1871 Announces 2023 Foodtech Innovation Summit!

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1871 Announces 2023 Foodtech Innovation Summit

CHICAGO, September 6th, 2023 – Global nonprofit innovation hub 1871 is hosting its first-ever Foodtech Innovation Summit on October 4th, 2023. In this hybrid public event, over 250+ food tech startups, corporate partners, investors, industry experts, and public attendees will converge for a full day of programming. Join us for an opportunity to engage in insightful sessions and unparalleled networking opportunities, all centered around food tech innovation. 

The first-ever Foodtech Innovation Lab 2023 cohort will be showcased at the event as this is the capstone of the lab experience launched earlier this year, built with industry expert and Entrepreneur-In-Residence Nate Cooper, Founder and Managing Partner at Barrel Ventures, with support from World Business Chicago, Farmers Fridge, Human Co, and Planting Hope. 

“Our Lab brings together the pioneering minds from both the tech and food sectors to catalyze a revolution. This summit ignites a turbocharged hub of ideas, innovation, and collaboration,” said Betsy Ziegler, CEO of 1871. “Our first-ever Foodtech Innovation Summit is not to be missed, as it’s a pivotal step towards uniting the power of technology with neighboring industries to cultivate a healthier, more equitable, and environmentally responsible future in food.” 

“Food is the only industry EVERY human being on the planet interacts with on a daily basis. It is our universal language,” said Nate Cooper, Founder and Managing Partner at Barrel Ventures. “The opportunity to create value in future food technologies is truly endless. I hope this is the first of many summits- where we get to pair early-stage founders with mentors and successful leaders. The future is bright.”

 

Summit Agenda

The public summit will have interactive programming for attendees to participate in from 8:30 AM – 6:30 PM CST. Breakfast and lunch will be offered to in-person attendees, followed by happy-hour networking and drinks in the final hours of the event.

Running in parallel with the Supply Chain Innovation Summit, the Foodtech Innovation Summit will immerse participants in a series of sessions highlighting industry trends, top startups in the space, and interactive breakout sessions for conversations on industry transformation. 

The two labs will congregate for joint informative keynotes with industry leaders, networking opportunities, and interactive Startup Booths + Tech Playground. This dynamic environment will allow attendees to interact with startups from both industries, fostering knowledge exchange and inspirational discussions on the latest tech trends. 

While attendees can watch virtually, only a select group of events will be live-streamed. In-person participation is highly recommended. 

Stay tuned, we’re gearing up to unveil an all-star lineup of guest speakers and supercharged breakout sessions for our action-packed full-day agenda!

Registration is required to participate in this event. RSVP and confirm your attendance by October 1st, 2023, as the number of public tickets is limited. 

For information regarding joining the summit as a sponsor, please reach out to corpinno@1871.com. Subscribe to stay up-to-date on 1871’s Food Tech-related programming & news. 

 

About 1871 

1871 is Chicago’s innovation hub and the #1 ranked private business incubator in the world. It exists to inspire, equip, and support early-stage, growth-stage, late-stage, and corporate innovators in building extraordinary businesses. 1871 is home to ~400 technology startups, ~200 growth stage companies, and ~1,500 members, and is supported by an entire ecosystem focused on accelerating their growth and creating jobs in the Chicagoland area. The member experience includes virtual and in-person access to workshops, events, mentorship, and more. The nonprofit organization has 350 mentors available to its members, alongside access to more than 200 partner corporations, universities, education programs, accelerators, venture funds, and others. Since its inception in 2012, more than 850 alumni companies are currently still active, have created over 14,500 jobs, and have raised more than $3.5 billion in follow-on capital.

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1871 Announces Foodtech Innovation Lab 2023 Cohort

CHICAGO, August 30 – 1871, non-profit global innovation hub, announces its first-ever list of cohort members for their 2023 Foodtech Innovation Lab, built with industry expert Nate Cooper, Founder and Managing Partner at Barrel Ventures, and supported by World Business Chicago, Farmers Fridge, Human Co, and Planting Hope. 

This lab is designed to connect growth-stage and late-stage startups with corporate innovators, VCs, and industry experts to collectively solve key challenges within food tech and drive industry transformation. 1871 currently has 5 Innovation Labs, this new lab runs in parallel with 1871’s Supply Chain Innovation Lab, returning for its second cohort in 2023.

The 29 cohort participants will collaborate with each other and the food tech innovation ecosystem through 4-months of curated programming, workshops, and group problem-solving sessions. Cohort members have solutions that span the end to end food tech and cover key focus areas for the 2023 lab: Agtech, Food Innovations, and Manufacturing & Packaging. 

 

Cohort Members – Agtech 

AgTools Inc. | Martha Montoya, CEO 

Real time data across the globe of over 500 commodities for farmers, buyers, and others on the food supply chain to execute better planting, harvesting, forecasting, hedging and improving financial outcomes, manage ESG benchmarks & lower CO2 impact. 

Brighten AI Inc. | John Burkey, CEO / CTO 

A new consumer and enterprise Ai electronics brand, maker of the Brighten AI Smart bulb. Projected magical menus in restaurants that you can talk to.   The waiter acts as your waiter, you can order your food instantly.

Cultivation Connect | Alex Wisniewski, CEO & Co-Founder

Cultivation Connect provides an easy-entry to precision agriculture for small to medium sized controlled environment farms. Farmers connect their choice of data logging sensors or control applications with our visualization tool to enhance their ability to independently detect issues and generate insights. By analyzing genetic, nutrient, and environmental data, Cultivation Connect enables data-driven decisions resulting in higher yields, better quality crops, reduced costs, and minimized waste. 

DeNovo Foodlabs | Jean Louwrens,CEO 

De Novo Foodlabs is committed to providing healthy nutritional ingredients for food, beverage and personal care categories. Using fermentation, biophysics and bioinformatics, we create traditionally unsustainable or impossible-to-obtain nutrients allowing for new product innovation in nutrition, taste and texture. From sweet proteins to animal-free proteins, our ingredients boost human performance, reduce the need for sugar and conventional animal agriculture.

Krado | Eric Lo, CEO

Krado is a Hardware as a Service (HaaS) plant data company transforming the approach to research and data collection through their consumer product, leaflet®. Leaflet can collect plant data at scale–5,000 customers equals 3 billion data points a year—because, unlike other consumer solutions, Leaflet is the science of AgTech. Their platform will revolutionize sectors where high research costs currently limit data collection and analysis, like agriculture and climate science.

Plantaform | Alberto Aguilar, CEO & Co-Founder 

Plantaform is an innovative agtech startup revolutionizing indoor gardening through its unique product, Rejuvenate, a smart indoor garden system powered by water-efficient fogponics technology. With a simple button click, users can effortlessly grow up to 15 varieties of plants, requiring minimal maintenance and offering harvests in as little as four weeks. Plantaform is making home-grown, fresh produce accessible to everyone, promoting sustainable urban agriculture.

Plantennas | Alexanda Moran, CEO

Plantennas connects data and automation integration with plant life cycle tools to maximize value for the agriculture sector. Plantennas is solving for the crushing expense of human labor within ag expense budgets, providing plant life cycle chain of custody from seed to shelf, and creating supply chain data opportunities for the ag sector. A Plantenna is a patented propagation pot with a readable/writable RFID and has access to a three-marketplace. Plantennas solves for unit level sensors at the individual plant level for supply chain management applications.

Pollen Systems | Keith McCall, CEO & Founder  

Pollen Systems delivers Advanced Agricultural Analytics with proven impact: enabling farmers to better manage crop growth and vitality, identify irrigation and moisture issues, and note pests and disease problems by incorporating data collected from sources including drones, satellites, IoT Sensors, and mobile devices.

Remote Kitchen | Tim Zhang, CEO & Founder 

Remote Kitchen is a cutting-edge technology company revolutionizing the restaurant industry. Our innovative software platform empowers restaurant owners to streamline operations, enhance online presence, and boost profitability. With features like menu optimization, order integration, automated accounting, and virtual brand creation, we provide a comprehensive solution for restaurants to thrive in the digital age. Our proven track record, with 84 secured contracts and $80,000 in incremental sales, showcases the effectiveness and demand for our platform. Join us in transforming the restaurant industry with our game-changing solutions.

