Welcome to the 43rd edition of the Driver’s Seat 🚙 👋🏽

Highlights from Last Week:

We hosted our biggest AI Tinkerers meetup yet at the Drive Chicago office, featuring product demos and a fireside chat with Logan Kilpatrick from OpenAI. 👇🏽

I visited Michigan State University to meet with students at their campus-based incubator, "The Hatch." 👇🏽

We hosted a coworking day with LongJump, which included a lunchtime Q&A session on Storytelling led by Robert Garber from 7wire Ventures. 👇🏽

The Genesis and JP Morgan Windy City Startup Crawl made a stop to the Drive for a day of pitches and networking among founders and investors. 👇🏽

📍 Today’s Lineup:

🦄 Chicago's 24 Unicorns

⚡The Illinois Semiconductor Center

🗺 Events Around the City

🔙 Previous Issues of the Driver’s Seat

🦄 Chicago’s 24 Unicorns

The Rise of The Rest

This chart by New Stack Ventures highlights a pivotal trend: billion-dollar startups, or "unicorns," are sprouting up beyond the usual tech hubs like Silicon Valley and NYC.

The 2018 Shift

This trend began to accelerate around 2018, a year marked by the emergence of numerous unicorn startups not just in traditional hotspots, but dispersed throughout the US. During the past 3 years, the amount of unicorns in SV vs everywhere else have began to level out.

Get to Know Chicago’s Unicorns

There are currently 24 unicorns in Chicago:

• ActiveCampaign

• Amount

• Avant

• Bringg

• Cameo

• Copado

• Enfusion

• FourKites

• G2

• Groupon

• Kin Insurance

• LivingSocial

• Loadsmart

• Mu Sigma

• M1 Finance

• Nature’s Fynd

• project44

• Relativity

• ShipBob

• SMS Assist

• Tempus Labs

• Trustwave

• Uptake

• VillageMD

⚡ The Illinois Semiconductor Center

In the 41st Driver’s Seat, I wrote about the Illinois semiconductor incentive program, which was timely with a new op-ed released last week by Governor J.B. Pritzker highlighting our accomplishments in the sector.

Currently, there’s widespread interest in the placement of the National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC). Illinois stands as a top contender for hosting it, and there are three key reasons for this:

Research and Education

Illinois is a powerhouse in research / education, crucial for semiconductor innovation. The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign excels in electrical and computer engineering, and our state has two renowned labs, Argonne and Fermilab.

Natural Resources

Our state's abundant natural water supply is a key asset for the water-intensive semiconductor industry, including the process of cleaning / processing wafers. Illinois resources support the high energy needs and cooling requirements essential for semiconductor manufacturing facilities.

Economy

The Illinois government is aligned and committed to transforming our state into a high-tech sector. Having the National Semiconductor Technology Center here would leverage these advantages, promising economic growth through job creation, investment opportunities, and technological advancements.

🗺️ Events Around The City

Restoring Brain Health Innovation Challenge

• Hosted by MATTER

• Tuesday Jan 30

• RSVP

Chicago BioTech Fusion: AI & ML in Life Sciences

• Hosted by Drive Capital, Sterling Bay, and Catalyst Bio

• Wednesday Jan 31

• RSVP 

Supply Chain Innovation Meetup

• Hosted by 1871

• Wednesday Jan 31

• RSVP

AAPI Founded in Chicago

• Hosted by Asian Hustle Network

• Thursday Feb 1

• RSVP

Intro to Mergers & Acquisitions with Tom Korzenecki

• Hosted by the Kaplan Center

• Thursday Feb 1

• RSVP

👋 See you next week!

Follow me on Twitter and Instagram for even more Chicago startup news and photos of my favorite restaurants in the city.

🗞 Previous Issues of the Driver’s Seat

#42 - The Rise of Midwest Hydrogen

#41 - Illinois Computing Chip Innovation

#40 - The History of the First Group Chat

#39 - First Driver’s Seat of 2024

#38 - 5 reasons to be bullish on Chicago in 2024