Chicago startup Archives - Page 6 of 6

Chicago Techweek: Mayor Emanuel Chicago To Be Known As Startup City

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel (photo: Chicagomag.com)

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel kicked off Chicago Techweek this morning at the Merchandise Mart to a standing room only crowd. His message was positive, and inviting for the thriving tech and startup community in the windy city.

Emanuel’s keynote kicked off the four day TechWeek conference in it’s second year. The conference expects to see over 5,000 attendees through Tuesday from all aspects of Chicago’s tech community.

While one of Chicago’s mainstays, Sears, is fighting for it’s business life, startups and tech companies are flourishing with Chicago’s expanding tech resources like the newly opened 1871.

Chicago is sometimes referred to as “The Second City” because for many years it was the second largest city in population next to New York City. It was eventually replaced by Los Angeles as the second city in terms of population, however it’s remained in third. However Emanuel says “three years from now it’ll be known as the startup city if we do everything right,”

Mayor Emanuel said that he and his administration are taking the steps to attract fresh young businesses. Some of those steps include making it easier to attract and hire fresh young talent. He also that the World Business Chicago and the city are planning a venture investor summit to showcase startups.

Mayor Emmanuel along with Illinois Governor Pat Quinn were very supportive of the new 1871 startup tech center.

Keep your browser locked to nibletz.com for more continuing coverage of Chicago TechWeek.

Linkage:

Source: Chicago Tribune

Nibletz coverage of Chicago TechWeek 2012

Nibletz is the voice of startups “everywhere else” here are more stories from “everywhere else”

Chicago Startup: OpenAirplane Rent Planes As Easily As Cars

A startup in Chicago is looking to change the game for about 96% of pilots who have their licenses but have been fed up with the current way planes are rented. Currently, after you’ve invested nearly $10,000 in a pilots license the next step is to start getting flight hours. Planes are quite costly so the easiest way to do that is to rent them.

Planes rent for roughly $185 per hour that the engines are actually turning. While it may seem like a costly hobby that’s just the start of it. Right now when you rent a plane you have to do what is called a “check out” with the plane rental company. It’s almost like a mini pilots test and can involve half the day and add money to your bottom line.

If you rent one plane in Chicago, and take it to Miami, and then rent a different, plane, but the exact same model for the return trip from Miami to Chicago you have to take another checkout “test”. They can’t just take the certificate or the word of the previous rental company.

OpenAirplane is trying to change that by offering a network of pilots who’ve taken a more universal “checkout” annually. By having their network of pilots take one “universal” checkout it speeds up the process, cuts down the frustration and ultimately adds up to more rented plane hours and more revenue for the plane rental companies.

OpenAirplane’s two founders Adam Fast and Rod Rakic are both pilots themselves and have experienced these pains first hand.

Fast and Rakic have gotten out of the office and into the field and successfully recruited every single major insurance carrier that provides insurance to plane rental companies, on board with their idea. This is not a matter of the TSA or the FAA. In fact Rakic told a group after a pitch in Chicago that the FAA would prefer that more pilots were renting and ultimately flying.

After a major aviation industry trade event in Florida, Rakic and Fast were able to recruit over 2700 pilots to their network which is still in stealth mode, but will roll out publicly, very shortly.

OpenAirplane will then serve as a network to connect pilots to plane rentals and even customers. Their “network” will be free for pilots and rental companies to join. OpenAirplane will take a revenue cut from the rental companies who ultimately should be more than happy to share in revenue because OpenAirplane will generate more rentable hours all around.

In addition to putting more money in the rental companies pockets, and more flight hours for the pilots, they will also make private rentals and flying safer. They can make this claim because their “universal” checkout test will be streamlined so that every pilot takes the same test and also because it will be an annual requirement. The FAA only requires pilots to test every two years.

Now as Rakic says, pilots with a pilot license in their back pocket will be able to book their next flight online and grab the keys, the checklist and go.

