Latest news with #ChicagoInno
Business Journals
4 days ago
- Business
- Business Journals
The Beat: Chicago's quantum scene strikes multiple deals
Welcome to Chicago Inno's The Beat, a twice-weekly look at the people, companies and ideas that are shaping Chicago's innovation economy. The Big One As local lawmakers and industry leaders continue to pursue their vision for making Illinois a global capital for quantum computing, more corporate partners and tech giants want to get involved. GET TO KNOW YOUR CITY Find Local Events Near You Connect with a community of local professionals. Explore All Events IBM is the latest notable tech firm to affirm its commitment to the local quantum scene. Startups going through Duality, the nation's first quantum startup accelerator, will now get access to IBM's quantum network along with additional support and resources from the tech giant. READ MORE: IBM expands support for Chicago's quantum startups More Chicago Inno news to know The University of Chicago is partnering with Alchemist Accelerator — an institution out of California's Bay Area that's raised $4B and supported more than 650 companies — to help bring more local scientific breakthroughs from lab to market. is partnering with — an institution out of California's Bay Area that's raised $4B and supported more than 650 companies — to help bring more local scientific breakthroughs from lab to market. The Department of Labor is expanding the number of small businesses that could see big cuts in their Occupational Health and Safety Administration fines. is expanding the number of small businesses that could see big cuts in their Occupational Health and Safety Administration fines. Bonsai announced an investment of $1.8M to accelerate go-to-market efforts for its marketing intelligence platform. Infleqtion to build advanced quantum computer in Chicago A new public-private partnership will make Illinois home to one of the most advanced quantum platforms in the world, the state announced Wednesday. As part of an expected $50M investment over the next four years, quantum startup Infleqtion plans to build the first utility-scale neutral atom quantum computer at the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park on Chicago's South Side. Infleqtion will work in partnership with the quantum park and the National Quantum Algorithms Center. READ MORE: Infleqtion to build advanced quantum computer in Chicago as part of $50M investment Sign up for Inno's free twice-weekly newsletter to receive the latest innovation news impacting Chicago
Business Journals
18-07-2025
- Business
- Business Journals
The Beat: Why Chicago's women-led startups see less investment
Welcome to Chicago Inno's The Beat, a twice-weekly look at the people, companies and ideas that are shaping Chicago's innovation economy. The Big One PitchBook's VC female founders dashboard released earlier this month shows venture-capital deal flow to Chicago companies founded or co-founded by women has dropped precipitously this year. Female founders in Chicago have raised $220M across 28 deals in 2025 thus far. That's significantly down from the $926M raised across 86 deals in 2024. GET TO KNOW YOUR CITY Find Local Events Near You Connect with a community of local professionals. Explore All Events Despite that, local investors believe the Chicago startup community has made strides when it comes to keeping women founders in the Windy City, though they say more work still needs to be done. This year's decline in Chicago is a stark contrast to the rest of the nation, where startups with at least one female founder have raised $78.8B over 1,428 deals, blowing past 2021's record of $68.7B. The first two quarters of 2025 were the best on record for startups with at least one female founder, totaling $51.2B and $27.6B, respectively, according to PitchBook data. That growth was powered by a few massive deals, including OpenAI's record-seeing $40B round in March. READ MORE: Venture funding for female founders in Chicago plummets despite national surge More Chicago Inno news to know A local cross-sector coalition aiming to bring quantum technology to market could be getting a big boost from a federal agency. Chicago startup Amphix Bio announced it received an orphan drug designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its treatment of acute spinal cord injury. Chicago named among top US cities for AI readiness Chicago has been named one of the best-prepared cities when it comes to adopting artificial intelligence technologies. That's according to The Brookings Institution, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit think tank, which published a report Wednesday that calls Chicago one of 28 AI "Star Hubs" across the country. While not one of the "Superstar" markets for artificial intelligence — reserved for California's San Francisco and San Jose — Chicago is still well positioned to create, apply and harness the power of AI. READ MORE: Chicago named among top US cities for AI readiness, balancing talent and innovation Sign up for Inno's free twice-weekly newsletter to receive the latest innovation news impacting Chicago.
