The 2026 Momentum Awards

1871 is named for the year Chicago burned.

But the fire was only half the story.

Chicago burned. And Chicago built. Not back. Forward.

That was how 1871 CEO Betsy Ziegler opened the 19th Annual Momentum Awards — and it captured what the night was really about.

Momentum has always celebrated extraordinary founders, leaders, and companies. This year, we wanted the celebration itself to say something about what we believe: nobody builds alone.

So we started a new tradition.

Winners from the previous two years returned to present each award to the 2026 recipient. Next year, this year’s winners will come back to help celebrate who comes next.

You win. You come back. You help celebrate someone else’s win.

That is the cycle we want Momentum to create. And it is the community we want 1871 to be.

When the Community Carries You

That idea had deeply personal meaning this year.

Just 308 days before Momentum, Betsy had been diagnosed with cancer. Within days, she began chemotherapy.

When she eventually shared her diagnosis, hundreds of messages came back from across the 1871 community — many from people sharing stories they had carried quietly for years.

“I thought I was telling you my story. I had no idea you were about to tell me yours.”

For years, Betsy had watched 1871 founders get knocked down and get back up. This year, their courage became part of hers.

“I thought I was here to help founders become stronger. I didn’t realize how much your strength had become part of mine.”

Her team carried her, too — carrying the work when she couldn’t and keeping 1871 moving forward.

On the Momentum stage, Betsy shared that she is now in remission.

Sometimes you carry. Sometimes you are carried.

That is community.

What a Win Really Looks Like

The SpotHero story made the same idea visible in a completely different way.

SpotHero was part of the 2012 class of Excelerate Labs, which made its home at the newly opened 1871. Fourteen years later, Uber acquired it.

At Momentum, we asked the people who had been part of that journey to stand.

Employees and alumni. Mentors. Investors. Customers. People who opened doors, joined the team, wrote checks, bought the product, shared advice, or helped somewhere along the way.

Everyone was standing.

That is what a win really looks like.

A founder has the courage to build. A community helps increase the probability of success and shorten the time it takes to get there.

A win for one is a win for all.

And Chicago needs more wins.

Who Comes Next

This year, eight new winners joined the generations Momentum has celebrated:

• Corporate Champion: Deloitte
• Chicagoness: Jeremie Bacon
• Social Impact: Eventnoire
• Outstanding Tech CEO: Tim Huelskamp, 1440
• Industry Disrupter: WovenX Health
• Rising Star: Changed
• Momentum: Letter AI
• CityLIGHTS: Noto

We celebrate them. We celebrate our finalists. And we celebrate the hundreds of founders across this community building companies whose names most of us may not know yet.

Because Momentum isn’t only about recognizing the wins we already have.

It is about creating the conditions for more of them.

Today, companies that got their earliest start at 1871 have created more than 20,000 jobs, generated approximately $1.4 billion in annual salaries, and raised more than $7 billion in capital.

As Betsy told the room:

“1871 didn’t do that. You did.”

And there is so much more to build.

AI is rewriting industries. Companies that don’t exist today will define the next decade. Increasingly, what separates us won’t be what is possible — it will be what we are ambitious enough to attempt.

Somewhere in Chicago right now is someone audacious enough to believe they can build something extraordinary.

We want them surrounded by people who will challenge them, teach them, buy from them, invest in them, introduce them, and believe in them.

And when the rest of the world eventually notices, we want them to say:

Chicago believed in me first.

What comes next 

On September 16, 2027, we will celebrate the 20th Annual Momentum Awards.

Twenty years of founders building. People showing up. Doors opening. Companies growing. And now, winners coming back to put the award in the hands of those following them.

We’ll celebrate what this community has built.

And then we’ll look forward.

Because the fire was never the whole story.

What we build next is.

Save the date: September 16, 2027.