Groupon announces Super Bowl spokesperson
Groupon announced that comedian and “Girls Trip” actress Tiffany Haddish will star in its upcoming Super Bowl ad. In addition to her work on stage and screen, Haddish is also a verified Groupon super fan. She joined the platform in 2013 and ranks in the top 1 percent of customers as measured by total purchases. [Press release]
G2 Crowd releases list of best software companies
G2 Crowd, whose platform allows users to review business software and services, has released its list of the 100 Best Software Companies of 2018. The list, which is based on G2 Crowd user reviews, saw Slack take the top spot. Shopify, Google, Mailchimp and Salesforce rounded out the top five. Three Chicago companies made the list: Basecamp (12), ActiveCampaign (35) and Sprout Social (39). [G2 Crowd]
Evive announces $43M in funding
Evive raised $43 million in new funding last week. Susquehanna Growth Equity led the round, the company’s first-ever outside investment. The startup said it will use the fresh funds to up its team size and accelerate product development. [Built In Chicago]
Chicago tech welcomes several new execs
Carl Mergele is the new CEO of STATS. Prior to joining the company, Mergele was EVP and international general manager of Lexmark Enterprise Software. He was formerly CEO at both Brainware, Inc. and SER Solutions, Inc. [Business Wire]
LotLinx has a new COO in Gee Leung. Before joining the automotive technology company, Leung was a partner at technology investment bank AGC Partners. [PR Newswire]
Manu S. Sivanandam is COO at Envoy. Sivanandam is a Chicago tech veteran who was a VP at both Orbitz and UpRight Law. [Press release]
Tech.Co acquired
Tech news and events company Tech.Co has been acquired by London-based digital marketing firm MVF. Tech.Co was founded by Frank Gruber and Jennifer Consalvo in 2011, but the company traces its origins back to 2006. That year, Gruber and Eric Olson launched Tech Cocktail, a company that brought together the Chicago tech community through events. Terms of the deal were not announced. [Tech.Co]
Devbridge Group announces Sourcery Academy Chicago
Software design and development firm Devbridge Group is launching the Sourcery Academy, a program that provides hands-on real-world product management experience. The program lasts four-weeks and kicks off April 10th. The application process is now open and closes March 2nd. [Devbridge Group]
RetireUp makes acquisition
RetireUp, which builds retirement planning software for financial advisors, has acquired RepPro, a smart forms company based in Southfield, Michigan. The move comes hot on the heels of the launch of RetireUp Pro, an end-to-end retirement planning platform developed by the two companies. [PR Newswire]
