INNOVATE® Chicago Vol.1

WHAT WE DO At Empist, we make it our mission to provide businesses of any size with the resources they need to thrive in the ever-changing technological landscape. With two decades of multifaceted technology experience, our team is ready to help you develop a tailored plan to scale your business....

Roomii is an online marketplace that lets you lease out your furniture to people who don’t want to own it. Our platform lets you earn a return on your furniture investment while helping people furnish their space short-term with quality pre-owned furniture. Roomii’s story began in the spring of 2020....

Established in 2002 as the Chicago Innovation Awards, Chicago Innovation has grown from a single awards ceremony to a year-round series of events and programs to empower Chicago’s innovation ecosystem. Its vision is to solidify the Chicago region as a global hub of innovation and ensure that innovation is for...

Cyber security is an arms race that is positioned to continue indefinitely. New technologies are constantly emerging to combat cyber criminals, but regardless, criminals discover how to exploit them. Managed Detection and Response (MDR) and other security-focused vendors detect many of these attacks and alert their customers and the community,...

The Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (IHCC) is a community of business owners, entrepreneurs, and professionals committed to empowering individuals by helping them start and grow their businesses. As the largest community of Latino business owners across Illinois and the Midwest, they represent more than 100,000 businesses. Latinos in Illinois...

Chicago HOPES for Kids is the only organization in Chicago that provides educational after school and remote learning programs for students experiencing homelessness in grades Kindergarten through 9th, directly to the shelters and communities where they live. It is our mission to provide students with the resources and encouragement they...

At P33, we started with one question: How does Chicago, and our region, stack up as a technology and innovation center? Through conversations with hundreds of technology and business leaders, founders, and tech workers, we learned we Chicago’s reputation as a tech center lags behind its perception.   We launched...

WHO WE AREDevbridge is a technology partner for forward-thinking Global 2000 companies looking to shift to a product-centric operating model. We build extraordinary custom software that delivers measurable results for our clients and their customers.   Using our proven methodology, data-informed strategy, and proprietary Devbridge Apollo toolkit, we not only...

PechaKucha was born in 2003 because people talk too much. That’s what happens when passionate people gather together to share ideas and creations. PechaKucha, which means “chit-chat” in Japanese, was founded in Tokyo by architects Mark Dytham and Astrid Klein of Klein Dytham architecture. It originated as a “20×20’’ live...

We exist to empower humanity with full access and visibility of deep sea data that enables a deeper understanding and accountability of impact to drive better decision making.   We believe that a deeper understanding of the oceans is achievable through technological advancements in robotic autonomy and data visualization —...

As the first and largest digital platform for finding in-home care, Sittercity, a Bright Horizons company, has come a long way since 2001. , We were the first to make online child care an employee benefit and we continue to connect millions of parents with babysitters and nannies every year....

INSTASHIELD FILLS PPE SHORTAGE, DONATES 1 MILLION SHIELDS TO PEOPLE IN NEED InstaShield™ is a new kind of face shield that ships flat and is folded to fit over a cap or visor. The company was founded in March 2020 by Dan Brown Jr. to help fill the nation’s PPE...

Envoy is a global immigration services provider offering the only immigration management platform that makes it seamless for companies to hire and manage an international workforce. We combine expert legal representation and proprietary technology to bring efficiency and transparency to the immigration process for employers and employees.   At Envoy...

Our Mission At Topstep, our goal is to be where the world goes to safely engage in and profit from the financial markets. In a nutshell, what we do at Topstep is break down the barriers to entry in what has historically been a very exclusive industry. Our mission is...

ABOUT BMOFor over 200 years, BMO has been helping individuals and families, small and medium-sized businesses, corporations and institutions that form the backbone of the communities we serve. We are a highly diversified financial services provider, with a deep sense of purpose and a clear strategy for driving strong customer...

According to the National Network to End Domestic Violence’s 2021 DV Counts Report, agencies were unable to provide emergency shelter to 1,982 adults and 1,184 children nationwide in just one day. Annualized, that’s 723,430 adults and 432,160 children who are left without access to emergency domestic violence shelters each year....

Healthcare providers are overwhelmed and medical protocols change fast. AgileMD ensures that nurses and doctors can rapidly understand a patient’s status and follow the most current clinical best practices to provide optimal care. The company’s software offers real-time predictive analytics and adaptive clinical guidance that is deeply integrated into the...

The acute shortage of technology workers in the United States has driven up wages significantly. The median annual salary of an entry-level employee working on a help desk is $53,470, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The median salary for all tech workers is $81,000. The expected growth...

TERA-print is a nanotechnology company that is unlocking the power of ultrahigh precision prototyping with their innovative desktop nanoprinters. This technology is disrupting the way next-generation come to life, such as miniaturized sensors 1/100th the size of your fingernail, highly accurate diagnostic tests for diseases from cancer to Alzheimer’s, and...

Steadfast began in 1998 as an internet-technology passion project for Steadfast’s Founder, Karl Zimmerman, when he was only 14 years old. Karl’s dream to help companies with their data hosting and security needs started early on, and through these relationships, Karl learned there was a frustrating gap with many hosting...

When a financial institution’s customers are financially healthy, everyone wins. SpringFour, an award-winning social impact fintech and a Certified B Corporation, connects financial institutions’ customers with resources that help them make their payments and get back on their feet. With a digital-based platform of more than 20,000 vetted financial resources,...

A former traveling salesman driving more than 3,000 miles each week, Farmer’s Fridge Founder and CEO Luke Saunders was frustrated with the lack of healthy, 24/7 options available on the road. Determined to solve this challenge, he built a high-tech smart Fridge that dispenses fresh meals within seconds. Despite facing...