is a startup in Chicago that was founded in 2016 and makes its home in the Illinois city. The company assists cannabis companies by allowing them to connect with wholesalers, and then managing the entire process of ordering and eventual fulfillment for the end user. This helps the wholesalers to get more business and gives the end users the product they need.
The team has done a great job of getting noticed by investors, with the total raised by the company reaching $23 Million at the time of writing. This funding was achieved across three rounds of startup funding, with the help of multiple investors.
5. Blueprint
Year Founded: 2013
HQ: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Size: 11-50
Founders: Danny Freed, Ben Firestone
Blueprint is a startup in Chicago that was founded in 2013 and is currently still based in the city. The company works in the health and wellness sector and helps clinicians to run more effective therapy sessions tailored to mental health care by reducing their administrative load, giving them more time to focus on the actual quality of care given to their patients whilst also reducing their own levels of stress.
The company has been successful in raising startup funding from investors, with the team successfully raising $4.7 Million since being founded. This funding was achieved with the support of three investors.
6. Logic Gate
Year Founded: 2015
HQ: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Size: 101-250
Founders: Matt Kunkel, Jon Siegler, Dan Campbell
Logic Gate is a Chicago startup that was founded in 2015 and is currently based in the city. The company currently works in the cyber security sector and has developed a platform that helps companies to collaborate on their security more effectively, with features tailored to automation. As your business grows, you'll be able to scale and adapt their tool to your increased needs.
The startup has received a huge amount of startup funding since being founded, with a total of $156.1 Million being raised in that time. This funding was achieved with the support of fifteen investors.
7. Strike Social
Year Founded: 2013
HQ: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Size: 51-100
Founders: Mark Shore, Patrick McKenna, Tim Helfrey
Strike Social is a Chicago startup that was founded in 2013 and is still based in the Illinois city. The company works in the marketing sector and helps its clients to develop better and more efficient campaigns through the use of artificial intelligence. They have optimized more than 50 Million campaigns on behalf of their clients. They are trusted by some of the world's largest companies.
The team has done a great job at raising funding since being founded, with a total of $1.3 Million being raised by the company in that time. This funding was achieved from an unknown number of investors.
8. Oak9
Year Founded: 2019
HQ: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Size: 11-50
Founders: Raj Datta, Aakash Shah
Oak9 is a startup in Chicago that was founded in 2019 and still operates from the city. The company works in the cybersecurity market and has developed a bespoke security platform for the cloud that can easily be integrated into existing coding ecosystems. They also help their customers to save hundreds of hours of DevOps time every month, allowing developers to focus on more value-added tasks.
The team has seen great success in raising startup funding since being founded, with a total of $13.9 Million being raised in that time. This funding was achieved with the support of 10 investors.
9. Fingerprint
Year Founded: 2019
HQ: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Size: 101-250
Founders: Dan Pinto, Valentin V
Fingerprint is a startup in Chicago that was founded in 2019 and is currently based in the city of Chicago. The company works in the cybersecurity industry and provides the industry-leading solution for engineers to develop security into their applications by enabling fingerprint scanning as a large part of their offering. This helps them to prevent fraud and improve overall user experiences.
The business has done a great job of raising startup funding since being founded, with a total of $44 Million being raised across a number of funding rounds. This funding was achieved with the support of seven investors.
10. Attain
Year Founded: 2019
HQ: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Size: 51-100
Founders: Brian Mandelbaum, Dominic Bennett
Attain is a startup in Chicago that was founded in 2019 and still maintains its headquarters in Chicago. The company works in the marketing sector and helps marketers to achieve better results in their campaigns through the use of actionable data-driven insights to help them to tailor them for the best chance of success. The company has experienced rapid growth since 2019 with the strength of its product offering.
The team has raised a huge amount of startup funding for the company since being founded, with a total of $93 Million being raised across several rounds of startup funding. This funding was achieved with the support of six investors.
11. Formic Technologies
Year Founded: 2020
HQ: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Size: 11-50
Founders: Saman Farid
Formic Technologies is a Chicago startup that was founded in 2020 and still operates within the city. The company works in the technology market and helps factories and industrial businesses with their efficiency and overall productivity. They are making it easier for these companies to be able to afford and deploy robotic automation technologies in an effort to drive those increased efficiencies.
The company has done a great job of raising startup funding since being founded, with the company raising a total of $31.9 Million in that time. This funding was achieved with the support of 6 investors, across multiple rounds of funding.
12. Evozyne
Year Founded: 2019
HQ: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Size: 101-250
Founders: Jeff Aronin, Andrew Ferguson, Rama Ranganathan
Evozyne is a startup in Chicago that was founded in 2019 and is currently headquartered in the city. The company works in the Biotechnology sector and is unlocking the potential of proteins and hidden rules within nature to develop more effective products and treatments for a healthier and more sustainable planet. This is all generated from their industry-leading lab in Chicago.
The company has done a great job of raising startup funding since being founded, with the company raising a total of $63.4 Million across multiple rounds of startup funding. This funding was achieved from an unknown number of investors.