Cohort Members – Food Innovation 

 

AquaCultured Foods, Inc. | Anne Palermo, CEO & Co-Founder 

Aqua Cultured Foods is developing seafood alternatives with a realistic appearance, taste, and texture plus high nutritional value — considered a holy grail in alt-protein — to mitigate global challenges such as overfishing, climate change and sustainably feeding the world’s expanding population. Aqua’s first products (whole-muscle cut, sushi-quality tuna and whitefish, calamari, shrimp, and scallops) are targeted for foodservice and B2B. These products will be available for commercial launch early 2024 and at commercial scale will beat price parity.

AWSM Sauce | Carl Starkey, CEO & Co-Founder 

AWSM Sauce is the world’s first sustainability focused sauce & condiment company – our dry blends mix with water to make all of the sauces that you know and love. Big Flavor, Sweet Savings, Happy Planet – Our mission is to provide premium products that are good for you and for the planet. By reducing the weight, waste and carbon emissions associated with traditional water based sauces we help you Sauce Responsibly.

EQUII | Monica Bhatia, Co-CEO 

EQUII’s core strength is a highly versatile complete protein platform that leverages the beneficial properties of microbes found in fermented foods. Our proprietary technology is able to leverage the properties of protein to deliver taste and texture identical products starting with Bread. Our business model utilizes an omni-channel approach to reach mainstream consumers. Having launched our bread on e-comm and Amazon, our goal is to connect with consumers in retail grocery and foodservice outlets, starting in Oct 2023. Our bread has so far been endorsed by thousands of loyal fans, including Oprah, who trust EQUII to deliver their daily protein in a well-loved format of sliced bread.

High Time Foods | Aakash Shah, CEO & Co-Founder 

High Time Foods is on a mission to change how people consume food. Our first product is a plant-based chicken alternative that doesn’t require refrigeration and can be used in cuisine. Over 30 food service locations including schools, colleges, and restaurants in New England use our product in different cuisines and dishes. In the long run, we see a big potential in geographies lacking cold supply chains as well as disaster relief. Our next step would be to expand our business development to the Chicago Foodservice space.

Hoppy Planet Foods | Matt Beck, CEO 

Hoppy Planet Foods is a sustainable protein company addressing the increasingly dire need to shift the sources of global protein consumption. We leverage our proprietary Acheta Protein platform to create our Hoppy Planet brand of delicious, more nutritious, and sustainable snacks sold in major grocery retailers. We also supply our Acheta Protein to foodservice and 3rd party production partners so that they can improve the sustainability of their food programs and deliver on key demands of Millennial Parents and Gen Z consumers.

Mimio Health | Chris Rhodes, CEO 

Mimio Health is a nutri-technology company making first-of-their kind biomimetic supplements designed from human biology to recreate our body’s natural regenerative systems. Their first product is the world’s first fasting mimetic supplement designed from clinical research at UC Davis to recreate the body’s natural response to a prolonged fast and give people the cellular health and longevity benefits of fasting without having to fast. Their formulation has been clinically shown to recreate the same anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, metabolic, and cardioprotective effects of fasting and even extend lifespan in model organisms by 96%. Mimio is currently available for purchase at mimiohealth.com and select longevity and functional medicine clinic partners.

Rainfed Foods | Sujala Balaji, CEO 

Rainfed is a food tech startup transforming under-utilized drought-resistant crops like millets into CPG products and ingredients for both B2B and B2C, with high nutritional value and lower costs. Developed using our world-leading technology platform, Rainfed Milk is the first product in the industry that offers great taste, similar nutritional profile, foams, cooks and blends like dairy.

SEO2 | Michael Sigel, CEO 

SCO2 leverages award-winning, patented, extraction technology to upcycle food and ag waste into high-value flavors, fragrances, and functional ingredients for use in food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical applications. SCO2 tech shatters the status quo of typical supercritical CO2 extraction resulting in new standards for throughput, fractionization and scale. Need a new revenue stream? Need to valorize your waste or side stream? Looking to meet your sustainability goals? Contact SCO2 today.

Spira | Elliot Roth, CEO 

Spira engineers DNA to create designer materials using algae grown by a global network of farming partners to scale better materials for people and the planet. Spira has become breakeven, generating over $560k in revenue from 142 active clients with 1000+ samples sent out of their 4 different pigments. They work with a network of 83 farms in 14 countries to build a biomanufacturing capacity of 566 metric tons of algae which is being used in the food, cosmetic and textile markets. Spira is raising $3,000,000 as a means of delivering ingredients to waiting customers and to build an automated biofoundry to enable faster ingredient innovation. This fundraise should enable us to return millions in sales, expand their color portfolio, and release a spirulina protein isolate on the market.

Superfrau | Melissa Martinelli, Founder 

Superfrau is on a mission to fight food waste and climate change by repurposing or “upcycling” surplus nutrition in manufacturing supply chains into delicious, nutritious products designed for the next generation of consumers. Superfrau doubles the productivity of a quart of milk by partnering with Greek yogurt manufactures to rescue surplus liquid whey that would otherwise be wasted, and repurposing it or “upcycling it” into refreshing super drinks that are naturally loaded with B Vitamins, electrolytes, and gut-beneficial acids.

 

Cohort Members – Manufacturing & Supply Chain 

Circulr Inc. | Charles Binks Collier, CEO 

Circulr is building a platform for companies in the grocery space to reuse their packaging. We help grocery stores and producers reuse their product packaging by sourcing reusable packaging formats, operating collection and washing systems, while also deploying technology to handle deposits.

Dots Platform | Yaroslav Tsyhanenko, CEO 

Dots Platform is a B2B SaaS that provides tech solutions for launching hyperlocal ordering and delivery services just in 2 weeks, without capital investments, paid-per-use.  We believe great companies need full control of all processes and direct interaction with customers to know them better, sell them more, and build a sustainable future without intermediaries. That’s why Dots Platform includes all tools businesses need: branded ordering apps and website, orders management and CRM, software for back-office and logistics management, integrations, and reports. All these things run smoothly as one system, creating a new incredible experience for end customers, dramatically reducing costs, and boosting profits. Funded by Google for Startups. Processed over 3 million orders.

Growin Co. | Raphael Traticoski, CEO & Co-Founder  

Harness the potential of co-manufacturing, co-packing, and a vast network of suppliers for ingredients and packaging. We seamlessly connect our clients to an array of supply chain possibilities, ensuring your products come to life in a fast and cost-efficient way. Call us the “Airbnb of manufacturing”.

Kadeya | Manuela Zoninsein, CEO & Founder 

Kadeya’s patent-pending kiosk for the first time ever washes, sanitizes, inspects, and refills bottles, combining a bottling plant with a dishwasher and a soda fountain in a unit the size of a vending machine. We decentralize the entire linear and inefficient beverage supply chain to the point of use, eliminating practices that are environmentally unsustainable and financially expensive while increasing access to safe drinking water to at-risk populations and improving unit economics in order to enable the easy transition of incumbents in the industry away from single use.

Nutjobs Inc. | Marta Kephart, CEO 

Our mission is to transform nutshell waste into bio-benign plastic alternative products that are bio-based, compostable and derived from secondary agricultural waste. By transforming nutshell waste into bio-benign plastics, we are creating plastic substitutes that are cost effective and environmentally sustainable.

Papkot | Manuel Milliery, CEO & Founder 

Papkot is a pioneering company that is transforming the packaging industry with our innovative, plastic-free solutions. We’ve developed a unique chemical compound that imparts the surface properties of glass or plastic to paper, while maintaining the natural end-of-life characteristics of paper. This breakthrough technology allows us to create high-performance, sustainable coatings for paper and cardboard. Our goal is to lead the shift towards sustainable packaging, presenting a compelling investment opportunity in a market with significant growth potential.

Peelon | Taraka Ramji Moturu, CEO 

Peelon is a leading provider of biodegradable packaging solutions designed to address the challenges of food waste and plastic pollution in the fresh produce supply chain. Our proprietary blend of natural materials creates a microclimate around the produce, significantly extending its shelf life. By reducing food waste, Peelon helps businesses save costs and minimize their environmental impact. Our innovative packaging solutions are not only biodegradable and compostable but also offer superior performance and protection, making them an ideal choice for farmers, exporters, and food distributors.

PlantSwitch | Dillon Baxter, CEO  

PlantSwitch turns plants into plastic. PlantSwitch’s proprietary technology converts agricultural residues into a zero-waste plastic alternative that performs better, is less expensive, and is more sustainable than any other plastic alternative. PlantSwitch recently launched its first commercial production facility in North Carolina with over 50M lbs of annual capacity and is working with industry-leading foodservice brands on items like cutlery, straws, cups, lids, containers, and more.

