Chicago Startup Ecosystem Overview

Order online from Chicago delivery and pickup restaurants. Whatever you're thinkin' Chicago, we got you. Read more

QuillBot is a startup developing an AI writing tool that reconstructs its user's writing to be more clear and concise. Read more

2016 marks our 17th year in business, yet we feel like we’re just getting started. For our first 15 years we were called 37signals. We changed our name to Basecamp in 2014 to reflect our focus on our most popular product (coincidently named Basecamp). Over the years we’ve been fortunate to earn the repeat business of thousands of customers including some of the world’s largest - and smallest - companies. It’s rare that a business tool is equally popular with the big guys and the small guys, but Basecamp is that kind of tool. Freelancers, small shops, mid-sized companies, and multinationals all rely on Basecamp. Read more

WyzAnt.com is an online marketplace for in-person and online tutoring. Parents and students can research and review tutor bios, credentials, customer reviews, background checks and more to ensure they find the perfect tutor for their individual needs. WyzAnt also offers visitors access to thousands of free educational resources including a question and answer forum, how-to videos, lesson plans, and a directory of study guides and tutorials. We believe that all students learn differently and that the most effective and enjoyable way to learn is through customized, one-on-one instruction. Our goal is to make it as easy as possible for students of all ages to find the help they need Read more

Founded in 2010, Sprout Social is built on the idea that the world is better when businesses and customers communicate freely. We exist to help streamline and enhance those conversations—with customers, prospects and enthusiasts. Our platform is packed with handy features but stays out of the way to let brands easily engage with people and build lasting relationships. Sprout is a private company backed by the venture funds of NEA and Lightbank. In four years, we’ve earned the trust of more than 15,000 amazing customers and our team has grown into the hundreds. We stay active in the industry and love to share our insights and cultivate conversations with other social business enthusiasts. Read more

Screencastify is used to create instructional videos, record presentations, give better feedback, and much more. We’ve set out to transform video in the classroom and make it not just a tool for remote learning, but an integral part of every student’s education. Read more

YCharts is a financial software company that was founded in 2009 and is backed by Morningstar. YCharts provides the analytic power of a financial terminal (such as Bloomberg, FactSet, CapIQ), but with the ease of use and accessibility of a modern website. Investment professionals across the financial services spectrum have found the product to be a valuable complement to their existing investment tools, or as a lower cost replacement.  Read more

M1 Finance specializes in financial technology, investing, investments, fintech, automation. Read more

FourKites is a logistics technology platform utilizing the latest Machine-2-Machine (M2M) technologies. FourKites platform enables better collaboration between shippers, 3PL’s, brokers and asset based trucking companies by shortening the communication lag time using proactive tracking technologies. Read more

Avail is a platform that simplifies the rental experience for 600,000 DIY landlords and tenants. These individuals use Avail to navigate all aspects of the rental process — everything from listings, rental applications, leases, monthly rent payments, and maintenance tickets. Read more

BigMarker enables people from around the world to meet face-to-face with others who share their passions and interests. Communities can host online events such as webinars, panel and roundtable discussions using BigMarker's video conferencing system, allowing hundreds of people to communicate via audio and video, share and present files, and chat. Participants can then join a community to attend future events and keep the conversation going over time. Read more

CareTree is a collaboration platform designed to replace the paper records in the home health and senior care industries with an online platform that centralizes information and automates communication with care stakeholders (the individual, their caretakers, family, and doctors). The second phase of CareTree is to be a Mint.com for EMR records. Using EMR patient portals, CareTree will give caregivers access to all of a patient's records from one easy portal. Read more

ShipBob is a technology company that fulfills e-commerce orders for direct-to-consumer brands. Read more

ShowMojo empowers property owners and agents with innovative and disruptive tools, including: online scheduling, automated confirmation (email or SMS), and tenant notification. Read more

OpenMenu™ has created the first standard to regulate the way restaurants store and share their menus over the Internet by standardizing the menus' structure and format. Combined with OpenMenu Registrars, OpenMenu is providing a regulated system for sharing accurate menu information. Complete specification can be found at: http://openmenu.org/specifications.php OpenMenu: http://openmenu.com Sample Restaurant on the OpenMenu Platform: http://openmenu.com/restaurant/sample Read more

MYCHILD helps Early Education Centers to become paperless and to focus on child development. It enables Teachers to provide, with a few key strokes, immediate information updates on the children’s activities and routines. The information is accessible to Parents on their laptops or smartphones, anytime, anywhere. The system allows Centers to save time and reduce costs by increasing personnel efficiency through facilitated report writing and less ad-hoc communication as well as increasing Parents’ satisfaction and engagement. MYCHILD is composed of a web-based tool for Directors and Teachers which is complemented with native mobile apps for Teachers to collect information and for Parents to access it. Read more

At Inventables we believe the world is at the beginning of a new renaissance. We see power in product development shifting from major corporations to individual designers and entrepreneurs. The availability of low cost manufacturing tools and low cost distribution on internet sites are leveling the playing field. Small teams can now make unique high value products that major corporations can’t justify because they aren't for the masses. Read more