Business Journals
25-06-2025
- Business
- Business Journals
The Beat: Emerging names G.J. Hart managing partner
Welcome to Chicago Inno's The Beat, a twice-weekly look at the people, companies and ideas that are shaping Chicago's innovation economy. The Big One G.J. Hart — a man with nearly four decades of experience in the restaurant industry — is joining a local venture capital firm with a war chest dedicated to investing in innovations for restaurants. GET TO KNOW YOUR CITY Find Local Events Near You Connect with a community of local professionals. Explore All Events Emerging, a Chicago VC firm that aims to bring new technologies to the food and beverage space, announced Hart as managing partner on Tuesday. He hopes his role there will help younger companies grow in new ways. "I think I can add a little bit of experience and hopefully some wisdom along the way to provide ways that they can scale and add strategic direction," he told Chicago Inno. "At this point I've been a CEO for almost 40 years, and I think it's time to do something a little different." READ MORE: Restaurant industry veteran G.J. Hart joins Chicago VC firm Emerging to help shape future of dining More tech news to know As corporate giants continue to pour billions into adding artificial intelligence technologies to their operations, Chicago startup Moonnox has raised $2M to help small to mid-sized consultancies stay relevant. has raised $2M to help small to mid-sized consultancies stay relevant. Nautilus Solar Energy said it's moved its headquarters from Summit, New Jersey, to downtown Chicago. said it's moved its headquarters from Summit, New Jersey, to downtown Chicago. Chicago logistics company FourKites announced the FourKites Summit 2025 will be taking place Aug. 26 and 27 at the Swissôtel Chicago. Why a Chicago software startup brought on a new CEO One of Chicago's fastest-growing software startups has made a change up top. Ocient, a data analytics company that closed a $132M Series B in April, named John Morris as its new chief executive officer and board director. A seasoned tech veteran, Morris will continue to "help big companies with big problems" in his new role with Ocient, as he has his whole career, he told Chicago Inno. "What I'm trying to do is step back, make sure that ... we're hiring ahead for some of these growth opportunities that are going to be coming and that we're thinking about the pipeline for the next three to five years not just the next year or so," Morris said. READ MORE: Why Ocient brought on John Morris as its new CEO Sign up for Inno's free twice-weekly newsletter to receive the latest innovation news impacting Chicago.
Business Journals
30-05-2025
- Business
- Business Journals
The Beat: New UChicago VC fund targets deep-tech startups
Welcome to Chicago Inno's The Beat, a twice-weekly look at the people, companies and ideas that are shaping Chicago's innovation economy. The Big One A new $25M venture capital fund launched Thursday to support the deep-tech ventures coming out of the University of Chicago ecosystem. GET TO KNOW YOUR CITY Find Local Events Near You Connect with a community of local professionals. Explore All Events Harper Court Ventures — funded through UChicago and the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, and independently managed by MFV Partners — will focus on scaling pre-seed and seed-stage companies associated with the university's labs, the Polsky Center or alumni. Investors in the fund include the UChicago Endowment as well as several members of UChicago's Board of Trustees. The fund will target startups in high-impact sectors, such as those working on quantum computing, life sciences, energy and artificial intelligence innovations. READ MORE: $25M VC fund launches to back UChicago deep-tech startups More from The Beat On its 10-year anniversary, Chicago venture capital firm M25 announced its largest fund to date. Nearly half of workers in a recent survey say their companies have issued return-to-office mandates in 2025 — illustrating a larger trend of fading workplace flexibility. Drive Capital returns $500M to investors In a single week, Drive Capital returned about $500M in cash and stock to investors during a lull in liquidity for limited partners nationwide. The Columbus, Ohio-based venture capital firm, which set up a Chicago office in 2023, last Friday distributed two-thirds of its shares of Root Inc., worth nearly $140 million, to outside limited partners in its first fund from 2013, according to SEC filings. READ MORE: Drive Capital returns $500 million to investors amid national liquidity lull Sign up for the Business Journal's free daily newsletter to receive the latest business news impacting Chicago.
Business Journals
30-04-2025
- Business
- Business Journals
The Beat: Beacon prepares to launch next-gen disinfecting product
Welcome to Chicago Inno's The Beat, a twice-weekly look at the people, companies and ideas that are shaping Chicago's innovation economy. The Big One A Chicago startup born out of the pandemic is ready to move into more homes and businesses after spending a number of years in research and development. GET TO KNOW YOUR CITY Find Local Events Near You Connect with a community of local professionals. Explore All Events Founded in 2020, Beacon Technology Solutions — winner of Inno Madness 2025, Chicago Inno's annual bracket-style head-to-head startup competition — makes a wall-mounted smart device that uses Far-UVC 222 nm light to disinfect a room. Beacon CEO Brian Clark said the Chicago startup has delivered its flagship product to hundreds of customers and will look to continue to expand its customer base in 2025. READ MORE: Inno Madness winner Beacon preparing to launch next-gen disinfecting product More from Chicago Inno Chicago VC firm Portal Innovations , which focuses on life-sciences innovation, announced an international expansion through a new partnership with Dublin City University that hopes to create new opportunities for biotech, medtech, quantum and AI startups across Ireland, the U.K. and Europe. , which focuses on life-sciences innovation, announced an international expansion through a new partnership with that hopes to create new opportunities for biotech, medtech, quantum and AI startups across Ireland, the U.K. and Europe. Chicago tech giant Tempus announced the launch of Tempus Loop this week, a new oncology-focused platform. Chicago boosts life-sciences growth While Chicago's life-sciences market is showing some signs of growth with developments such as Evanston Labs coming online, it still lags behind other major metros in key traits. In a Colliers report looking at local ecosystems' ability to support and sustain growth in the life-sciences industry, Chicago ranked ninth in the country, held back slightly by a lack of new developments. Boston received the top score in the second annual analysis of 18 markets, followed by the San Francisco Bay Area at No. 2 and San Diego in the third spot. READ MORE: How Chicago is building up life sciences — and where it still lags Sign up for the Business Journal's free daily newsletter to receive the latest business news impacting Chicago.