REUSO | Neil Misak, Co-Founder 

REUSO’s technology increases the adoption of reusable, returnable food service ware, with quantifiable data to measure impact. REUSO was the Winner of the First-Ever Climate Champion Award at the 2022 Chicago Innovation Awards as a result of their efforts to eliminate thousands of single-use food and beverage items from events and festivals through Chicago. In July 2023, REUSO launched its first Software as a Service (SaaS) product to solve universities’, restaurants’, and existing reuse operators’ challenges with return rates of reusables. Through the digitization of each container and cup entered in REUSO’s management system, operators now have unparalleled visibility into the usage on a per item basis to maximize economic and environmental benefits of their reusable packaging program.

SAVRpak | Bill Birgen, CTO

SAVRpak’s patented sachets leverage the dewpoint temperature to quickly remove excess moisture. This fights food’s #1 enemy, moisture and condensation. Dryer air keeps produce fresher longer without chemicals and keeps you delivering hot food crunchy and crispy. SAVR pak makes and sells its hardware to food service suppliers and companies, like Aramark and Sysco foods as well as to produce growers and distributors.

 

About the program 

Cohort members will participate in 4-weeks of hybrid programming, alternating each week for virtual and in-person experiences in July, August, September, and October 2023. 

The program culminates with a capstone-like event, the Foodtech Innovation Summit, open to the public on 10.04.23. 

Subscribe to stay up-to-date on all Foodtech Innovation Lab  + Summit news. 

For inquiries about involvement in partnering with us or learning more about sponsor options for the Foodtech Innovation Summit, connect with our team. 

 

About 1871

1871 is Chicago’s innovation hub and the #1 ranked private business incubator in the world. It exists to inspire, equip, and support early stage, growth stage, late stage,  and corporate innovators in building extraordinary businesses. 1871 is home to ~400 technology startups, ~200 growth stage companies, and ~1,500 members, and is supported by an entire ecosystem focused on accelerating their growth and creating jobs in the Chicagoland area. The member experience includes virtual and in-person access to workshops, events, mentorship, and more. The nonprofit organization has 350 mentors available to its members, alongside access to more than 200 partner corporations, universities, education programs, accelerators, venture funds and others. Since its inception in 2012, more than 850 alumni companies are currently still active, have created over 14,500 jobs, and have raised more than $3.5 billion in follow-on capital.

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1871 Announces Supply Chain Innovation Lab 2023 Cohort

CHICAGO, August 30 – 1871, non-profit global innovation hub, announces its list of 2023 cohort members for their second annual Supply Chain Innovation Lab, supported by Accenture, Microsoft, Deacero,World Business Chicago, Rheaply, Arkestro, Super Dispatch, Canadian Consulate, and Flock Freight. 

The lab is designed to connect growth-stage and late-stage startups with corporate innovators, VCs, and industry experts to collectively solve key challenges within the supply chain industry to drive industry transformation. 1871 currently has 5 Innovation Labs, this year’s supply chain lab runs in parallel with 1871’s first-ever Foodtech Innovation Lab.

The 34 cohort participants will collaborate with each other and the supply chain innovation ecosystem through 4-months of curated programming, workshops, and group problem-solving sessions. 

Cohort members have solutions that span the end to end supply chain and cover key focus areas for the 2023 lab.

 

Cohort Members – Design & Engineering 

Awele Technologies Inc. | Godfrey Okeke, CEO & Founder 

Awele is a next-generation AI-powered B2B-platform that lets importers/exporters of vehicles and heavy goods to plan, find, book, ship, track and manage their entire door-to-door cross-border shipping with vetted logistics service providers. We do this by combining AI/ML technologies, data analytics and decades of supply chain expertise.  Just like booking a flight online, the customer enters the origin, destination and shipment information and Awele figures out everything else – available shipping modes, routes, service providers, prices, customs tariffs, transit times, including first and last-mile delivery.

Supply Chain Lab Focus Area: Automation: Unlocking Human Potential

 

CargoFL | Deepesh Kuruppath, CEO & Founder 

CargoFL is a cloud-based B2B technology ecosystem for logistics. We are amongst the fastest growing logistics tech SaaS companies in the world. CargoFL is digitizing the complete logistics-ecosystem for business-value and efficiency. For End Customers i.e. Shippers, it’s a platform that automates dispatches, consolidates truckers, provides supply chain visibility, vehicle tracking and integrates with their existing ERP for a seamless logistics delivery experience. For Truckers, it’s an ERP-CRM platform that’s digitizing their business and operations. CargoFL e-enables all aspects of their business right from booking to accounting to invoicing and reporting.

Supply Chain Focus Area: Connected Supply Chain/Visibility

 

Peer Ledger Inc. | Dawn Jutla, Co-CEO & President

Peer Ledger is a Nova Scotia, Canada-based leader in advanced distributed systems and the creator of MIMOSI Connect, a patented digital product passport platform that enables businesses to automatically record, validate and reconcile the provenance, transformation, journey, and sustainability of materials and processes used to create their products. MIMOSI captures Scope 3 carbon emissions and other ESG metrics in companies’ supply chains.

Supply Chain Focus Area: Connected Supply Chain/Visibility

 

Pollen Returns | Spencer Kieboom, CEO

Pollen, a returns technology platform that revolutionizes ecommerce retail by providing cost-saving solutions and boosted product sales through return pickups. Our proprietary solution optimizes the consumers return experience to streamline the fragmented reverse supply chain process, enabling retailers to reduce expenses while selling more. With image capture, advanced shipping notices, and marketing strategies, Pollen drives overall margin expansion while retailers can focus on the core of their business. 

Supply Chain Focus Area: Connected Supply Chain/Visibility

 

Rock15 Inc. | Hoisin Min, CEO & Co-Founder 

“Make every enterprise resilient.” ROCK15 provides automated Supply Chain consultancy based on the architected meta-data even for cost-sensitive small and midsize enterprises. So that they can continuously reorganize their end-to-end supply chain as if the change is another ‘business as usual’. 

Supply Chain Focus Area: A.I. in Supply Chain

 

The Rubic Technologies | Luke Buckberrough, Chief Growth Officer 

Based out of Alberta Canada, The Rubic provides a groundbreaking solution, FreedomPick, which tackles the urgent obstacles encountered in the warehousing and logistics sector. FreedomPick is an independent mobile robot that specializes in picking cases and possesses the versatile nature and adaptability of humans, along with the operational efficiency and productivity of a machine, making it ideal for intricate warehouse tasks. By potentially replacing the workload of four to five workers, significantly boosting efficiency and alleviating labor shortages and costs. Moreover, it stands out by seamlessly integrating into existing operations as they are, eliminating the requirement for expensive and time-consuming retrofits.

Supply Chain Focus Area: Automation: Unlocking human potential 

 

Transport Genie Ltd. | Joel Sotomayor, CEO & President 

Transporting goods carry high risks, there are many things that can go wrong with the cargo that you are moving such as lower quality products, compromised goods, and economic fines levied as the result of these bad transportation events. We de-risk these movements to increase supply chain resilience, improve traceability, maintain the quality of goods prior to loading them on a transportation vehicle using IoT sensors that monitor micro-climatic conditions and provide real-time precision monitoring and automate timely interventions. We are not just monitoring terrestrial transportation events, we also monitor Oceanic Livestock movements, and our sensors can also be placed inside of barns. Our sensors are ruggedized, easily to clean, scalable, and are applicable to many use-cases and scenarios where timely interventions are needed to ensure quality and supply chain resilience.

Supply Chain Focus Area: Risk Management & Compliance

 

Cohort Members – Fulfillment 

 

Brics | Ram Gopalakrishnan, CEO & Founder 

We are a supply chain solutions company that is focused on helping retailers optimize fulfillment planning and execution. Our consulting services focus on strategy and technology enablement for omni-channel fulfillment. With our continuous & predictive fulfillment planning technology, organizations can maximize the window of opportunity between demand planning and fulfillment execution cycles.

