United States

Chicago #14

In bringing entrepreneurs from around the world to Chicago, we have found that this city has one of the most collaborative and diverse entrepreneurial communities in the world.

Ecosystem by the Numbers

EARLY-STAGE FUNDING

$1.2 bn

GLOBAL AVG.

$687 m

ECOSYSTEM VALUE

$21 bn

GLOBAL AVG.

$28.6 bn

MEDIAN SEED ROUND

$695 k

GLOBAL AVG.

$671 k

MEDIAN SERIES A ROUND

$3 m

GLOBAL AVG.

$4.7 m

SOFT. ENGINEER SALARY

$81 k

GLOBAL AVG.

$46 k

AI, Big Data & Analytics

Chicago is home to 14,000 technology companies employing roughly 340,000 people. In 2019, Tempus raised $200 million in a Series F round, giving it a valuation of $3.1 billion. Other startups to look out for include Uptake, an industrial AI and IoT platform, which raised $117 million in Series D funding and Instana, a solution that monitors dynamic apps, which raised $30 million from Accel and Meritech Capital Partners in 2018.

Fintech

Chicago is the second-largest central business district in the United States and home to the Chicago Stock Exchange and eight Fortune 1000 financial services companies. The City’s ChicagoNEXT program includes initiatives like the Blackstone Inclusive Entrepreneurship Challenge, ThinkChicago, and a new Fintech Committee. Success stories include Avant, an online lending platform which is valued close to $2 billion. In 2019, Snapsheet raised $29 million from Tola Capital in Series E round.

Reasons to Move Your Startup to Chicago

COVID-19 Policy

The City of Chicago established a $100 million Chicago Small Business Resiliency Fund to provide small businesses with emergency cash flow in the form of low interest loans. The loans are available for a maximum period of five years to companies with annual revenues of less than $3 million that have suffered at least a 25 percent decrease in revenue due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

University programs

The Illinois Institute of Technology, Northwestern University, and the University of Chicago each operate startup incubators and offer programs in entrepreneurship and computer science.

Women in startups

Women own and run one third of the city’s startups. WiSTEM, a program at Chicago's Technology & Entrepreneurship Center, provides additional resources to women-led startups.