Marijuana legalization has the budding industry staffing up. The legalization of marijuana approved by the General Assembly on Friday will likely put the Illinois cannabis industry at a 600-person headcount, reported Crain’s. Legalization of recreational cannabis will take effect on January 1 next year. [Crain’s]
Halo Investing just raised a $12M Series B. The fintech startup, which lets investors put money into structured notes, will use the funding to take its offerings abroad. [Built In Chicago]
Legacy.com’s cool new HQ in the Loop. Named one of the top 50 most-trafficked websites in the U.S., Legacy.com is a provider of online obituaries. The new colorful and vibrant space has replaced two different suburb locations. [Built In Chicago]
Burrow is opening a brick-and-mortar location in Chicago. Burrow, a direct to consumer couch company whose furniture can be assembled in 10 minutes with no tools needed, is building a retail space to showcase its sofa. The store will open on June 13th in Fulton Market. [Press Release]
Waze is teaming up with Arrive to make it easier to go to your favorite concerts and sporting events with a new feature called “GamePlan.” The new feature helps drivers navigate the temporary road closures and traffic congestion that comes with major events, and get to their parking spots faster. [Business Wire]
Lightstream launched a new game key management tool. The startup, whose offerings include a cloud-based live streaming studio and an analytics suite for streamers, created the new tool to make it easier for streamers to connect with game publishers and developers. The offering is delivered through Arsenal.gg, which Livestream acquired in March. [Built In Chicago]
The University of Chicago Booth School of Business hosted its yearly Social New Venture Challenge startup competition. The winner? Debate it Forward: a startup that uses debate to teach students necessary skills like analytical reasoning and self-advocacy. They won a big $60,000 for their venture. [University of Chicago]
Two senior management team members joined the BigTime team. Previously Chief financial officer at Hireology, Peter Dede has been named CFO at BigTime, overseeing the firm’s financing and accounting teams. BigTime also has hired Jason Stephenson as VP of marketing to scale its marketing team. [Business Wire]
Truss’ new launch: a platform for brokers with complete price transparency. Deal! The Chicago based commercial real estate marketplace is launching Truss CRE, which will streamline leasing transactions, making it easy on brokers. With more than 50 percent of broker firms in Boston’s downtown area signed up, Truss plans to expand Truss CRE into more markets, and soon. [Press Release]
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