Supply Chain Focus Area: Optimizing for the End User

 

Connect SX | Chris Riedel, CEO 

ConnectSx provides a cloud-based suite of web and mobile tools purpose-built to address the unique challenges of the medical device value chain. By creating efficiencies from the warehouse to the point of use, we bring low-level visibility to critical inventory at every stage of the distribution cycle. With robust logistics management, seamless order/replenishment, automated sales workflows, simplified compliance management, and comprehensive business analytics, ConnectSx saves customers time, reduces inventory waste, increases asset turns, and creates a framework for new business innovation. And with an aggressive roadmap that includes AI (machine learning, computer vision) and advanced automation, we’re positioned to be the competitive advantage our customers need.

Supply Chain Focus Area: Optimizing for the End User

 

Fenix Commerce Inc. | Akhilesh Srivastava, CEO & Founder 

FenixCommerce is a SaaS company founded by eCommerce veterans with the mission of helping retailers and brands grow profitably with it’s leading eCommerce package delivery management platform using AI and Machine Learning to reduce shipping costs by 25% and cart abandonment rates by 32% while improving customer experience and conversion rates by 40%. FenixCommerce solutions include multi-carrier parcel rate shopping, order routing, estimated delivery dates, branded tracking pages, and proactive delivery alerts and notifications. 

Supply Chain Focus Area: A.I. in Supply Chain

 

Nextuple | Chap Achen, VP of Product Strategy 

Nextuple is a software solutions company that specializes in the OMNI Channel fulfillment domain.   We provide strategy, engineer software and run micro-services that help large OMNI Channel retailers capture the full value of their complex fulfillment networks.  We do this through custom development,  SaaS offerings, and our Nextuple Fulfillment Studio which offers a set of pre-built micro services purpose built to augment and or replace a client’s monolithic technology stack.

Supply Chain Focus Area: Optimizing for the End User

 

Optiyol | Ozan Gözbaşı, CEO & Co-Founder 

Optiyol significantly improves the transportation landscape for industries such as logistics, retail, CPG, and food & beverage by reducing costs and enhancing operational visibility. It offers advanced route optimization and tracking software that caters to various stages of transportation, including last-mile, middle-mile, and long-haul operations.

Supply Chain Focus Area: Optimizing for the End User

 

PartRunner | Yosh Rozen, CEO 

We are a logistics marketplace connecting companies to a network of drivers to provide all types of logistics services. From full-day routes to 1-1 deliveries. We operate in the US (4 markets) and within MX (within 6 markets) and have been growing aggressively with mid-market and enterprise companies. Our ideal customers are enterprise companies that deliver thousands of products per day (per month) and already are working with 3rd party providers. If they have “big & bulky” needs, even better.

Supply Chain Focus Area: Optimizing for the End User

 

PorterLogic | Anya Skomorokhova, CCO & Co-Founder

PorterLogic is a low-code supply chain operations platform for teams who prioritize flexibility and speed. Manufacturers, distributors, and retailers use the visual, low-code platform to build internal applications, connect systems and automate workflows across their supply chain – from inventory and warehousing to order management and forecasting. Rather than being forced into a box by an off-the-shelf system, teams embrace their competitive advantage using a unique platform that molds to their operation, helping the business scale profitably and efficiently.

Supply Chain Focus Area: Optimizing for the End User

 

Routeique Inc. | Mike Allan, CEO & Founder

Routeique’s cloud-based logistics and supply chain platform was implemented for Nestle to orchestrate their Canadian Ice Cream distribution network in 2016, and has since grown through the ‘network effect’ to support distribution networks for clients like Lactalis and Sargento in North America. Our integration of high-touch and high-tech and insistence on being partners, not vendors, has powered our evolution from a Software as a Service to Supply Chain Solutions as a service. We orchestrate a growing network of partners to deliver results to our clients.

Supply Chain Focus Area: Connected Supply Chain/Visibility

 

Cohort Members – Sourcing & Procurement 

 

ASKaFOX Inc. | Hanyin Chen, CEO

ASKaFOX helps global manufacturers rebuild supply chain resiliency through sourcing. Finding different baskets for the eggs is critical for your business. Whereas predictions fail, options prevail. We’re a supplier discovery tool coupled with an Uber-like on-site auditing service. We bridge data efficiency with human expertise, we combine speed with trust.

Supply Chain Focus Area: A.I. in Supply Chain 

 

Daniola Corporation | Sinmi Adeoye-Esene, CEO & Founder 

In an industry with a value of over $600 billion, we are reducing the risk of unethical sourcing. Daniola provides a blockchain and ai based platform that enables verified and vetted buyers and buyers with real time tracking of critical minerals from their origin to end user. Daniola guarantees the traceability of minerals, metals, and gemstones. Its cloud solution allows buyers to verify the origin of the critical minerals and metals they have acquired, ensuring that the provenance is ethical.

Supply Chain Focus Area: Connected Supply Chain/Visibility

 

Justice Bid | Omar Sweiss, CEO & Founder 

Bringing supply chain to Legal for the first time. Justice Bid, headquartered in Chicago, is a minority-owned diversity analytics and RFP/e-auction company that increases the transparency, value, and impact of outside counsel selection. Justice Bid’s platform is powered by data-driven insights that bring the selection of outside counsel into the fold of procurement best-practices, thereby ensuring corporate legal departments obtain better matter outcomes, increase diversity on their matters, control costs, and simplify processes.  JB also brings Tier 1 and 2 spend visibility alongside ESG ratings of the legal supply chain.

Supply Chain Focus Area: Sustainability

 

nuTRAD.io | John Abrams, CEO & Founder 

We are an experienced team building the future of AI workflow for complex supply chains. We are redefining how the global supply chain network functions – automating outdated manual processes and removing waste, error, and cost. To market, move, and sell a product anywhere, brands use people to match their data to unique and variable requirements everywhere. The process is costly, tedious, and infinite. People cannot keep up. nuTRAD AI can.

Supply Chain Focus Area: A.I. in Supply Chain

 

Porth | Gustavo Matte Daniel, CEO

Porth is an international supply chain control tower that automates the processes and gives real-time visibility and collaboration to companies to improve control and decision-making.

Supply Chain Focus Area: A.I. in Supply Chain

 

Realizse | David Menard, CTO

Realizse offers higher quality carbon credit products by tracking supply chain emission reductions.  With Realizse, companies are able to stack incentives while meeting compliance. Realizse offers a saas solution to unlock liquidity with the use of forward contracts.

Supply Chain Focus Area: Sustainability

 

Cohort Members – End-to-End (E2E) 

 

Preteckt | Sasha Kucharczyk, COO

Preteckt empowers vehicle maintenance teams to turbocharge their decision-making. Preteckt provides cloud-based software which augments and automates the diagnostic decision-making of vehicle maintenance technicians. The software’s output are Repair Plans that detail upcoming and current maintenance issues, their root cause, and what actions should be taken to fix the identified issues. The software has been deployed in numerous trucking and bus fleets where it has been shown to increase technician productivity by over 70%, decrease parts costs by over 20%, and decrease service failures by over 50%.

Supply Chain Focus Area: A.I. in Supply Chain

 

Rivercity Innovations Ltd. | Jeff Shirley, CEO & Founder

Rivercity Innovations manufactures our own TxH temperature monitor sensor which is used for cold chain automation in supply chain. The sensor uses LPWan IoT technology to digitize the compliance data into our dashboard for our clients use enabling prevention of food loss and digitization of compliance data in retail and last mile delivery situations. Rivercity Innovations has a hardware revenue model and a Saas revenue model which has a ROI to our enterprise clients of approximately 5 months under normal operating environments. The solution is available across North America and Europe in English, Spanish, and French.

Supply Chain Focus Area: Risk Management & Compliance

 

Sourcehub ai Inc. |  John Moran, CEO & Founder 

SourceHub is a cutting-edge supply chain management solution provider that empowers businesses with end-to-end visibility, collaboration, and automation. Our platform revolutionizes supply chain operations by streamlining processes, reducing costs, and improving efficiency. With advanced analytics and AI-driven proactive risk mitigation, we enable businesses to make data-driven decisions, optimize inventory management, and enhance customer satisfaction.

Supply Chain Focus Area: Connected Supply Chain/Visibility

 

Tag-N-Trac Inc. | Venu Gutlapalli, CEO

Tag-N-Trac provides complete visibility & traceability for an end-to-end supply chain covering manufacturing, warehousing, and cross-modal transport ecosystem. Our RELATIVITY platform combined with smart sense labels and tags provides solutions in Pharma, Food, and High-Value goods. The platform capabilities include data fabric for supply-chain, and advanced analytics enables to drive improved decision-making via actionable insights, proactive communications with critical stakeholders, and compliance with regulatory and internal requirements. 

