Let's be honest. Launching a startup is always competitive. It requires discipline, resilience, and financial creativity. It's not just a fancy undertaking. It takes grit. Many founders quickly discover that early-stage companies often demand more money than they produce. While fundraising, customer acquisition, and product development take time, your personal expenses do not stop. At…
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In today’s high-interest, post-pandemic economy, small business owners are being forced to reevaluate how they access the capital needed to grow or simply stay afloat. Traditional Institutions are Tightening Standards Traditional lending institutions—once the go-to for business financing—are tightening their standards. At the same time, inflation and rising interest rates are making the cost of…
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Great White Financial is a Chicago company that pursues Venture Capital deals. Venture capital (VC) is a type of private equity financing provided to early-stage, high-potential, and often high-risk startup companies. It is a form of investment that involves institutional investors or high-net-worth individuals, providing capital to startups in exchange for equity ownership in the…
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What should small businesses be anticipating in this murky post pandemic environment? First, anyone starting up or at the helm of a young business can't look past the political environment. This was proven when highly politicized and unprecedented lockdowns were mandated. The industries that thrived were the pharmaceutical and big tech industries. Amazon, Netflix, Facebook,…
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SOURCE: CHICAGO INNO Two Chicago cleantech startups just got funding from the Clean Energy Trust, a fund that backs energy upstarts across the Midwest. The Chicago-based Clean Energy Trust announced Wednesday that it invested in Renewance, a startup focused on battery recycling that connects electric vehicle companies and other businesses to recycling solutions, and Iris Light Technologies, a maker…
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SOURCE: CHICAGO INNO With hospitals becoming overcrowded with coronavirus patients, a Chicago startup has developed a tech-based method to care for COVID-19 patients at home. Chicago telehealth startup 4D Healthware announced that it launched a new COVID-19 monitoring platform, based on its original software, which allows for remote monitoring, physician and lab supported diagnosis, and at-home treatment. By equipping…
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SOURCE: CHICAGO INNO Lewis Gruber, who’s turning 70 this year, says he has no plans on dying. Well, that’s not entirely true. The biotech entrepreneur has prepared a will. And when pressed on exactly how long he expects to live, he replied calmly, “Something on the order of 120 I wouldn’t think would be out…
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SOURCE: CHICAGO INNO BrewBike, a coffee startup with roots at Northwestern University, has secured $2 million from investors as it celebrates a major milestone—selling 100,000 cups of coffee. The startup announced Wednesday that it raised $2 million in a seed round led by CEAS Investments, a venture firm with a focus on early-stage consumer product companies. The…
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Source: Entrepreneur At the tender age of 19, Rob Rohn and Dan Mermelstein started selling aftermarket auto accessories from their college dorm room. Ten years, four locations and 23 employees later, Gilbert, Ariz.-based Vivid Racing is a $10 million business. We asked Rohn and Mermelstein, both 29, to share a few of the business insights…
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Source: ForbesO On a morning half-choked by smoke from the nearby California wildfires, Mariam Naficy, the CEO of Minted, unlocks the heart of her growing design empire. And is it ever dull. Absent are the bold printed pillows and the bookshelves made from reclaimed scaffolding found elsewhere in Minted’s San Francisco offices, the better to…
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