Digital Golf Technologies raises $2.5 for hole-in-ones
Digital Golf Technologies has perfected its own swing and landed a $2.5 million investment to advance its hole-in-one service for golf courses. The Chicago company, founded in 2015, is behind Swing King, which specializes in offering country clubs tech-enabled contests that give golfers opportunities to hit holes-in-one for cash prizes, with shots monitored via cameras and the entire system being POS-integrated. To date, Digital Golf Technologies has raised just shy of $7 million. [FormDs]
2ndKitchen cooks up $1.35M in funding
2ndKitchen will soon feed you at a local kitchen-less establishment following its recent raise of $1.35 million in funding. The company, which pairs businesses without kitchens with eateries right around the corner, received investments from Great North Labs, Bragiel Brothers, Liquid2 Ventures, MATH Venture Partners, M25 and Hyde Park Venture Partners, who led the round. The company was featured as one of our 50 startups to watch in 2019 and is currently hiring for new team members in Chicago, Milwaukee and Brooklyn. [Press release]
ActiveCampaign set to hire 70 sales and customer success staff
Cloud-based marketing SaaS provider ActiveCampaign is pushing to bring on a number of new customers and provide them, and existing clients, with all the support they need in 2019. The company announced this week that by the end of this year, it plans to bring on an additional 70 sales and customer success staff. ActiveCampaign doubled its staffing in these very departments last year, and it’s continuing the growth trend as it launches new products. The company moved into a new office last year and it’s already filling that space up quickly. [Press release]
Cooler Screens to test IoT-enabled cooler fronts at Walgreens
Pharmaceutical chain Walgreens started testing a new technology in its drink section by partnering with the Chicago-based Cooler Screens — a developer of IoT-enabled screens for fridges and freezers in retail stores. Door panels fitted with Cooler Screen tech are meant to act as smart advertisements that can react to who is viewing them or other factors, including what the weather is like outside. Walgreens started testing the screens in Chicago around November and has expanded to additional cities like Seattle and New York since then. Cooler Screens has previously partnered with companies that include Nestlé SA, MillerCoors LLC and Conagra Brands Inc. and was one of our 50 startups to watch last year. [Wall Street Journal]
Executive hires in the (very) Windy City
Keith Schwartz is the new CEO of the digital consulting firm Bounteous, which he helped co-found with outgoing CEO Phil Hollyer. Prior to his new appointment, Schwartz was the company president for 13 years. Hollyer will continue to serve the company, formerly known as HS2 Solutions, as executive chairman. “We share common business values and Keith has had critical experiences from overseeing our business development, client service, and marketing functions,” said Hollyer in a press release. [Press release]
Cloud-based automation platform Enfusion appointed Alison Stewart as vice president and product owner of Enfusion Visual Analytics — a newly released output at the company. Stewart will oversee the growth and development of the new project. She was previously enlisted in product development, marketing and sales roles during her 14 years spent at FactSet. [PR Newswire]
Enfusion also announced Wiktor Mikos as its new chief information officer. Mikos has over a quarter century in information technology experience and spent the previous five years as head of IT infrastructures and operations at Dash Financial Technologies. In his new role, Mikos will be responsible for managing Enfusion’s global IT infrastructure and operations environment. [PR Newswire]
Cryptocurrency spots and futures trading platform ErisX hired Arnold Connell as head of infrastructure. Before joining ErisX — one of our 50 Startups to Watch in 2019 — Connell spent 10 years working at a small Silicon Valley outfit called Google and, most recently, another three and half years in senior leadership positions at YouTube, where he led an international team of engineers. [Business Wire]
Automated fraud and risk detection service provider FRISS added David Fisher as a non-executive member of its board. Fisher has held a number of executive leadership positions and is currently the CEO of Enova. He sits on the board of directors at a number of companies including Grubhub, Roti Mediterranean Grill and InnerWorkings. “My experience with growing tech companies to truly global operations will help them expand to exceed the 35 countries they already serve,” said Fisher in a press release. [Business Wire]