Supply Chain Focus Area: Connected Supply Chain/Visibility

 

The Owl Solutions | Hugo Fuentes, CEO & Co-Founder 

Every manufacturing company has lots of data. However, too many roadblocks prevent midsize organizations from turning raw data into business outcomes. At The Owl Solutions, we are on a mission to empower supply chain professionals with AI-driven assistants that understand the job to be done and work relentlessly to reduce financial, environmental and productivity waste.

Supply Chain Focus Area: Operational Efficiency

 

14bis Supply Tracking | Eleanor Mitch, CEO & Co-Founder 

For Aerospace and Defense logistics and supply chain operators, 14bis simplifies complexity to empower local actors at last mile. 14bis solves this complexity problem with its encrypted platform for secure data sharing and analytics models that help users avoid harmful shortages or wasteful oversupply for end-to-end visibility and accountability. In this way, humans and systems in last mile get the information they need to operate effectively. We focus on interoperability and leverage AI and blockchain so that the right supplies arrive on time. 14bis helps customers avoid mission performance risks as early as possible.

Supply Chain Focus Area: Connected Supply Chain/Visibility

 

Cohort Members – Warehousing, Manufacturing, & Planning

 

Arvist | Nilay Parikh, CEO & Founder 

Arvist addresses a pressing problem in the warehousing and distribution center space, that of a lack of end-to-end operations visibility where millions of workers are employed. This visibility gap creates inefficiencies, downtime caused by human errors, and workplace injuries, resulting in over $250 billion in redundant costs.There is a critical need for a solution that can provide actionable insights, streamline operations, and mitigate risks within these industrial environments without asking the operators to invest in expensive new infrastructure like robots, IoT sensors or wearables. Arvist leverages existing security cameras, AI-powered Digital Twin technology, and advanced analytics to provide end-to-end visibility, enhance efficiency, improve safety, and reduce costs.

Supply Chain Focus Area: A.I. in Supply Chain

 

Cyberworks Robotics | Vivek Burhanpurkar, CEO

We have developed an autonomous self-driving technology platform that adds self-driving capability to existing manually operated material handling supply chain equipment like forklifts and tow-tugs. We have already deployed 18 autonomous tow-tugs to an industrial greenhouse and are now working with one of the world’s largest automotive parts manufacturers to deploy the technology in their facilities. 

Supply Chain Focus Area: Other

 

Elixia Inc. | Sanket Sheth, Founder 

Elixia is a suite of 12 interlinked products focusing on reducing costs and increasing visibility from dispatch to delivery. Intelligent Delivery Orchestration Platform is built with a mission to improve the logistics industry by introducing cutting-edge technological advancements in the area of the supply chain. Our solutions empower the supply chain functions of a company to take actionable business decisions by converting data into information. Our solutions ensure a seamless, accurate, and real-time flow of information across the enterprise.

Supply Chain Focus Area: Connected Supply Chain/Visibility

 

Freightflow | Richard Yi, Chief Product Officer 

Freightflow is a leading cloud-based TMS built for the perishable produce industry. Growers/shippers, wholesalers and distributors, and produce-focused 3PLs use Freightflow for 360-degree visibility, simplified communications, and increased efficiency, resulting in improved profitability. Freightflow’s load and route optimizer, insightful analytics, and industry-leading integrations empower logistics teams to procure quality capacity at the right prices—ensuring exceptional on-time deliveries.

Supply Chain Focus Area: A.I. in Supply Chain

 

MagicLogic Optimization Inc. | Tim Smith, CEO

MagicLogic is an independent software company based in Vancouver, BC. We were established in 1995 and have been a Top 100 Logistics IT provider for 20 years. We specialize in load optimization software suitable for all sizes of companies. Our software helps manufacturers, retailers and logistics businesses in the supply chain to load products optimally into railcars, containers, trucks, ULDs and into cartons and onto pallets. Our software helps businesses avoid excess packaging, minimizes damage and ensures items are loaded safely complying to loading rules, including HAZMAT. Businesses can save on time, materials, and returns due to damages.

Supply Chain Focus Area: Optimizing for the End User

 

SC Tech | Jeff Beyle, CEO

If you read articles about what some companies are doing with AI, sensors, and other such technologies and think – very interesting, but not realistic for us. We can help. Our hardware-agnostic software system makes advanced technologies truly accessible to small and mid-size companies. We help you realize efficiencies by capturing the data you need and making it available where it is needed, when it is needed.

Supply Chain Focus Area:  Connected Supply Chain/Visibility

 

SIRL | Michael Wang, CEO

SIRL is a Location-as-a-Service (LaaS) platform that can track asset locations and deliver timely and powerful insights. Its patented solution is unique on the market in offering a wireless energy-harvesting infrastructure that is lower costly to set up, highly accurate, supports a wide range of asset tags and all modern smart devices, and functions across indoor and outdoor sites. SIRL’s platform has demonstrated more than 60% reduced time in finding items, resulting in significant labor savings, material loss prevention, and productivity improvements.

Supply Chain Focus Area: Connected Supply Chain/Visibility

 

About the program 

Cohort members will participate in 4-weeks of hybrid programming, alternating each week for virtual and in-person experiences in July, August, September, and October 2023. 

The program culminates with a capstone-like event, the Supply Chain Innovation Summit, open to the public on 10.04.23. 

Subscribe to stay up-to-date on all Supply Chain Innovation Lab  + Summit news. 

For inquiries about involvement in partnering with us or learning more about sponsor options for the Supply Chain Innovation Summit, connect with our team. 

 

About 1871

1871 is Chicago’s innovation hub and the #1 ranked private business incubator in the world. It exists to inspire, equip, and support early-stage, growth-stage, late-stage,  and corporate innovators in building extraordinary businesses. 1871 is home to ~400 technology startups, ~200 growth stage companies, and ~1,500 members, and is supported by an entire ecosystem focused on accelerating their growth and creating jobs in the Chicagoland area. The member experience includes virtual and in-person access to workshops, events, mentorship, and more. The nonprofit organization has 350 mentors available to its members, alongside access to more than 200 partner corporations, universities, education programs, accelerators, venture funds and others. Since its inception in 2012, more than 850 alumni companies are currently still active, have created over 14,500 jobs, and have raised more than $3.5 billion in follow-on capital.

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We are thrilled to announce that CDW will be honored as this year’s Corporate Champion Award recipient at the 16th Annual Momentum Awards!

The Corporate Champion Award recognizes a company that consistently champions the growth of the Illinois tech industry through community-focused action.

As a leader in providing a wide variety of technology solutions and services, CDW is celebrated for enabling technological transformation across industries. Their role is crucial as they enable companies to access and implement cutting-edge technology, enhancing efficiency, productivity, and competitiveness in an increasingly digital world.

CDW has a strong track record of investing in innovation, consistently seeking out and adopting emerging technologies to enhance their offerings. They actively partner with the leading technology companies to stay at the forefront of industry advancements, to provide their customers the latest solutions. 

In addition, CDW demonstrates their commitment to the community through a collaboration with local schools and organizations, like 1871, to promote STEM and entrepreneurship education, equipping the next generation with essential skills. CDW team member involvement is also prominent as they actively engage in volunteer activities, contributing their time and expertise to community-driven projects that make a positive impact. 

“At CDW, our purpose is to make technology work so people can do great things,” said Sanjay Sood, CDW’s Chief Technology Officer. “We’re honored to be recognized as 1871’s 2023 Corporate Champion, and to be part of the rich technology community in greater Chicago.” 

Headquartered in the Chicago area, CDW advocates for our local tech community through investments in education and grants for equipment and hardware.

“CDW’s commitment to fostering technological advancement and collaboration uplifts the entire startup community and showcases their dedication to driving positive change within the industry and beyond,” said Larry Eppley, Chairman of 1871 and founding managing partner of Sheppard Mullin’s Chicago office. “The CDW team is both driven to innovate and motivated by their purpose. CDW plays a vital role in our ecosystem, and their importance cannot be overlooked. They are the definition of what a Corporate Champion Award recipient should be.”

“CDW was one of 1871’s earliest supporters,” said Betsy Ziegler, CEO of 1871. “We’re proud to recognize their forward-thinking culture and long track record of pushing boundaries to deliver cutting edge solutions. Their unwavering commitment to community initiatives further highlights their impact. It’s an honor to celebrate the CDW team at this year’s Momentum Awards.” 