13. Veo
Year Founded: 2017
HQ: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Size: 51-100
Founders: Candice Xie, Edwin Tan
Veo is a startup in Chicago that was founded in 2017 and is currently based in the city. The company is aiming to help create a healthier and more mobile world through the provision of their e-scooters and e-bikes which are available for easy rental from spots across more than twenty cities in the USA. Their vehicles are built to be durable and safe to use on the road, as well as stylish.
Veo have done a good job of raising startup funding since being founded, with the company raising a total of $16 Million in startup funding. This funding was achieved in a single funding round, with the support of six investors.
14. Pathos
Year Founded: 2020
HQ: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Size: 1-10
Founders: Eric Lefkofsky, Ryan Fukushima
Pathos is a startup in Chicago that was founded in 2020 and is currently based in the city. The company works in the medical sector and is developing new revolutionary treatments through the use of artificial intelligence technology. They aim to improve the whole process of drug development from clinical trials, to participant selection and much more. Leading to a healthier world.
The company has done very well with convincing investors to back their projects, with a total of $20 Million in funding being raised. This was raised in a single funding round with the support of an unknown number of investors.
15. Zing Health
Year Founded: 2019
HQ: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Size: 11-50
Founders: Eric Whitaker
Zing Health is a startup in Chicago that was founded in 2019 and is still based in the city. The company works in the medical field and makes it easier for companies to give their employees the benefit of medicare, with easier enrollment onto plans that are actually beneficial to the end user. They aim to help more people get access to the healthcare support they need.
The company has managed to raise a huge amount of startup funding since being founded, with a total of $190 Million being raised in that time. This funding was achieved with the support of four investors across multiple rounds of startup funding.
16. Quillbot
Year Founded: 2017
HQ: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Size: 101-250
Founders: Rohan Gupta, Anil Jason, David Silin
Quillbot is a Chicago startup that was founded in 2017 and is currently based in the city of Chicago. The company has developed a tool that helps writers, with the use of AI which helps to fully rewrite paragraphs of text for better clarity and content refinement. They aim to make the process of writing painless for companies and individuals around the world with their software.
The company has done a great job of raising startup funding since being founded, with a total of $4.2 Million in startup funding in that time. This funding was achieved with the support of three investors.
17. Logiwa
Year Founded: 2017
HQ: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Size: 51-100
Founders: Erhan Musaoglu
Logiwa is a startup in Chicago that was founded in 2017 and is currently based in the city of Chicago. The company works in the software market and has developed a WMS platform that makes it easier for companies to scale up their fulfilment operations, even if they are already large and complex in scale. They can be integrated with more than 200 shipping and e-commerce solutions.
The team at Logiwa have done a great job of raising funding for the company since it was founded, with a total of $38.9 Million being raised in that time. This funding was achieved with the support of ten investors.
18. Tandym
Year Founded: 2021
HQ: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Size: 11-50
Founders: Jennifer Lundstrom, David Anderson
Tandym is a Chicago startup that was founded in 2021 and is currently based in Chicago, Illinois. The company works in the FinTech market and is providing online businesses and store owners with an improved credit card service that enhances customer loyalty and also decreases their payment operating costs. This helps them to increase their profits with a two-fold solution.
The company has achieved a large amount of startup funding since being founded, with the company raising a total of $60 Million in startup funding. This funding was achieved with the support of three investors.
19. HomeX
Year Founded: 2017
HQ: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Size: 101-250
Founders: Micheal Werner, Simon Weaver, Stephanie Werner Payen, Vincent Payen
HomeX is a Chicago startup that was founded in 2017 and is currently still based in the city. The company has created an app-based technology solution that allows homeowners to easily connect with maintenance professionals and receive professional diagnostics about problems in their homes, such as boiler breakdowns. This allows them to get more timely, efficient and dedicated support for their maintenance issues.
The company has received huge backing from investors since being founded, with a total of $90 Million in startup funding being raised. This funding was achieved with the support of a single investor that has been impressed by their business model.
20. Kijiji Hub
Year Founded: 2021
HQ: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Size: 51-100
Founders: Ally Boa, Janet Bannister
Kijiji Hub is a startup in Chicago that was founded in 2021 and is still headquartered in the city. The company is helping to drive the mass adoption of blockchain technology and the growth of the Web 3.0 ecosystem. They help to develop smart contracts, blockchain development for businesses and full stack development for a range of cryptocurrency-related projects.
The company has done well in raising startup funding since being founded, with a total of $925,000 being raised in that time. This funding was achieved from a sole investor over a pair of funding rounds.
21. EasyMove
Year Founded: 2018
HQ: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Size: 1-10
Founders: Amin Aliyev
EasyMove is a startup in Chicago that was founded in 2018 and is currently based in the city. The company has created an easy solution for people to hire moving professionals on-demand, with just the top of a button. They are available every single day and they have helped thousands of people to move around conveniently and at a fair price.
The team has done a great job of raising startup funding since being founded, with a total of $15.1 Million being raised in that time. This funding was achieved with the support of four investors.
FAQs
How Many Startups Are There in Chicago?
There are currently more than 3000 tech startups operating in Chicago.
What is the Average Investment in Chicago Startups?
The average Seed Round in Chicago is worth $1 Million and the average Series A is worth $5 Million.
What Startup Industries Are The Strongest in Chicago?
The strongest startup industries in Chicago are FoodTech, Marketing & Sales and Software & Data.
