61st Edition

📍 This Week’s Lineup:

🔋 Bedrock Materials Moves HQ from SV to Chicago

📊 Chart of the Week

📆 Events Around the City

🔙 Previous Editions of the Driver’s Seat

🔋 Bedrock Materials Moves HQ from Silicon Valley to Chicago

Last week, Bedrock Materials CEO Spencer Gore announced his company's move from Silicon Valley to Chicago.

Here are the summarized reasons for this decision in his own words:

The Challenges of Silicon Valley

• Silicon Valley's high cost of living makes it difficult for companies to attract and retain talent.

• High housing costs prevent even highly trained scientists from owning homes.

• The financial anxiety of employees in Silicon Valley is significant, leading to high turnover.

Chicago: The Best Kept Secret in Battery Industry

• Chicago has a rich history of energy innovation, including Argonne National Laboratory's contributions to battery technology.

• The city offers access to top materials science talent from Northwestern University, the University of Illinois, and the Illinois Institute of Technology.

• Chicago provides unmatched R&D infrastructure with numerous X-ray diffractometers and electron microscopes.

Quality of Life in Chicago

• Chicago's affordable housing market allows employees to own homes early in their careers.

• The city offers diverse professional opportunities across finance, consulting, academia, manufacturing, government, and technology.

• Chicago boasts extensive cultural amenities, including museums, theaters, restaurants, and safe suburban communities with top-ranked public schools.

Bedrock Materials' Vision

• Bedrock Materials aims to re-industrialize the Midwest and support large-scale battery production.

• The company focuses on developing sodium-ion batteries as a supplement to lithium-ion technology.

• Bedrock Materials invites scientists to join their mission in Chicago. Read Spencer’s full blog here.

📊 Chart of the Week

Below is fresh data from Carta on how seed-stage fundraising stacks up by industry:

Healthtech has overtaken Fintech as the second-largest category in the data. And although more seed deals are being completed using SAFEs, the valuations and cash raised are very similar between SAFE and Priced rounds across industries.

🗺️ Events Around The City

Chicago FinTech Pursuit Happy Hour

• Hosted by Regiment

• June 5

• RSVP

E-commerce Founder Dinner

• Hosted by DripCo

• June 5

• RSVP

Chicago Tech Breakfast Club

• Hosted by TeamWorking by TechNexus

• June 6

• RSVP

StartOut Chicago Summer Coworking Day

• Hosted by StartOut

• June 6

• RSVP

🗞 Latest Editions:

#60 - Water Innovation in Chicago

#59 - The Story of Tempus

#58 - Chicago’s $20B Quantum Campus

#57 - Rivian Ignites Chicago

👋 See you next week!

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