CDW will accept the Corporate Champion Award at the 2023 Annual Momentum Awards on September 21, 2023, where we will also honor the innovators and leaders that are disrupting their industries, building up their communities, and shaping the future. 

Get your ticket today to join us for the celebration, both in-person and virtually!

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Super Dispatch Joins 1871’s 2023 Supply Chain Innovation Lab as Late-Stage Partner

KANSAS CITY, Mo. August 28, 2023 — Super Dispatch, the industry-leading car shipping platform, announced today the company has joined global tech innovation hub 1871’s  2023 Supply Chain Innovation Lab as a Late-Stage Partner. The Innovation Lab connects growth-stage, late-stage, and corporate tech businesses that want to solve the most significant challenges and opportunities in Supply Chain. 1871’s Supply Chain Innovation Lab consists of four immersive weeks to connect growth-stage and late-stage startups, corporates, and VCs who use supply chain technology.

As a pioneer in the auto transport industry, Super Dispatch has delivered more than 20 million cars in the U.S. and Canada.  The company has also developed significant innovations for the automotive supply chain and disrupted legacy infrastructure with a modern, all-in-one platform creating a better way to move cars.

Bek Abdullayev, Super Dispatch Founder and Chief Executive Officer, expressed his excitement around the selection noting, “Super Dispatch is excited to join the 1871 Innovation Lab. This invitation further sets us apart as an industry expert, which we aim to be daily.”  Abdullayev continued, “We’ll use this exposure and connection to expand our impact on the auto transport community.”

As a Late-Stage Partner, Super Dispatch will participate in the Innovation Lab, which allows companies to:

  • Emerge as a showcased thought leader
  • Network with peers and leaders in the industry
  • Mentor future industry leaders
  • Connect with industry leaders and up-and-coming companies disrupting the industry
  • Explore curated connections between potential partners across maturity curve (growth to corporate) 
  • Amplify brand at the Supply Chain Summit

Starting as an app, and now as a robust car-hauling platform, Super Dispatch connects the auto transport industry through best-in-class technology backed by real people enabling brokers, carriers, and shippers to move cars faster, smarter, and easier.   

The company recently launched Auto Transport Co-Pilot, the first-of-its-kind video podcast offering a dedicated conversation for the auto transport industry.

 

About Super Dispatch

Super Dispatch, founded in 2013, is the end-to-end shipping platform backed by a digital suite of tools built to make the lives of auto transport industry professionals easier. Connecting shippers, brokers, and carriers with innovative software enables them to move cars faster while managing and growing their businesses.  Super Dispatch is headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri. For more information, please visit our website or contact a Super Dispatch representative at social@superdispatch.com.

 

 About 1871
1871 is Chicago’s innovation hub and the #1 ranked private business incubator in the world. It exists to inspire, equip, and support early stage, growth stage, late stage, and corporate innovators in building extraordinary businesses. 1871 is home to ~400 technology startups, ~200 growth stage companies, and ~1,500 members, and is supported by an entire ecosystem focused on accelerating their growth and creating jobs in the Chicagoland area. The member experience includes virtual and in-person access to workshops, events, mentorship, and more. The nonprofit organization has 350 mentors available to its members, alongside access to more than 200 partner corporations, universities, education programs, accelerators, venture funds and others. Since its inception in 2012, more than 850 alumni companies are currently still active, have created over 14,500 jobs, and have raised more than $3.5 billion in follow-on capital.

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CHICAGO, August 28, 2023 – Global tech innovation hub 1871 opens applications for their LTNtech Founders fall cohort, starting October 2023. In partnership with The Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the program runs for ten weeks, combining professional development curriculum, mentorship, and peer group development to elevate Latin early-stage tech founders.

Applications will be accepted through October 2nd, 2023. The program runs from 10.17.23 – 12.19.23, every Tuesday, from 3:00 – 5:00 PM CST. 

LTNtech Founders, together with 1871’s complementary affinity programs, WMNtech Founders and BLKtech Founders, is designed to inspire, equip, and support underserved founders to maximize their key leadership strengths, overcome obstacles, and build relationships with experienced founders and mentors who are dedicated to supporting them. 

“The number of Latin-run startups is growing at a faster rate than any other group, but their funding is not,” said Alysha Aubrey Bursey, 1871’s Senior Director of Affinity Programs. “With our LTNtech Founders program, we aim to support these founders and give them the confidence and skills they need to face this challenge head on and not only survive, but thrive”

The program includes peer-learning and problem-solving programming, curated leadership development workshops, one-on-one coaching with a dedicated Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR), and a variety of community and networking events. 

This will be the 12th cohort of the LTNtech Founders program. While 1871 uses Latin for brevity, we happily welcome those who identify as Hispanic, Latino/a, Latine, Latin@, etc. All gender identities welcomed. 

About the experience

Key takeaways for participants in the program: 

  • Learn how to maximize their key leadership skills
  • Gain confidence in themselves and their startups 
  • Overcome obstacles one faces when starting a business
  • Build reputable relationships with experienced founders and 1871 members who are dedicated to supporting these groups. 

Important Dates

About 1871

1871 is Chicago’s innovation hub and the #1 ranked private business incubator in the world. It exists to inspire, equip, and support early stage, growth stage, late stage, and corporate innovators in building extraordinary businesses. 1871 is home to ~400 technology startups, ~200 growth stage companies, and ~1,500 members, and is supported by an entire ecosystem focused on accelerating their growth and creating jobs in the Chicagoland area. The member experience includes virtual and in-person access to workshops, events, mentorship, and more. The nonprofit organization has 350 mentors available to its members, alongside access to more than 200 partner corporations, universities, education programs, accelerators, venture funds and others. Since its inception in 2012, more than 850 alumni companies are currently still active, have created over 14,500 jobs, and have raised more than $3.5 billion in follow-on capital.

About IHCC

IHCC is a not-for-profit organization and community of business owners, entrepreneurs and professionals committed to empowering individuals by helping them start and grow their businesses. As the largest community of Hispanic business owners across Illinois and the Midwest, we represent more than 100,000 businesses. We are committed to helping entrepreneurs grow by equipping them with the tools and resources they need to be competitive in today’s economy. We do this through our community advocacy, specialized one-on-one training, networking, and our Center for Hispanic Entrepreneurship.

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1871 Introduces Its First InsurTech Innovation Lab, Welcoming Applications from Growth & Late Stage Startups for Fall 2023!

CHICAGO, August 15, 2023 – Global tech innovation hub 1871 announces the debut of its newest innovation program, InsurTech Innovation Lab, set to launch in October 2023. Applications are now open until September 8th, 2023.

This marks 1871’s inaugural InsurTech initiative, an experience uniting all the major players across the insurance landscape (Property and Casualty, Life,and Health)in a collaborative effort to tackle critical challenges and break ground on solutions for future transformation.

“Several areas within the insurance sector are poised for transformation and innovation. Hundreds of founders are leveraging technological progress to enhance not just the efficiency and expansion of incumbent insurance enterprises, but also to amplify access to the financial security that insurance offers to our society,” said Rachael Feuerborn, Chief Product Officer at 1871. “We’re thrilled to foster collaboration between these pioneering startups, forward-thinking corporations, and InsureTech experts to tackle the biggest opportunities the industry presents.” 

“Innovation is the compass guiding us through the ever changing landscape of risk, ensuring that current and future uncertainties are met with ingenious solutions”, said Betsy Ziegler, CEO at 1871.” This new  lab unites the visionary power of tech innovators with the security of insurance expertise sparking transformative potential. 

InsurTech represents the final addition to 1871’s suite of Innovation Labs this year, following the successes of the Cannabis Innovation Lab, AI Innovation Lab, Supply Chain Innovation Lab, and FoodTech Innovation Lab. 

 

About InsurTech Innovation Lab

Applications to join the Fall 2023 lab are open until 9.08.23. The immersive, 4-month hybrid experience, running from 10.09.23 – 01.18.24, caters to each stage within the cohort respectively, while fostering a collective atmosphere for collaborative innovation.

This Lab focuses on several areas for cohort members to explore, identify, and collaborate to solve key issues within the industry. Startups serving domains across the InsurTech focus areas will be considered for the cohort. 