Printavo is the simplest way screen-printing, embroider & sign manufacturing shops can manage their scheduling, invoices and books. It is a web-based, mobile compatible solution that helps shops all over the world keep track of their key business information so they can continue running their shop.  Read more

eComfort.com is a dynamic, high-energy startup that's working to disrupt the $50 Billion market for heating/cooling equipment. We offer the best solution for homeowners buying heating/cooling equipment. The traditional contractor-driven model leaves homeowners with a poor understanding of their products, and a palpable feeling that they've overpaid. The eComfort.com approach solves these issues by providing real product choice, the tools to make that choice, the local expertise to install products, and transparent pricing that unbundles product from installation. The result for homeowners is thousands of dollars in savings, and ultimate control over their homes. Does it work? With 1,200% customer growth and 500% revenue growth in the past three years, we think so! We've got a lot more work to do, and are recruiting talented people to help us achieve success.  Read more

CoPilot is an assisted commerce platform that provides expert partner services for car purchases. Read more

The Mom Project is a digital talent marketplace that helps women remain active in the workforce. Read more

CustomerLove is simple software that helps businesses track customer satisfaction, collect feedback & generate positive online reviews & testimonials. Read more

Figo Pet Insurance develops a cloud-based pet insurance platform designed to provide pet healthcare services. Read more

Simple Mills makes almond flour baking mixes that are healthy and delicious. All our products are made with simple, nutrient-rich ingredients. That means nothing hard-to-pronounce, non-GMO, free of gluten, soy, dairy and refined sugar! We've been the #1 best muffin mix on Amazon, received numerous industry accolades for our innovative product, and will be featured in top gluten-free magazines this summer. Our products are sold in stores like Whole Foods and Vitamin Cottage Natural Grocers. And we are in the middle of a rapid growth acceleration, starting with quadrupling our store footprint in June 2014 with top chains in the natural grocery space.  Read more

Looking for a pragmatic, digitally fluent team of marketers to execute your big ideas and demonstrate real results so you can get back to running your business? You’re in the right place. Find out how lonelybrand leverages the six tenets of digital communications to quickly create success and growth for companies of all sizes for less than hiring and managing full time digital staff. Read more

Lightstream is a powerful & intuitive live streaming studio in your browser. No Downloads. No technical wizardry. Read more

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With Occasion, businesses can easily integrate online booking and payment for their services into their own website. Occasion's one-step booking process is designed to increase conversion of visitors into actual bookings for the business.  Read more

Meridix.com makes it easy for any sports team to broadcast like the pros. Our platform allows teams to create live, ESPN-like webcasts, offering the same HD video, audio, stats, and social features that fans demand from professional sports teams. Simple production tools guide broadcasters every step of the way, and enhance quality by automatically generating overlays, transitions, graphics, and montages. No expensive equipment is needed, as we maximize the capabilities of off-the-shelf technology such as laptops, smartphones, and consumer-grade HD cameras. We also provide a library of high quality ads from national and local advertisers, which broadcasters can run during games whenever they desire to earn revenue. Fans can access content with the simplicity of large professional outlets such as MLB.tv. Fans can share clips and highlights instantly on social networks, along with collectively curating notable plays and events. Read more

ClubExpress provides clubs and associations with their complete front-office and back-office, securely built into their website. No programming or HTML experience is required; everything is controlled by menus and dialog boxes, and all changes are immediately live. We use state-of-the-art security, there's no advertising and associations own their data at all times.  Read more

Train Heroic empowers coaches with proven strength and conditioning programming. Reducing administrative time by 50%, coaching effectiveness improves with a streamlined workout creation interface that provides for easier distribution and eliminates the admin hassle of logging the results of dozens of athletes...which returns time for higher impact coaching activity. Athletes log their own results and compete with themselves, teammates and rivals on the daily workout. Read more

Spark Hire is an easy to use video interviewing platform with 3,000+ customers in over 100 countries. Since launching in 2012, Spark Hire has become the fastest growing video interviewing platform. Organizations of all sizes are utilizing Spark Hire to make better hires faster than ever before. Using Spark Hire's one-way video interviewing tool, recruiters come up with interview questions and candidates record video responses on their own time like a selfie. These video responses can be reviewed at a recruiter's convenience and shared with key hiring stakeholders to improve collaboration. Hiring teams gain way more insight on candidates earlier in the hiring process resulting in better in person interviews and huge efficiency gains. Read more

Soundslice sells animated sheet music and associated software. Amateur guitarists rely on a notation called guitar tablature ("tabs") to learn new songs. But this format is horrible to learn from on its own; you end up having to listen to the song just to get a sense of how to play it. Soundslice solves that pain point by marrying tabs with a real recording. On soundslice.com, you can create and view these animated tabs for any YouTube video. We also sell high-quality tabs for indie artists, and we license our technology to music-education companies.  Read more

Learnmetrics is a platform that helps schools seamlessly extract insights from the data they are already collecting, then magnifies the effectiveness of those insights by making them measurable, trackable, and communicable. With Learnmetrics, our users can • Get a 360° view of data to help inform decisions and set goals • Decrease focus on administrative tasks while increasing the range of teachable moments • Move from insight to action faster than ever before. • Power personalized learning in a scalable way. Currently in closed beta!  Read more