Linkage:

We’re featuring Chicago all week long in preparation for TechWeek, more info on that here

Check out OpenAirplane at their website here

Check out their pitch video on their Angel.co page here

We need some help to get to Chicago check this out IT’S JUST TWO BUCKS

Chicago Startup: Ox&Pen Loyalty & Reward Network INTERVIEW

Loyalty and Reward startups are hot right now. One thing that some of the newer entries into the space are learning is that people are tired of accumulating points and rewards at one place, that they can only spend at one place. Philadelphia’s Lokalty, DesMoines startup FreeBee Cards and Kansas’ Front Flip are all loyalty reward networks that allow users to earn points in one place and spend them at another.

Chicago’s Ox&Pen takes that reward philosophy and brings it to the bustling city of Chicago. Ox&Pen isn’t just about checkout reward points though. With the OxandPen app you can earn points by checking into network places, socially sharing network places and of course with purchase rewards.

The app is quite robust and feature packed while keeping the UI graphically rich and easily organized. There is also no printing involved with Ox&Pen, everything happens in-app including redemption.

With Ox&Pen once you accumulate enough in network points the rewards are free and require no additional purchase.

The best part about the network? It’s reserved for local, independent, unique merchants. You won’t find deals or rewards for big box national chains on Ox&Pen, but you will find promotions for Vera, The Fifty/50, Krista K Boutique, Bleeding Heart Bakery, Dog-a-holics, Roots Pizza and more (only in Chicago at this time). And, of course, you can earn loyalty points at these placesand redeem them anywhere in the network.

We got a chance to interview Ox&Pen, check out the interview below the break.

Chicago Startups: Catapult Chicago Announces Freshman Class

A new startup accelerator/incubator has announced it’s freshman class. They have 7 startups in this first round, that were selected out of hundreds of applications. According to FoxBusiness, the 7 startups were chosen by their peers, founders of startups themselves.

Catapult Chicago will furnish very reduced rate office and common space, access to resources and mentors as well as equipment and other services that startups need. The seven companies in the first class will also work in a collaborative setting so that they can bounce ideas off of other founders in like minded situations.

The first seven companies have a six month tenancy with the option to renew at the end of the period.

“We interviewed over 100 companies and the caliber of the new startups speaks well of our peer- selection model,”Catapult Chicago Co-Founder Ryan Leavitt told Fox Business. “These companies will add to the spirit at Catapult which, in many ways, acts as one collective startup with 12 different business lines.”

The startups in the freshman class at Catapult Chicago have good pedigrees as well. Mixed in the bunch are graduates of Chicago’s own Excelerate Labs, Techstars Cloud in San Antonio, and BluePrint Health in New York.

Here’s the class:

Dabble, a platform for users to sell in person classes for $20 with a wide range of curriculum available.

Buzz Referrals a marketing promotion platform.

Bucketfeet, an artist designed footwear company.

Kula, a peer to peer mobile market place.

Shiftgig a networking site for the service industry

Temp a Big Data startup.

Precured Health, a Health 2.0 startup that helps hospitals discover and evaluate medical devices.

While a lot of the attention in the Chicago incubator/accelerator scene has been on 1871, Catapult Chicago is a welcomed piece of Chicago’s thriving tech scene. They occupy 12,000 square feet of Class A office space in the River North Area which is the focal point of Chicago’s startup scene.

Linkage:

Find out more about Catapult Chicago here

Source: Fox Business

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Chicago Startup: Justice Bid, Bid Out Legal Projects INTERVIEW

Law firms spend millions of dollars a year contracting legal work out to third parties. Whether it be research, document reviews, investigative work or any of the hundreds of tasks that can be handled by third parties, there is an entire industry of service providers for law firms.

Typically law firms contract with one or two service providers for each type of outsourced work. Sometimes they spend more than they could on this legal work whether it be out of the convenience of using the same provider over and over again or there just aren’t enough service providers in their immediate local area to offer competitive pricing.

Also, as busy as legal firms are these days it’s hard to find the time to evaluate and outsource other service providers.

Now, a new Chicago startup called Justice Bid allows law firms to anonymously bid out projects to service providers and get the best quotes. Everyone knows that legal fees aren’t cheap but hopefully if law firms turn to this new service, and new way to bid out jobs, they could save their clients some money as well.

