Announcing This Year’s 50 on Fire Winners
Tonight, we unveiled the 50 on Fire, a collection of companies, CEOs, startups, and entrepreneurs that are driving the city’s innovation economy forward.
From Avant, one of Chicago’s four Unicorns, to Todd Connor, Executive Director of the The Bunker Labs, and from Catalyze, an incubator for makers, to Curiosity, an app for discovery, these people and businesses are heating up the city across a variety of industries.
To select the final 50, we announced the 150 nominees earlier this Fall and scheduled a photo shoot with all of the finalists. We then had over 20 judges select their top third in a handful of categories. At tonight’s event, we revealed the 50 on Fire via a high-octane, 15-minute video, which we will be posting shortly.
In the meantime, we wanted to share the winners with everyone.
Thanks to all who came out – it was an absolute blast – and congrats to the 50 on Fire and to the nominees. Enjoy…
B2B TECH Winners:
1871
Catalyze Chicago
cleverbridge
Jellyvision
Kapow
kCura
Persio
Rick Lane, CEO, Trading Technologies
Sprout Social
Stuart Frankel, CEO, Narrative Science
B2C TECH Winners:
Avant
Curiosity
Jessica Tenuta, Co-Founder and Lead Designer, Packback
Kate Drane, Senior Director of Tech Outreach, Indiegogo
LyteShot
Raise
SportsLock
EDUCATION Winners:
Edovo
Infiniteach
LEAP Innovations
Linda Darragh, Executive Director, Kellogg Innovation and Entrepreneurship Initiative
Literacenter
Polsky Center
ThinkCERCA
CIVIC Winners:
Amy Francetic, CEO, Clean Energy Trust
Todd Connor, Executive Director, The Bunker
Andrea Saenz, Deputy Commissioner, Chicago Public Library
BLUE 1647
Future Founders
Katie Olson, Program Director, UI LABS
Smart Chicago
INVESTMENT Winners:
Lindsay Knight, Marketing Associate, Chicago Ventures
Origin Ventures
Peter Wilkins, Managing Director, Hyde Park Angels
Shoshana Vernick, Managing Director, Sterling Partners
MARKETING & ADVERTISING Winners:
Finn Partners
KnowledgeHound
Rise Interactive
Signal
Spring Rewards
HEALTH & MEDICINE Winners:
ContextMedia
Sarah Doherty, Co-Founder & CTO, TeleHealthRobotics
FOOD, DINING, & DELIVERY Winners:
Julie and Tony Bombacino, Founders, Real Food Blends
| Matt Matros, CEO, Farmedhere | Founder, Protein Bar |
Zero Percent
LIFESTYLE Winners:
BucketFeet
Red Frog Events
Sonali Lamba, Founder, Brideside
Thank you to everyone who attended, and to our 50 on Fire partners & sponsors, without whom this event would not be possible. Until next year!