From new funding announcements to C-suite appointments, catch up on the latest Windy City tech news. Read up on the Chicago startup delivering Michelin-star meals to homes, or catch up on Screencastify’s new leadership appointments. This is the Built In Chicago Weekly Refresh.
United Airlines invested $5M in new sustainable fuels. United Airlines announced it invested $5 million into a California company called Viridos. The company makes algae products that can help decarbonize several sectors. With the investment, Viridos will develop a sustainable algae jet fuel. [Built In Chicago]
Trala raised $8M. Trala is an online music school that recently raised $8 million in a Series A round led by Seven Seven Six. With the funding, the startup will continue to expand its platform and add more courses to its platform. Since launching, Trala has raised $15 million in venture funding. [FinSMEs]
Techstars Chicago announced its spring 2023 cohort. Techstars Chicago selected 12 tech startups that provide care services to customers to participate in its spring 2023 accelerator program. The startups will receive mentoring over the next several months and pitch their companies to investors during a demo day in June. The CryptoMom App, a startup featured in the Built In Future 5 series, was selected as one of the 12 participating companies. [Built In Chicago]
Chicago Tech Quote of the Week
“The average Cambio member that comes to us has about $1,000 in balances that are in collections. So it’s not really this huge exuberant number. A lot of our members want to go and pay off the amount but they’re afraid to go talk to a collector because there’s a stigma and there’s fear. So we help them through that process by leveraging AI and we help them negotiate that debt down.” — Blesson Abraham, CEO and founder of Cambio
Cambio was featured in the Built In Future 5 series. Cambio is a fintech platform that helps consumers rebuild their credit and deal with debt collectors. The app uses artificial intelligence to help people talk with debt collectors. It also features several finance tools and services meant to help consumers increase their credit scores. Cambio was founded in 2020 and wants to add mortgage services to its platform. [Built In Chicago]
Entrée secured $2.5M. Entrée is a meal delivery platform founded in Chicago that delivers Michelin-star meals to customers’ homes. With a fresh round of pre-seed funding, the company plans to expand outside Chicago and develop an app for Android phones. [TechCrunch]
Screencastify appointed a new leadership team and CEO. Screencastify is an end-to-end video creation platform that can record, edit and share videos. The company announced it appointed a new CEO and CTO. Vishal Shah was appointed as CEO, and Paul Ray is the company’s new CTO. Screencastify also promoted Alex Stepien from CTO to president and CRO. [News Direct]
