G2 Crowd raises $55 million Series C
G2 Crowd’s investors are giving the company another vote of confidence. G2, whose website allows business to view and add reviews of digital B2B services, raised a $55 million Series C funding led by IVP. Additional contributions came from Emergence Capital and Accel. CEO Godard Abel said the company will expand its total employee count across Chicago, San Francisco and its international offices by 500 percent. [Built In Chicago]
RedShelf gets $25 million Series C for digital textbooks
RedShelf, the college e-book marketplace, raised a $25 million Series C. The company intends to use the funding to expand its partner base, evolve relationships with its existing network of 400 publishers, develop its course material software and hire up to 40 new staff. Investments were led by DNS Capital and additional funds were provided by Trading Technologies CEO Rick Lane, Shiftgig Executive Chairman and co-founder Eddie Lou, and former Morningstar COO and CTO Tao Huang. [Built In Chicago]
Amazon Go is coming to the Loop (again)
Chicago is now home to two Amazon Go stores. The tech giant opened its second cashier-free store, which sells pre-packaged meals, drinks and snacks, on Monday. The new store is located at 144 S. Clark and is a five minute walk from the first Amazon Go store that opened less than a month ago at 113 S. Franklin, which is near the Willis Tower. According to the Chicago Tribune, Amazon will soon open a third store in the Ogilvie Transportation Center at West Loop at 500 W. Madison St. The company’s reported goal is to have 3,000 Amazon Go stores nationwide by 2021. Five down, 2,995 to go. [The Chicago Tribune]
Logistyx Technologies hits massive growth milestone
Logistyx Technologies, which specializes in transportation execution systems and multi-carrier shipping software solutions, has doubled its headcount a little more than a year after launching. The company’s growth comes hot on the heels of the opening of its new North American corporate headquarters in Rolling Meadows, which features a cafe, fitness center and 300-person training center. Logistyx isn’t done growing yet, either. The company has more than 50 open roles across for both its North American and Europe on its product development, professional services, sales, marketing and operations teams. [PRWeb]
AVANT Communications teams up with Trustwave
Channel sales enablement technology company AVANT Communications has teamed up with cybersecurity company Trustwave. The partnership gives AVANT’s channel partners access to Trustwave’s managed security services. “Working with leading technology distributors like AVANT is a core growth strategy for Trustwave as we continue to offer customers compelling and effective solutions that help fight cybercrime,” said Trustwave’s General Manager of the Americas Rick Miller in a statement. [Business Wire]
3 companies make big hires
Enterprise cloud solution provider Unitas Global appointed Scott Walker as Chief Marketing Officer. The former VP of Global Alliances, Partner Marketing and WW Channels at Arcserve has two decades of experience in leading sales and marketing programs at large-scale tech companies, including Ericsson and Equinix. Walker will be tasked with strengthening Unitas Global market position in his new role. [Press release]
Sports data company STATS brought on Blake Konrardy as its new vice president of product. Konrardy will helm the company’s product roadmap which will govern the creation and development of its AI-backed fan engagement and on-the-field performance tracking tools. He was a founding member and vice president of HiRoad and has seven years of experience delivering AI-based products. [Business Wire]
Bento for Business, a provider of financial resources for small and medium sized businesses, appointed Flint Lane to its board of directors. Lane is the founder and CEO of the New Jersey-based Billtrust and was named as one of the 25 Most Influential Financial Operations Professionals by the Institute of Financial Operations. He will provide his years of experience as the company scales its commercial payments, treasury management and business banking services following a $9 million funding in June. [Press release]