Focus areas this year include:

  • Subrogation 
  • Litigation 
  • Fraud 
  • Back-Office Productivity 
  • Preparing for Volatility — Climate, Workforce, & Talent 

Those eligible to join the lab:

  • Growth-stage startups with a technology or product focused on the InsurTech space 
  • Late-stage startups as partners seeking to elevate their brand as experts and influence the InsurTech industry
  • Corporations as partners sitting at the forefront of InsurTech innovation or seeking to enhance their capabilities & offerings via partnerships 

A selection will ensure that startups admitted to the program are best suited and have proven readiness for optimal lab outcomes. 

Information sessions will be held on 8.22.23 and on 8.29.23, to provide attendees with detailed lab curriculum, key dates, and the benefits of participating. 

Within the lab, participants are connected to experts, enthusiasts, and investors through immersive workshops and other experiences throughout the duration of the program.

The lab experience alternates in virtual and in-person sessions, convening for a full week in October, November, and December 2023, culminating with the final week in January 2024. 

The program ends with a capstone-like InsurTech Innovation Summit in January 2024 — a public event akin to 1871’s AI Innovation Summit, which took place in July 2023.

For inquiries about partnerships or sponsorship options for the InsurTech Innovation Lab or Summit, connect with our team. 

To stay updated on all InsurTech Innovation Lab news, subscribe here. 

 

About 1871

1871 is Chicago’s innovation hub and the #1 ranked private business incubator in the world. It exists to inspire, equip, and support early-stage, growth-stage, and corporate innovators in building extraordinary businesses. 1871 is home to ~400 technology startups, ~200 growth stage companies, and ~1,500 members, and is supported by an entire ecosystem focused on accelerating their growth and creating jobs in the Chicagoland area. The member experience includes virtual and in-person access to workshops, events, mentorship, and more. The nonprofit organization has 350 mentors available to its members, alongside access to more than 200 partner corporations, universities, education programs, accelerators, venture funds, and others. Since its inception in 2012, more than 850 alumni companies are currently still active, have created over 14,500 jobs, and have raised more than $3.5 billion in follow-on capital.

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We are thrilled to unveil the 30 finalists of this year’s 16th Annual Momentum Awards! 

These finalists were chosen from our impressive pools of nominees. After much deliberation, our esteemed judges have selected the top 5 founders, innovators, and tech companies for each award category that are disrupting their industries and paving the way for excellence in tech. 

Voting for 6 of our public awards closes on 08.11.2023. Learn more about each finalist below, and let us know who you think deserves to win the trophy and recognition by casting your votes!

The six award categories open to public voting include:

  • Rising Star
  • Momentum
  • CityLIGHTS
  • Outstanding Tech CEO
  • Industry Disrupter
  • Social Impact 

The 16th Annual Momentum Awards will be held on September 21, 2023, both in-person and virtually for an entire night of celebration and innovation. Stay tuned for ticket details so you can join us on this momentous occasion! 

And now without further ado, here are your 2023 Momentum Awards finalists! 

Cast your vote!

Rising Star Award

Presented to an early stage company that is positioned to grow into a leader in its market.

Anthill AI, Inc. is an employee relationship management platform that enables employers to engage & retain their frontline associates on any kind of device in over 100 languages. Anthill is a team committed to partnering with organizations to unlock opportunities for their frontline workforce. For every team member, the first and most important goal is good, family-sustaining jobs for more frontline workers.

Certiverse puts certifications within reach by democratizing exam development and delivery. The revolutionary online platform uses industry-leading psychometric standards, intuitive machine learning, & asynchronous crowdsourcing from experts to quickly create rigorous, cost-effective exams. Certiverse is an industry innovator, empowering organizations to rapidly develop valid test content at scale; engage, expand, and diversify their pools of subject matter experts; and create exams with less environmental impact.

Ludex, LLC is a game-changing platform that revolutionizes the trading card collecting experience. Ludex has pioneered cutting-edge visual AI-scanning technology to provide a seamless and efficient solution for collectors. With Ludex, you can accurately and rapidly identify your cards, determine their market value, and discover the next steps for your collection. Ludex combines physical trading cards with the digital world for a seamless experience removing barriers for all collectors.

ReloShare, Inc. is an instant booking technology company that powers custom hotel and corporate housing reservation systems. In June 2021, ReloShare launched Safe Stays, a one-of-a-kind custom hotel booking site that provides social service agencies like domestic violence shelters & human trafficking response agencies the ability to book rooms at national hotel partners with complete anonymity via alias check-ins and no credit card or ID requirements.

Science on Call is a subscription-based tech support platform for restaurants that helps with POS, internet, Wi-Fi, online ordering & more. Science On Call has grown steadily over the last three years, gaining traction in the restaurant industry with its disruptive, affordable tech-support model. With the support of the local Chicago tech community, including investors, incubators, and support hubs like 1871 and GET Cities, the Science On Call team is positioned to scale quickly over the next year by targeting large restaurant group clients & continuing to improve its technology.

Vote for your fav Rising Star finalist! 

Momentum Award

Presented to a growing company with the strongest potential to emerge as a leader in its market.

1440 is the daily newsletter helping 2.6M+ Americans stay informed, it’s news without motives, edited to be as unbiased as humanly possible. On a mission to fix distrust in the media, 1440’s team of editors, experts, & analysts scour hundreds of sources across science, culture, politics, and business to deliver an impartial report on the day’s news so readers can be more informed. Designed to be read in under five minutes, 1440 aims to serve the vast majority of Americans who are exhausted by the constant barrage of agenda-driven coverage.

Mycocycle is disrupting the trillion-dollar waste management industry through their proprietary process that uses mycelium to transform waste into valuable new products that can be used in construction. Mycocycle is a woman-owned, early-stage cleantech company that is innovating traditional waste management practices through a patent-pending process that uses fungi to remove toxins from trash to create reusable value streams. This process has the potential to revolutionize the way we think about waste, and it could have a major impact on the environment.

NuCurrent powerfully transforms consumer, industrial, & medical electronic devices and how people experience them with inductive and inductive resonant wireless power and data solutions for original equipment manufacturers. Within the wireless power industry, NuCurrent has emerged as the industry authority, with over 300+ patent assets generated and 500M+ devices powered across more product categories than any other company in the world.

Rheaply is a climate tech company on a mission to bring circularity to every business. Rheaply’s platform combines inventory management and digital marketplaces with sustainability solutions so that organizations can keep valuable products and materials in use, reduce costs and waste, & reach their sustainability goals. Rheaply is disrupting an industry that is limited by inventory management systems of old, built entirely for the take-make-waste linear, extractive, and simply put, wasteful economy.

Songfinch is the leading music creator platform that enables anyone to choose from thousands of professional musicians and create one-of-a-kind, custom songs. Songfinch has created a seismic shift in the music industry by eliminating all barriers to entry, enabling hundreds of thousands of users to create their own custom song using its technology and artist community. Over the past five years, Songfinch has had nearly a half-million custom songs produced & over $30,000,000 earned by independent artists.

Vote for your fav Momentum finalist! 

CityLIGHTS

Presented to a growth stage company that has become a serious competitor in the marketplace.

Crafty is a centralized platform for workplaces to manage food, beverage, and supplies for their in-office, remote, and hybrid teams across the globe. Crafty’s innovative technology allows clients to budget, filter products by DE&I and dietary needs, and manage spending & inventory across multiple office locations while creating hospitality-driven in-office experiences, which have aided in bringing communities back into the office to work, socialize, and perform their best. 

FourKites is the fastest-growing predictive supply chain visibility platform, with the largest and most intelligent network of supply chain partners and data providers in the industry. In addition to tracking real-time freight and providing the industry’s most accurate predictive ETAs, the platform helps companies identify trends in their supply chains, evaluate performance over time in order to reduce costs, improve service and create more efficient, transparent, & sustainable operations. 

Foxtrot is redefining convenience for the modern consumer, marrying the best of neighborhood retail & e-commerce technology to create a community of discovery. Its storefronts offer the most-loved aspects of neighborhood cafés, and you can turn to the Foxtrot App or website for 30-minute delivery and 5-minute pick up of a city’s best goods – from local beers and fine wines to chef-prepared meals and everyday essentials. With its innovative technology & a commitment to supporting local makers, Foxtrot is on a mission to connect people to better convenience through a love for food and culture, so that everyone can feel good about what they buy, everyday.

SpotHero is the digital parking leader & the largest platform to buy and sell parking in over 300 cities in North America. With over 8,000 parking locations on SpotHero and over 50 million cars parked, SpotHero has changed the parking industry by providing price transparency, convenience, and safety to millions of drivers, while helping parking garage operators improve their operational efficiency and increase revenue. 

