SpotHero locks down $30 million in fresh funding
Parking reservation startup SpotHero announced a $30 million Series C round on Tuesday, bringing the company’s total amount of funding raised to more than $57 million. CEO Mark Lawrence said the new money would be used to advance the company’s current technological offerings as well as help it prepare for the rise of autonomous parking. Some of the round is also being earmarked for hiring and expansion into new markets. [Built In Chicago]
kCura adds 200 new tech jobs to Chicago
Last week Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel announced that the city would add 1,000 new tech jobs, 200 of which would come from kCura. The e-discovery software company plans to grow its product group, which includes its engineering team. Hiring 200 new employees will increase kCura’s already sizable headcount, which currently sits at more than 700 employees. There was no timeline given for when recruiting and hiring efforts would commence. [Press release]
Neurala and Motorola Solutions to build A.I.-powered cameras
Chicago-based Motorola Solutions and Boston-based Neurala announced they are joining forces to work on intelligent public safety cameras. Neurala is known for the The Neurala Brain, a deep learning neural network software that allows things like robots and drones to leverage real-time artificial intelligence. The goal of the partnership is to build cameras that can learn in real-time to assist law enforcement in finding a person of interest or discern if someone is carrying a weapon. Neurala recently closed a $14 million Series A round in which Motorola Solutions was an investor. [Chicago Tribune]
1871 announces its new WiSTEM class
This week, 1871 welcomed 13 new female-founded startups into its WiSTEM accelerator. The companies will participate in a 12-week program that will connect them with capital and technological resources as well as provide mentorship from some of Chicago’s top business leaders. The 13 companies in the new cohort include everything from a private charter flight search engine to a web-based lesson planning technology for teachers. [Chicago Inno]
New Envoy sales SVP to spearhead global efforts
On Tuesday, Envoy revealed the appointment of Steve Brown as senior vice president of sales. Brown has a busy half year ahead of him, with rolling out the 3.0 version of the company’s current platform and also launching a new global case management platform. Envoy’s new SVP of sales knows a bit about selling SaaS to a global audience. From 2014 to 2017, he served as vice president of sales at kCura, where he led the company’s global sales efforts. [Business Wire]
PowerReviews welcomes a new senior vice president of product
PowerReviews, a provider of ratings, reviews and Q&A software for businesses, announced the hiring of Sara Rossio as its new senior vice president of product. Rossio brings over 20 years of product and marketing experience to her new role and was named to Crain’s 40 under 40 back in 2015. She’ll be responsible for product planning and roadmapping, a task which includes integrating images and video into PowerReviews’ software. [Business Wire]
ChoreRelief preps for growth after successful online public offering
ChoreRelief, an on-demand service for tackling household chores, announced that its Online Public Offering (OPO) brought in more than $42,000 from 70 investors. The cash infusion will help ChoreRelief continue its year of growth, which started in January with the launch of its iOS app. Funds from the OPO will be used to further develop the company’s tech and for marketing initiatives targeted at increasing awareness and recruiting more service providers and users.
Road to Status gains major boost with new partnership
This week Illinois Legal Aid Online (ILAO) announced an official partnership with Chicago immigration startup Road to Status. Road to Status is dedicated to simplifying immigration applications with a TurboTax-like approach. The partnership will allow those visiting the ILAO site to use the company’s immigration preparation software. Those referred to Road to Status for legal help from ILAO will receive a discount on services as well.
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