G2 Crowd is hiring — a lot
On Wednesday, B2B software review platform G2 Crowd announced that it has raised a $30 million Series B round of funding led by Accel. The funding will be used to scale the company across all departments and expand its reach in the industry. The company’s newest lead investor is headquartered in Silicon Valley and counts companies like Facebook, Dropbox, Slack and Atlassian among its portfolio companies. Pritzker Group Venture Capital and LinkedIn also participated in the round. [Built In Chicago]
DraftKings is planning a Chicago expansion
Boston-based fantasy sports company DraftKings is planning to open an office in Chicago. An executive from the company toured several offices in Fulton Market and River North last week, according to Crain's. The newspaper said the new office might have as many as 50 employees. DraftKings currently employs 350 people. [Crain's]
Booth receives $20M for social innovation center
The University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business just got a $20 million cash infusion for socially conscious entrepreneurship. The donation came from Tandean Rustandy, an Indonesian entrepreneur and class of 2007 Booth alumnus. Following the donation, Chicago Booth’s Social Enterprise Initiative is changing its name to the Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation. [Chicago Tribune]
Peanut Butter to pitch at Google Demo Day
At the end of last week, Google for Entrepreneurs announced that Chicago student loan repayment startup Peanut Butter will be pitching at the 2017 Google Demo Day. Peanut Butter’s technology lets companies provide student loan assistance to their employees as a benefit. The pitch will take place on June 8, and will be live streamed on the Google for Entrepreneurs YouTube channel. [Press release]
Raise launches mobile wallet app
On Wednesday, Raise released a new mobile wallet app for iOS and Android devices. Raise Wallet lets users store their pre-paid cards and use them for everyday purchases, both in-store and online. The app also has location technology that can notify consumers when they are close to a location in which a gift card can be used. [PR Newswire]
It’s university pitch competition season
Provide, which builds software for daycare business owners that helps them navigate taxes, licensing and government subsidies, won the University of Chicago’s 2017 Social New Venture Challenge. Flipside, a media startup that makes it easier to seek out different points of view, and JuryCheck, which helps attorneys combat underrepresentation in jury pools, tied for second place. [Press release]
IFM, which automates warehouse inventory tracking with flying robots, took first place in Northwestern University’s VentureCat pitch competition on Wednesday. The startup, whose robots navigate indoor environments using computer vision, received $30,000 from the university. Tiltas, which helps the formerly incarcerated re-integrate with society, and employee engagement startup Quickpulse took home second and third place, respectively. [Chicago Inno]
Earlier this week, the University of Chicago announced the finalists for its 21st annual pitch competition, which for the first time since its founding will feature 11 companies instead of 10. In addition to companies with connections to the Booth School of Business Chicago campus, this year’s contest will also feature a pitch from TAINA — a London-based startup that won Booth’s Global New Venture Challenge earlier this year. [Built In Chicago]
Personnel changes
Online car classified titan Cars.com announced on Monday that it has appointed Jennifer Newman as its new editor-in-chief. A nine year veteran at Cars.com, Newman’s most recent role at the company was managing editor. [PR Newswire]
Chicago tech entrepreneur Jimmy Odom announced late last week that he is taking on a new role as director of inclusive entrepreneurship at ChicagoNext. Odom left a job with the State of Illinois earlier this month, citing lack of investment in minority constituents. [Chicago Tribune]
More fundings
Upfront Healthcare Services, a Chicago healthtech startup that helps physician practices get smarter about their scheduling, announced late last week that it has raised a $5.6 million Series A round of funding to support growth and accelerate its product development cycle. Nashville Capital Network led the round, in which Echo Health Ventures, Hyde Park Venture Partners and Martin Venture participated. [Built In Chicago]
Rentalutions, which makes cloud-based software that streamlines operations for part-time landlords, announced on Thursday that it has raised $2 million to add features and make additional hires. Cultivation Capital led the investment, with participation from Chicago firms M25 and Sandalphon Capital. [Chicago Tribune]
Late last week, Precognitive closed a $1.25 million seed round led by Corazon Capital to build a cloud-based platform that helps online retailers, banks and payment processors take on the country’s uptick in online credit card fraud. The company does so by using advanced analytics and techniques typically employed by advertisers to determine whether to accept a card before the transaction goes through. [Built In Chicago]
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