When the law firm is just billing the client back for this third party work anyway, as a client you would be happy to know they are looking to save you some money.

Justice Bid was founded by Omar Sweiss. Omar is an attorney himself and he founded Justice Bid by solving a problem that even his firm was experiencing.

We got the opportunity to talk with Justice Bid’s Chief Operating Officer Justin Strane about this new startup, in virtually its own space.

Check out the interview, after the break
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Chicago Startup: Chippewa Five Supplying Beer Pong Tables To Facebook And More

Zynga and Facebook have more in common than just social online gaming. A Chicago Startup called Chippewa Five has helped both Zynga and Facebook get back into physical gaming, at least in their offices.

Chippewa Five or C5 for short, makes professional grade, furniture style beer pong tables. Wait, beer pong? Yes beer pong. Their tables are high quality wood finished tables with a secret skeet shot capability and dining grade table legs. Just look at the picture.

As we learn in our interview with co-founder Daniel Manriquez both Facebook and Zynga have a C5 beer pong table in their offices. It’s not the least bit crazy we’ve actually seen a good dozen or so incubators, and startup offices that have the beer pong tables you can get at Spencers in offices. That’s the “boot strap” version.

Manriquez along with co-founder Joseph Mollo learned that they could take a favorite college past time for themselves and many from their generation and make an actual business out of it. After selling a few tables via easy, and a flash sale on fab.com (the Facebook table) they’ve decided to make a real go out of high end beer pong.

More after the break
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Chicago Startup: PortaPocket Has A Safe Place For Your Stuff INTERVIEW

We recently brought you the story of the innovative JoeyBra. The JoeyBra is obviously for women and it incorporates pockets in the sides of the bras to hold anything from your credit cards and cash to your cell phone. The JoeyBra was recently featured in a Seattle area tech event and has now been featured all over the internet.

It’s actually that story that led us to meeting Kendra Kroll. Kroll is also a woman entrepreneur and her innovative product called PortaPockets add a pocket for you to carry your stuff even if you don’t have pockets. They’re perfect for running, beach days, or just as an extra place to keep your cell phone, cash, and other personal items.

The biggest difference between the PortaPocket and the JoeyBra is the fact that men can use it too. Kroll launched her company, Undercover Solutions in 2007 and has recently added a new bling line. She’s still pretty much self funded. A few years later, and with this recent boom in smartphones, it’s time for PortaPocket to shine, because it is a great idea.

We got a chance to interview Kroll, so let’s see what she says about Under Cover solutions and her invention, the PortaPocket.

What is portapocket?

PortaPocket is a patented strap-onto-the-body carrying case system that makes life easier and brings peace of mind…it’s THE solution for pocket-challenged outfits everywhere.

Wrap the lightweight neoprene PortaPocket band around your thigh, calf, ankle, arm or waist and wear under or over the clothing. It’s detachable, interchangeable and easy to use. So comfy you almost forget it’s there. Pockets attach onto the band and swap out to carry the things you need on any given day. Perfect for small valuables and essentials like ID, cash, cards, keys, cell phones, lipstick, tampons, cameras, passports, insulin pumps, inhalers, epipens, more. Use ’em solo or even WITH that stylish bag or purse to keep more important items closer. Never risk theft, loss and inconvenience that comes with keeping things apart from your person. Now you can lose the worry… not your stuff! Ideal for working out, going out, travel and every day.

More after the break
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Chicago Startup: Journatic Under Fire For Partnership With Chicago Tribune

Journatic, a chicago based new media startup that delivers content for some of the major newspapers across the country in a quasi-syndication form, has gone under fire for inking a partnership with the Chicago Tribune. In reading about this all over the internet it seems a bit crazy that they’ve had such blowback from Chicago.

The company produces content for cities all over the country including, Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Miami and other large metropolitan areas.

The Tribune deal has come under fire because the newspaper giant laid off many of it’s local beat reporters in lieu of using the Journatic service. Journatic is actually based in the Chicago Tribune tower so the Tribune didn’t go far for this outsourcing, and unfortunately it’s the way many papers are going, as they lose more and more readership to the internet.

