Salesforce buys SteelBrick for $360 million
On December 23,
announced that it is in the process of being acquired by for $360 million. SteelBrick, whose software automates quoting, contracting, and billing for small- to mid-sized businesses, has had a longstanding partnership with the CRM giant. According to a blog post written by SteelBrick CEO Godard Abel, the company’s quote-to-cash applications will eventually become fully integrated within Salesforce’s cloud platform. [Salesforce Grabs Quote To Cash Vendor SteelBrick for $360 Million: TechCrunch]
1871 opens applications for college hackathon
recently opened applications for Campus 1871 — a weekend-long hackathon for students at local universities and colleges at the beginning of April. The program is free and open to students at Northwestern University, The Illinois Institute of Technology, The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, The University of Illinois at Chicago, DeVry University, Loyola University Chicago, and The University of Chicago. The program has 140 open spots — 20 students from each institution. [Applications are open: Campus 1871]
Daily fantasy sports are declared illegal in Illinois, but sites remain open for business
Last Wednesday, Illinois attorney general Lisa Madigan declared daily fantasy sports betting to be illegal gambling under state law, asking daily fantasy giants FanDuel and DraftKings to refrain from taking bets from Illinois residents. DraftKings and FanDuel both issued lawsuits challenging the decision, with the former’s suit stipulating no action be taken before the suit’s court date. As of this writing, both sites remain open for business. [Wait, Can I Still Play Daily Fantasy Sports In Illinois?: Chicago Inno]
A look back at our most read posts of 2015
If you subscribe to our newsletter, our top ten articles are already waiting for you in your inbox. If not, you can check out the list here. [Built In Chicago]
Chicago tech companies raised over $110 million in December
With two $25 million rounds at the beginning of the month and three more rounds over $10 million, Chicago tech’s total fundraising haul for December 2015 is over $110 million. Be sure to check out our list of the top 5 fundraising rounds of the month. [Built In Chicago]
This week in fundings
Investors: Undisclosed
Bio: Aginity is the maker of Aginity Amp — a software platform that helps businesses reuse algorithms.
, $5.6 million
Investors: Undisclosed
Bio: Blitsy takes creative inspiration to the next level by linking arts and crafts products with ideas.
, $5 million
Investors: Greensoil Building Innovation Fund, Second Century Ventures
Bio: Goby’s core product is a cloud based sustainability platform that captures utility usage data from buildings and presents them visually to help customers monitor and optimize sustainability performance.
, $1.8 million
Investors: Undisclosed
Bio: Wellspring provides enterprise software to manage Open Innovation efforts. The company's flagship Sophia product enables companies, universities, and hospitals to identify research partners, evaluate technologies, and manage innovation programs successfully.
, $500k
Investors: HBS Angels of Chicago
Bio: Regroup Therapy dedicates its work to eradicating mental health shortage areas across the nation. This is achieved through novel, mental health therapist solutions, cutting edge provision of care and a delivery platform that brings key data/analytics to stakeholders.
, $100k
Investors: Undisclosed
Bio: Schlep is a platform that allows consumers real-time access to vetted individuals with a vehicle sufficient to move their items in a timely fashion at a reasonable cost.
Happy new year, Chicago! Be sure to send us an email via [email protected] if you know of anything cool going on in the Chicago tech scene.
