The 10 companies participating in Chicago tech accelerator Excelerate Labs got to make their formal pitches to investors last week. But that didn’t stop one of the participating companies, parking-reservations startup SpotHero, from securing an initial round of funding beforehand from Silicon Valley venture-capital firm 500 Startups.

SpotHero met with 500 Startups founder Dave McClure when Mr. McClure visited Excelerate in July and finalized the deal shortly thereafter. SpotHero will receive an undisclosed sum between $50,000 and $100,000 and become a 500 Startups portfolio company—though not a participant in the 500 Startups accelerator, which would force SpotHero to relocate to California. SpotHero will remain in Chicago…

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