It was widely reported that Journatic’s executive editor Peter Behle offered Journatic staffers a $50 bounty to not engage in conversation about the upcoming lucrative deal with the Tribune and instead talk to a supervisor. They probably didn’t want Tribune reporters asking Journatic reporters about the deal out on smoke breaks in common areas in the Tribune Tower.

More after the break
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Chicago Startup: Woman Owned SpaSircle Connects You With Medical Spa Treatments

A new woman owned startup in Chicago is taking on the task of educating women about medical spa treatments and then connecting them to carefully curated providers with discounts. SpaSircle offers women discounts on laser hair removal, Botox, dermal filters, chemical peels and more.

While some may be skeptical of finding information on a discount driven site online, Jessica Wiser the founder of SpaSircle has taken every precaution to make sure that SpaSircle isn’t just offering discounts and information, but that it’s a safe marketplace as well. As Wiser explains later in our interview, her and her physician advisory board make sure that SpaSircle keeps out the “riff raff”.

We caught up with Jessica for a quick startup interview.

Briefly describe SpaSircle

SpaSircle is a website designed to educate women on medical spa treatments, such as Botox, laser hair removal, dermal fillers, and chemical peels, while also providing great discounts on these procedures! Physicians want to be listed on SpaSircle, because it is an exclusive group of physicians that can only be invited to join. We have a board of physicians who have screened all medical spas and physicians in the Chicago area who do these procedures, to make sure that the provider we send our members to is well trained, and will give their patients the very best results. We are the only website with discounted procedures and Chicago’s premiere physicians that people can trust, so we feel we’re poised to take this business from GroupOn and other daily deal sites.

Who are the founders and what are their backgrounds?

I am the founder of SpaSircle, but do have some employees that have been crucial to the success of the company. Amy Phillips, in particular, has been head of sales and just like a partner to me.

More after the break
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Chicago Startup: Iconicast’s “Smurks” Puts The Heart In The Machine

How can you share that smile on your face through digital and mobile? How often have you misinterpreted the context of a text message because you didn’t know how the other person was feeling. Does that LOL mean laugh out loud, that’s really funny. Or does that LOL mean laugh out loud you’re really stupid?

Iconicast, a Chicago Startup, co-founder Pat Burns took the stage at DEMO in Santa Clara CA last week and talked about the three stooges movie he just saw. He gave the example of talking with a friend who asked how the movie was. In his presentation he pointed out that if the friend was in front of him the look on his face would tell the complete story.

That’s what smirks is all about. Now when you first look at Smurks, the new app by Iconicast, it may appear to be a 2012 take on the emoticon. However, the gesture based app is an extension of human emotion. Swiping up shows off a happy face, swiping down sad. Left and right offer equally as polarizing emotions via the app. In fact there are many different faces that you can make.

More after the break
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Chicago Startup: MentorMob Teams Up With Girl Scouts & Motorola For Online Badge System

Chicago Startup MentorMob Is Taking Girlscout Badges Online (photo Jose M. Osario/Chicago Tribune)

One things for sure, these aren’t your momma’s brownies.

The Girl Scouts of America are going high tech with the help of Chicago startup MentorMob and technology/financial partner Motorola Mobility Foundation.

Last month MentorMob was the recipient of a $150,000 prize as part of the Digital Media and Learning Competition, a contest sponsored by the Mozilla Foundation and others. MentorMob aggregates web based learning content into playlists. Mentor Mob CEO Kris Chinosorn describes what they do at MentorMob as crowd sourced learning.

MentorMob was originally set up to do learning content and that infrastructure is already in place. With the grant money from the Digital Media and Learning Competition they are building the framework for a certification and badge system. While the badge system is being designed for the Girl Scouts, Chinosorn is going to scale the technology to fit in any kind of setting. The certification system they are building will also be able to implement tests and quizzes to assess the level at which someone has learned the content.

