This past week the Chicago tech scene saw two funding announcements and VC executives shared their predictions from about the future of the local tech community. Read up on those predictions, or learn about a Chicago-based company changing the professional development industry. This is the Built In Chicago Weekly Refresh.
Stride raised $750K. Stride is a professional development platform that provides on-demand content and coaching to employees through Slack and Microsoft Teams integrations. The startup was founded in 2019 by Aaron Levy and Justin Cardillo and recently secured $750,000 in funding from Lightbank. With the fresh capital, the company will develop new features for its platform and make new hires. [Built In Chicago]
Local VC firms are predicting a strong 2023. Chicago Inno spoke with several Chicago-based venture capital founders and executives about the current venture funding landscape. Many predicted that funding would pick back up later this year. One founder told Inno that investors across the U.S. are sitting on $290 billion in funding that needs to find its way into tech companies. Some of those funds are held by Chicago VC firms. [Chicago Inno]
Chicago Tech Quote of the Week
“Reach Pathways is grounded in the belief that a student’s zip code shouldn’t determine their life outcomes. At Reach Pathways, success looks like diverse young adults accessing better careers, increasing their lifetime earnings and creating multi-generational wealth in Chicago and beyond.” — Jeffery Beckham Jr., co-founder of Reach Pathways and CEO of Chicago Scholars
South by Southwest announced a Chicago startup will pitch at this year’s event. Chicago-based tech startup Reach Pathways will compete at SXSW’s annual pitch competition. Founded by local educational nonprofit Chicago Scholars, Reach Pathways developed a metaverse to help high school and college students with college counseling, mentoring, skill training and more. Currently, there are nearly 3,000 people using Reach Pathways’ beta version. [Built In Chicago]
Hecate Energy secured a $550M credit facility package. The credit facility will be used to expand Hecate Energy’s solar and energy storage projects. The Chicago-based company was founded in 2012 and develops solar, wind and energy solutions. According to Crunchbase, Hecate Energy raised an undisclosed amount of funding in 2021. [PR Newswire]
