{"id":1280,"date":"2019-01-19T21:30:07","date_gmt":"2019-01-19T21:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/surfshields.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/19\/following-a-record-year-illinois-startups-kick-off-2019-on-a-strong-foot\/"},"modified":"2019-01-19T21:30:07","modified_gmt":"2019-01-19T21:30:07","slug":"following-a-record-year-illinois-startups-kick-off-2019-on-a-strong-foot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/surfshields.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/19\/following-a-record-year-illinois-startups-kick-off-2019-on-a-strong-foot\/","title":{"rendered":"Following a record year, Illinois startups kick off 2019 on a strong foot"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Illinois\u2019s startup market in 2018 was very strong, and it\u2019s not slowing down as we settle into 2019. There\u2019s already almost $100 million in new VC funding announced, so let\u2019s take a quick look at the state of venture in the Land of Lincoln (with a specific focus on Chicago).<\/p>\n

In the chart below, we\u2019ve plotted venture capital deal and dollar volume for Illinois as a whole. Reported funding data in Crunchbase shows a general upward trend in dollar volume, culminating in nearly $2 billion worth of VC deals in 2018; however, deal volume has declined since peaking in 2014.1<\/sup><\/p>\n

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Chicago accounts for 97 percent of the dollar volume and 90.7 percent of total deal volume in the state. We included the rest of Illinois to avoid adjudicating which towns should be included in the greater Chicago area.<\/p>\n

In addition to all the investment in 2018, a number of venture-backed companies from Chicago exited last year. Here\u2019s a selection of the bigger deals from the year:<\/p>\n

Crain\u2019s Chicago Business\u00a0reports<\/a>\u00a0that 2018 was the best year for venture-backed startup acquisitions in Chicago \u201cin recent memory.\u201d\u00a0Crunchbase News has previously shown<\/a>\u00a0that the Midwest (which is anchored by Chicago) may have fewer startup exits, but the exits that do happen often result in better multiples on invested capital (calculated by dividing the amount of money a company was sold for by the amount of funding it raised from investors).<\/p>\n

2018 was a strong year for Chicago startups, and 2019 is shaping up to bring more of the same. Just a couple weeks into the new year, a number of companies have already announced big funding rounds.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a quick roundup of some of the more notable deals struck so far this year:<\/p>\n