The Latest Buzz
Chicago’s startup revolution is in full swing. And that is causing some concern about whether the city will see déjà vu all over again from the dot-com boom and bust at the end of the last century. Last year, Chicago companies raised $654.1 million in venture capital, according to Dow…
…Subscription models and recurring revenue also tend to impress investors — a lesson learned by Jessica Kim, founder and chief executive of BabbaCo, which is based in Chicago and sells children’s activity products. When Ms. Kim started her business in 2008, she sold wholesale products like car-seat covers and inflatable…
Excelerate is a busy place during the summer, with 10 growing companies in the throws of intense programming. We are looking for help from MBA and undergraduate interns for the summer. If you’re excited about entrepreneurship and venture capital, we offer a great environment for learning. Every day would be…
State of Illinois, group of industry leaders unveil separate investment initiatives The local technology sector gained two new sources of high-profile funding on Tuesday, with both the state of Illinois and a group of industry leaders unveiling investment initiatives for early-stage companies. The two announcements were unrelated but speak to…
Great interview by Ann Dwyer – as she talks to Iain Roberts of IDEO on their experiences mentoring Excelerate companies this year.
TechCocktail did a nice writeup of the class of 2011 with some results from 2010 included. Read more here: http://techcocktail.com/excelerate-labs-10-startups-summer-2011-04
The companies will receive $25,000 each Melissa Harris CHICAGO CONFIDENTIAL April 28, 2011 It often takes Troy Henikoff and Brian Luerssen of Excelerate Labs less than a minute to toss a pitch into the “obvious no” pile. There was the dry-cleaner that applied to the incubator, which runs an annual…
Great interview with New World Ventures in Crain’s talking about the Chicago investing landscape with the nice shout out to Excelerate! http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20110226/ISSUE02/302269996/chicago-is-a-far-cry-from-silicon-valley-but-local-vcs-see-fresh
Kathryn Born interviewed Troy Henikoff about Excelerate, its history and where it is going in 2011. Get the full story at http://tincmag.com/2011/01/17/interview-with-troy-henikoff-of-excelerate/
Thanks to Leena Rao for covering the TechCrunch article about our ten companies! Check it out here : http://techcrunch.com/2010/07/11/nine-startups-graduate-from-chicagos-excelerate-labs/