Hologram’s mission to connect any device to any network, instantaneously, anywhere. With Hologram, SIM cards automatically switch networks access to the best coverage across more than 550 carriers in more than 200 countries. Read more

Leading companies use dscout to engage users in improving their existing experiences and inventing new ones. Our platform connects organizations with early adopters who work with companies to gather insights, develop ideas and ultimately launch new stuff. This unprecedented access to users comes at a fraction of the cost and time of more traditional approaches. dscout’s roster of blue chip customers in technology, consumer packaged goods and retail, points to the enormous scale of tapping into consumer-facing innovation budgets: ~$100B in the US alone.  Read more

Faspark is a street parking application which helps drivers find parking faster than ever before. The technology is predictive and uses big data, advanced analytics and machine learning to help drivers find parking. Faspark's solution is available for Android and iOS devices and provides the driver with an optimized search route along which they find available parking. The result is less driving, less pollution and less time spent searching for parking in the streets. Drivers using Faspark spend 50% less time on average looking for street parking. Faspark was founded 2011 and already has over 20,000 users. Faspark is already available in Chicago, IL and also in Munich, Germany.  Read more

We’re changing the way consumers shop for high-design, well-crafted furniture. We’ve built a unique supply chain that eliminates middlemen and unnecessary markups. It enables us to sell high-quality furniture (at times off the same manufacturing lines) for less, and to maintain healthy margins. Our factory relationships also enable unique personalization at prices the mass market can finally afford. Through the innovative use of e-commerce and small footprint retail outlets we have a significant cost advantage over traditional furniture retailers. Think Room & Board design and quality at West Elm (or lower) prices. Read more

The Bike Index makes bicycle registration convenient and universal. Get your bike registered by a bike shop - or register yourself. Protect your bike permanently, for free. Have all the information on hand in case your bike ever gets stolen - to make a police report, file an insurance claim, and give people a way to contact you if they find your bike. Read more

MightyNest's affinity platform channels a parent's passion for their family and healthy living into a profitable ecommerce business while building an engaged community that gives back to their local school. Our platform has 3 key components: - Content filled with insights and inspiration for mighty living - Community built virally and organized around local schools - Products handpicked for a healthy, mindful life. Every order donates 15% of order amount to their school. It's working. See data in traction below.  Read more

Gifrun.com is an online animated gif maker. Allows registered members to upload videos and create animated gifs. Members can also extract individual frames from the uploaded video and save them to their gallery. Various image effects can be applied to saved images. All images in the members gallery can be shared via custom URL. Content can be shared directly to Facebook or Twitter. GifRun is a robust and very scalable engine for creating and sharing animated gifs. Read more

NOCD provides online therapy for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), one of the most severe, prevalent, and misunderstood mental health conditions. Read more

We help companies, non-profits, and campaigns leverage their data to develop smarter strategy, make better decisions, and build stronger, data-driven organizations. To apply for a job, please visit: www.civisanalytics.com/apply Read more

StockUnlimited is the world's first and best source for unlimited creative content. With StockUnlimited, it's easy to find the right content for every project – whether it's vectors, clipart or illustrations, we've got it all! We add thousands of new and fresh files every day to ensure we always meet your needs for the most up–to–date content. What really sets StockUnlimited apart from other content providers is our super simple license model. For one low monthly fee, you can download and use as much content as you wish in any projects. No complicated licenses. No daily limits. No credits. No additional fees. Ever. As long as you have an active StockUnlimited subscription, you’ll be able to use all your downloaded content on new projects. Read more

Review Trackers is an online review monitoring and management tool for businesses with one or more physical locations. Using proprietary Web crawling and data collection technology, it tracks, aggregates, and analyzes reviews on all major online review sites. Features include new review notifications (via E-mail), advanced data analytics, customizable reports and data visualizations, multiple user collaboration, and a review request service. Read more

jsDelivr is a public, open-source CDN (Content Delivery Network) developed by ProspectOne, focused on performance, reliability, and security. It is free to use for everyone, with no bandwidth limits. It provides mirrors for npm, GitHub, WordPress plugins, and custom endpoints for several other projects with special requirements. If our regular endpoints don't work for your use case, let us know and we'll figure something out! Read more

Winner of the Most Innovative Company Award in long term care! Caremerge is a healthcare coordination and transition platform. Our mobile/web apps allow senior living communities simplify their care coordination efforts with various onsite and offsite stakeholders (facility staff, physicians, hospitals, families, etc.), all providing care for residents. Caremerge is at the center of five influential trends of our time: Boomers, Healthcare IT, Cloud/Mobile, Social/Collaboration, Big Data.  Read more

CharacTour helps you find your next favorite movie, TV show, book, or video game based on what matters most: characters. Through our “Get Matched” personality quiz and recommendations based on similar characters – both utilizing our patent-pending matching algorithm – and other tools, we suggest characters we think you’ll love. And then you can get to know those characters via detailed profiles to decide for yourself who you want to watch or read about. Read more