These Are the 15 Fastest-Growing Chicago Startups With Less Than $10M Raised
Want to know which Chicago tech companies are ramping up growth, but who’ve also taken in relatively little venture capital? Mattermark just published a report that looks at the fastest growing startups in 8 cities based on companies that have raised less than $10 million.
Mattermark ranked companies by their “Growth Score,” which measures businesses by how quickly they are growing and the traction they’re seeing at a given point in time based on things like online footprint, company size, and funding activity. Below, you’ll see the 15 fastest growing Chicago tech companies with less than $10 million in funding, along with their growth scores, according to Mattermark. (You can see the full Chicago report here).
1. Spoon University (1521): Born out of Northwestern University (but technically NY-based), Spoon University is a crowd-sourced online platform for foodies, offering food tips, reviews, and other content aimed at a younger audience. (Think Food Network, but for millennials).
2. SportsLock (670): Chicago-based SportsLock is a fantasy sports app that uses a bracket-stlye competition for daily, weekly, or season long games.
3. Spikeball (541): Chicago’s favorite beach game combines the elements of volleyball and foursquare where teams of two play by spiking a ball off a net. The goal is to hit the ball off the net so it can’t be returned. Spikeball was featured on Shark Tank earlier this year.
4. Restaurant.com (534): Founded in 1999, Restaurant.com is an online platform for restaurant coupons, deals, and reviews.
5. Rocketmiles (524): Rocketmiles lets you to earn thousands of frequent flyer miles buy booking rooms at select hotels. Rocketmiles was acquired by Priceline in February.
6. Reverb (520): Chicago-based Reverb is an online marketplace for buying and selling used and vintage music equipment, and it recently launched Reverb Lessons to connect aspiring musicians with experienced teachers.
7. TradingView (512): TradingView is a social finance site that offers stock charting tools and a platform to share trading insights with others.
8. Kapow (499): Chicago-based Kapow is an online marketplace for corporate events. Through its platform, companies can browse a list of available events in their city and choose a package that fits their needs.
9. MATTER (422): Located next to 1871 in the Merchandise Mart, MATTER is a health tech incubator and community for healthcare entrepreneurs who are focused on “fueling the future of healthcare innovation.”
10. Dealer Inspire (421): Dealer Inspire is a website-building platform for the Auto Dealership Industry. The company helps dealerships create unique websites and offers an analytics dashboard allows clients to monitor SEO, social media, and other metrics.
11. Spider Oak (406): Spider Oak is a zero-knowledge encrypted data backup and storage service for businesses. It keeps data 100% private and only readable by your company.
12. Blitsy (372): Chicago startup Blitsy is an e-commerce site for arts and crafts supplies. It sells crafting supplies at up to 70% off what you’d find at a brick and mortar retailer.
13. Forsythe (357): Forsythe is an IT infrastructure integrator that provides technology consulting, IT infrastructure technology and integration, and leasing solutions for businesses.
14. BucketFeet (333): BucketFeet is a Chicago-based footwear brand that gives artists an online platform to design one-of-a-kind shoes and make money for their work.
15. ThinkCerca (328): ThinkCerca is a literacy skills edtech platform that provides educators with tools to teach literacy skills.
Jim Dallke, chicagoinno.streetwise.co, 11/25/15