More after the break
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Interview: Chicago Startup Toodalu Has It All Figured Out, Reward With Cash, Donate To Charity

Great things happen in Chicago, despite what anybody else says. Toodalu is one of those great things. Founded by three friends that met in (dare I say) Chicago’s thriving tech scene, Todd O’Hara, Ravi Singh and Chris Lubinski, they set out to provide another mobile startup that caters to the reward/engagement/loyalty space but they’ve hit something on the head with greatness, and that is CASH IS KING.

With the new Toodalu app when you shop at a participating merchant you get 5% cash back on your credit card and another 5% donated to charity. Which charity? Whichever one you want. We know that Target lets you donate to a ton of charities but with Toodalu you don’t need to have your charity on a list, it just needs to be a real charity.

“The user can choose ANY non-profit to give to! That’s the key element that excites our users and merchants. In addition, a user can select up to one hundred different charitable organizations to support and select how, exactly, they wish to distribute the giving by allocating percentages.” O’Hara told us in an interview.

Not only is Toodalu of epic greatness because they’ve already figured out the reward and the charity but it’s simple. We got a chance to catch up with O’Hara, who by the way Trevor was up at 10pm answering questions for us, way past the 5pm Pando curfew. The first thing we wanted to know is how did you stumble upon such a great idea:

Toodalu is a new breed of loyalty rewards. Just link any credit or debit card to your Toodalu account and when you use that card any partner location, 5% of every purchase is donated to the charity of your choice. We are proud to help charities raise boat loads of money while attaching purpose to the purchases of our users. The idea was born from the question,”how can we increase participation rates for charitable giving?”

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Chicago Startup: FlyWhim Wants You To Imagine If You Bid On Airfare Like Hotwire

Are you familiar with Hotwire? Most people who travel all the time have either used Hotwire, checked Hotwire or know about Hotwire. They were the first on the hotel booking scene with blind box bidding on hotel rooms. The way it was originally designed to work is hotels would load up their unused inventory, you would see a price and general location but not the hotel name and you could get between 40%-70% off your hotel stay. They would tell you the name of the hotel and the address after you booked.

Hotwire doesn’t quite work like that anymore. Sure they still do blind box bidding but you get the same deals as you’d get with just about any hotel site. For last-minute booking the only app really doing it right is Hotel Tonight, but that’s another story for another day.

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Chicago Startup TechMoola Helping Startups Make Money And Loving The Chicago Tech Scene.

The house music capital of the USA is about to become the capital of startups in the USA if these Chicago based entrepreneurs have anything to do with it. You may recall a couple weeks back Pando Daily sent a young reporter to Chicago who reported back that there was nothing to report here. Pando Daily’s Trevor Gilbert could not have been more off base.

We’ve already shared a few great startups out of Chicago with KlutchClub and Planfast, today we’re talking the important stuff, TechMoola. Everyone needs money and TechMoola has a startup that is a platform for other startups to make money. Co-Founders Solomon Nabatiyan and Tom Kelly are gearing the TechMoola platform exclusively to technology based startups.

We got a chance to talk with Nabatiyan who loves the city of Chicago as much (if not more than) Patrick Stump.

1. What is Techmoola

TechMoola.com is an online platform for tech entrepreneurs and startup companies to do project fundraising in the technology space. TechMoola enables inventors/entrepreneurs to raise project funding and build a support/partnership/customer base through an online forum.

Unlike Kickstarter and other sites which feature “technology” but actually host artistic venture or design projects/products that mainly are additio

2. Who are the founders, what did they do before this

Solomon Nabatiyan is a research professor in the biomedical sciences at Northwestern University, Evanston as well as the founder and CEO of a Chicago-based biotech company, Cervia Diagnostic Innovations, a social venture company that focuses on cervical cancer technologies for use in the developing world. His research work centers on the development of a new generation of HIV and cancer diagnostics to improve the quality of care and access to those who need it most.

Tom Kelly is a serial entrepreneur and digital guru in the Chicago area with an interest in web technologies that empower people and have a social impact. Among his many startups, CharityAuctionsToday.com has proven his most successful. He continues to bring innovation to how people can use the web to make the world around them a more sustainable and awesome place.

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