Chicago Tech's $100m Club
I dug into the Chicago tech scene going back ~50 years. How many successful tech companies were founded here? Who is behind them? How much value have they generated? I struggled to find good data, so I did some research...
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1XbM_fPvS93YpV0nQiAFc1MVhK4LMjXcjOXgjmtJEllY/edit?usp=sharing
The arbitrary bar I set for "successful" is an exit or current valuation of $100M+. Felt right for the scale of our tech ecosystem. The only other criteria are that the company was founded in Chicago and is primarily a technology company.
Below is a quick, high level summary of my findings. Please reach out if I missed anything. This is a work in progress and I'll continue to refine and update this list.... more to come!
Join the conversation here: https://x.com/bubjacks/status/1938586695013957729
Summary (Since 1981):
141 companies worth $100M+ (current or exit value)
35 Unicorns (15 of which are still private)
5 Decacorns
70 exits totaling over $117B
$37B+ of unrealized value (active companies)
Founders
There are several founders who appear on this list multiple times. Sample below:
Glen Tullman: AllScripts, Livongo, Transcarent, founded 7Wire Ventures
Eric Lefkofksy: Innerworkings, Echo Global, Groupon, Tempus, Pathos, co-founded Lightbank VC
Brad Keywell: Echo Global, Groupon, Uptake, co-founded Lightbank VC
Al Goldstein: Enova, Avant, Amount, Stoic Lane
Godard Abel: Big Machines, G2
Chris Gladwin: Orient, Cleversafe
Brian Mandelbaum: Clearstream TV, Attain
Largest Chicago Tech Companies
Founding Years
Top years by number of $100M+ companies founded:
2014 (14)
2015 (10)
2016 (9)
(See more below)
It was surprisingly difficult to find definitive founding years for many companies.
Sectors
Unsurprisingly, Fintech (not incl. crypto) dominates the list followed by Supply Chain/Logistics, Healthcare, and Consumer.
Admittedly, I'm less familiar with healthcare so I may have missed some in this category.
Investors
These are the common venture firms behind these companies. For simplicity's sake, I didn't include every investor per company... focused on ~established firms.
Chicago/Non-Coastal Firms:
Hyde Park VP/Angels
Lightbank
Chicago Ventures
Motivate Ventures
Jump Capital
Staring Line
Pritzker Venture Capital Group
Valor Equity Partners
Mercato Partners
Tensility Venture Partners
OCA Ventures
DRW Ventures
Drive Capital
Origin Ventures
Revolution
Coastal Firms
NEA
Accel
Bain Capital Ventures
Greycroft
Salesforce Ventures
Emergence
Lightspeed Venture Partners
Insight
Initialized
500 Global
FJ Labs
Alumni Ventures
Susa Ventures
F-Prime
QED Investors
Great stuff - glad you published this.