83rd Edition

✍🏽 This Week on Landon’s Loop:

💸 Chicago's Q3 VC Scene

📊 Chart of the Week

📆 Events Around the City

🔙 Previous Newsletter Editions

🔙 Highlights from Last Week

I joined Alderman Gilbert Villegas, Head of the Capital & Tech Committee, to discuss Chicago's data center growth, nuclear energy, and AI meetups. 👇🏽

I was in Austin for the official kickoff of Drive ATX! We’re investing in the earliest-stage founders across Chicago, Toronto, Atlanta, Boulder, Columbus, and now Austin. 👇🏽

We welcomed students from the Columbia University Venture Club to our Chicago office. 👇🏽

💸 Chicago's Q3 VC Scene

Let’s take a look at Q3 data to see how Chicago’s venture market performed:

Q3 Funding Trends

• In Q3 2024, funding in Chicago funding reached $300m, aligning closely with the national trend of 2021 and 2022 market corrections.

• Our healthcare and science sectors dominated the top deals, with two $45M rounds leading the quarter.

• Early-stage investments take up the lions share of our deals, accounting for 63% of all deals year-to-date.

Notable Deals

• Hopscotch Primary Care secured $45M and accounted for 13% of funding in Q3

• Vanqua Bio raised $45M in Series C funding

• Amount secured $30M Series E funding

Thoughts

1. Chicago startups have always embraced capital efficiency—it's in our DNA. As the market adjusts from 2021 and 2022 highs, our founders are doing what they do best: building sustainable businesses with disciplined spending.

2. We’re seeing a steady rise in early-stage funding from seed funds, programs, angels, and incubators. Expanding access to early capital is essential for keeping founders rooted in this ecosystem.

3. Chicago’s healthcare sector is thriving, filled with vast data and inefficiencies that LLMs and AI are uniquely suited to address. Our city is well-positioned to become a healthcare hub, with all key stakeholders already in place.

📊 Chart of the Week

Chicago has the second most Fortune 500s in the US in 2024 👇🏽

With a diverse economy, abundant talent, and affordability, Chicago remains an ideal home for our nation’s leading companies.

📆 Events Around the City

Healthcare Hackathon

• Hosted by Architect Health, Drive Capital, Cofactor AI, and JP Morgan

• Thursday

• RSVP

EdTech Institute of Chicago x Future of Higher Education Fall Happy Hour

• Thursday

• RSVP

FreshX & Friends - Logistics Tech Hangout

• Thursday

• RSVP

Biotech Breakfast & Co-Working Day - Chicago

• Friday

• RSVP

🗞 Previous Newsletter Editions:

#82 - Building Chicago’s Top AI Meetup

#81 - Small Modular Reactors in Illinois

#80 - Neoclouds in Chicago

#79 - Let’s Talk Chicago Compute

👋 See you next week!

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