Home Chef brings home the bacon, announces acquisition
Wednesday, Kroger announced that it has acquired meal kit delivery company Home Chef. The deal is worth $200 million upfront and could rise to $700 million if the startup hits a series of growth targets over the next five years. For those keeping score at home, this is the third Chicago tech exit this year valued at over $150 million. Maestro Health was acquired back at the end of January for $155 million, and a few weeks later Cars.com scooped up Dealer Inspire and its close affiliate Launch Digital Marketing for a cool $165 million. [Built In Chicago]
One of Chicago’s coolest tech offices doubles in size
On Wednesday, Reverb.com revealed its recently expanded Lakeview headquarters. The new space measures 19,000 square feet and features a full video recording studio, walls lined with music-inspired art and a lot more desks. Reverb will increase its headcount, which currently sits at 170 people, by 50 percent this year. About half of those new hires will be for technical roles. [Built In Chicago]
CNBC makes it official: Uptake is disruptive
CNBC released its annual Disruptor 50 list on Tuesday, and for the second year in a row Uptake made the cut. The list highlights 50 private companies that are disrupting everything from biotech to transportation. Uptake is one of 33 unicorns on this year’s list. The company came in at number 39 this year after taking the five spot in 2017. [CNBC]
2018 Social New Venture Challenge winners announced
AIM Clinics has won the 2018 Social New Venture Challenge held by the University of Chicago Booth’s Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation. AIM Clinics, which earned $45,000 for placing first, provides autism therapy to children in rural communities in the United States. Shatki and VouchCircle tied for second place and were each awarded $15,000. Shatki helps functionally illiterate women in India access legal and health resources, and VouchCircle is a professional networking platform for underserved communities. [Rustandy Center blog]
Pareto Intelligence named a “best place to work” in healthcare
Modern Healthcare has named Pareto Intelligence, through its parent company Healthscape Advisors, one of its 2018 Best Places to Work in Healthcare. Pareto earned the award based on a combination of responses from an employees satisfaction survey and an evaluation of its perks, benefits and overall work-life balance conducted by Modern Healthcare. [Pareto Intelligence blog]
Pangea Money Transfer welcomes a new exec
Shafiq Shariff is the new VP of Product at Pangea Money Transfer. Shariff joins the company with extensive experience in Chicago tech. He was most recently SVP of Consumer Products at ShopRunner, and prior to that he was Head of Product at Groupon Goods. In his new role, Shariff will head up global product development and will also lead product analytics efforts. [PR Newswire]
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