YCharts is a leading financial technology company based in Chicago that has revolutionized the way financial advisors make investment decisions and communicate with their clients and prospects. With an intuitive, web-based software, YCharts provides comprehensive data, powerful visualization tools, & advanced analytics that enable finance professionals to easily monitor markets, construct portfolios that match their clients’ investment needs, and simplify complex financial concepts.

Vote for your fav CityLIGHTS finalist!

Outstanding Tech CEO

Presented to a CEO who has successfully scaled & nurtured their company through outstanding leadership.

Godard Abel is G2’s co-founder and remains as CEO of the company today, leading it into its next phase of growth. Under his leadership, G2 has become the world’s largest and most trusted software marketplace. With over 2M+ verified peer reviews, G2 is used by more than 80M people annually. Thousands of software & services companies of all sizes partner with G2 to build their reputation, manage their software spend, and grow their business. Abel is an avid believer in and practitioner of Conscious Leadership and has invested in a Conscious Leadership coach to train not only himself, but all leadership at G2 on this philosophy that has helped to create a top workplace culture.

Kristen Sonday is the Co-Founder and CEO of Paladin, whose mission is to increase access to justice by helping legal teams run more efficient pro bono programs. Paladin has a team of 16 & has raised over $12M in capital. Under Sonday’s leadership, Paladin’s mission to empower legal teams worldwide to serve more people in need has led to first-of-their kind portals for global disaster relief and relief efforts for Ukrainians affected by the war. In her role, she works with AmLaw200 firms, Fortune 500 in-house teams, and bar associations to increase pro bono engagement while decreasing administrative costs.

Maria Katris is a dynamic and visionary leader who serves as the CEO of BuiltIn, the largest platform of people who live and work in technology. Katris’ strong leadership skills and innovative thinking have not only led to the company’s impressive growth but also positioned BuiltIn as a trusted platform for connecting professionals in the tech community. Her dedication to fostering a diverse and inclusive work culture has been instrumental in attracting top talent and nurturing a collaborative environment. Under Katris’ guidance, BuiltIn continues to thrive as a trailblazer in the tech world, empowering individuals & companies alike to unlock their full potential.

Marshall Sied, co-founded Ashling Partners in 2017, as a ‘new vision’ of delivering on outcomes via Intelligent Automation. As CEO, Marshall has successfully led the company by demonstrating leadership, strategic acumen, & the ability to drive sustainable growth. His unique ability to bridge the gap between cutting-edge technology and real-world business applications sets him apart, as he consistently delivers tangible results & high value to his clients.

Wheeler Coleman is the CEO and founder of Executive Consultants United (EC-United), a nationally certified Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) technology firm specializing in delivering innovative professional services, technology and workforce labor solutions.  As a native Chicagoan who rose from the West Side projects to become a successful CEO, Wheeler himself demonstrates the transformative power of diversity & inclusivity. Under Coleman’s leadership, EC-United has experienced remarkable growth in revenue and profitability, exceeding industry averages. In just a few years, EC-United has become one of the fastest-growing MBE IT consulting firms in Chicago. 

Vote for your fav Outstanding Tech CEO finalist! 

Industry Disrupter

Presented to a company that has developed an innovative product that has significantly disrupted the industry.

DeepWalk is a mobile app that allows city workers to scan sidewalks helping municipalities comply with ADA requirements and be more informed when making decisions about the hazards & needs in their community. DeepWalk uses mobile imaging and AI to create more accessible communities. Using the scan data, DeepWalk automatically generates inspection documents, construction documents, & accessibility plans.

Kadeya is a patent-pending kiosk that washes, sanitizes, inspects, and refills bottles, combining a bottling plant with a dishwasher & a soda fountain in a unit the size of a vending machine. Kadeya is working to provide sustainable hydration solutions to reduce the drastic amount of waste from plastic bottles. This model decentralizes the entire linear & inefficient beverage supply chain to the point of use, eliminating practices that are environmentally unsustainable while increasing access to safe drinking water to at-risk populations.

Kalderos is a data infrastructure and analytics company that created the world’s first Drug Discount Management platform, simplifying drug discount program compliance for all stakeholders. The platform applies sophisticated data models and machine learning to identify and resolve noncompliance, with collaboration-oriented solutions built for both drug manufacturers & covered entities. Kalderos is dedicated to reducing inefficiencies in the U.S. healthcare system, empowering everyone to focus on the health of people.

Rivet is a women & black-led company founded by an all-MIT team that uses machine learning to find and understand their high-potential fans and provides creators with actions and automations to unlock more revenue. In a historically overlooked and service-oriented industry, Rivet’s approach to using AI to streamline business processes for artists & creators is fundamentally disruptive. Rivet’s recommendation engine and associated fan engagement score open the door to significant intelligence & workflow automation. 

Trajektory is the first vendor of its kind,  built by former execs who actually worked for teams, leagues, agencies, and brands and has become the premier sponsorship analytics & revenue platform that’s solving the burden of sponsorship reporting. Trajektory is changing the way teams and brands measure sponsorships and is in a unique position to be the leader in the sponsorship valuation industry with continued growth & brand awareness.

Vote for your fav Industry Disrupter finalist! 

Social Impact

Presented to a company that has fostered a commitment to DEI, community contributions, & social impact. 

Cresco Labs is one of the largest publicly traded, vertically integrated multistate operators in the cannabis industry where thousands of employees work in service of a mission to normalize & professionalize the cannabis industry. Through year-round policy, community outreach and SEED initiative efforts, the company embraces the responsibility to support communities through authentic engagement, economic opportunity, investment and advocacy. This helps people find careers in cannabis, formerly incarcerated people get their lives back, & influence legislative changes that will help the industry achieve its full potential.

Double Good is a digitally native vertical brand reimagining the experience, simplicity, & effectiveness of product-based fundraising. Double Good creates user-first software, makes ultra-premium popcorn, and gives 50% of every dollar to a cause. Double Good is in the restless pursuit to make fundraising better through innovative technology. Double Good has helped raise over $200 million to create joy and help kids and organizations nationwide make a lasting impact in their communities.

Parker Dewey is transforming the college-to-career journey for students and recent graduates from all backgrounds with Micro-Internships: short, paid, accessible projects. These Micro-Internships create equitable pathways to professional employment for all learners, while overcoming the barriers tied to lack of social capital, academic pedigree, & other inherent biases

Poker Power is a company led by women for women with the goal of teaching one million women how to play the game of poker & the game of life. Poker Power utilizes gameplay to help girls and women ranging from students to CEOs stack their skills and accelerate success through a global network of corporate leadership development workshops and lessons. By empowering women with key skills, Poker Power is changing the future for generations to come.

WeSolv is an AI and performance data-driven platform that automates sourcing more diverse candidates & objectively assessing skills and competencies with real mini-projects. WeSolv democratizes access to real experience and uses predictive data to reduce hiring bias. WeSolv’s  purpose, beyond profit, is to create a world where candidates of all backgrounds can access meaningful careers while infusing companies with diverse, high-performing talent to propel their businesses forward.

Vote for your fav Social Impact finalist! 

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1871’s First-Ever AI Innovation Summit Brings Community Together to Explore Cutting-Edge AI Technologies & Transformative Solutions

As artificial intelligence continues to rapidly evolve and is on the up-and-rise, it was only fitting that hundreds of AI enthusiasts, investors, and industry leaders joined us for our first-ever AI Innovation Summit on 06.29.23. 

Proudly partnered with Why of AI, this summit culminated to showcase 1871’s first-ever AI Innovation Lab cohort and discuss all the extraordinary advancements and evolutionary integrations of artificial intelligence in a full day of programming and networking opportunities. 

“The best way to predict the future… is to create it,” wisely said by Alex Castrounis, CEO of Why of AI. “That’s what we’re doing here. When everything comes together with a great community that understands A.I. drives things forward, we become innovation, pioneers, not followers — and we build a better future where A.I. results in a much better world.” 

“A.I. stands as a catalyst, its potential to reshape industries, redefine business models, and clearly disrupt industries is evident,” said 1871 CEO, Betsy Ziegler. “The potential for disruption and pace of change is something we’ve never seen before. Together, we’re embarking on a journey of exploration, where A.I. disruption can unite us together to transform the world.”  

A.I.’s Global Transformation 

Ana Brnabić, Prime Minister of Serbia, joined our community for a discussion on Serbia’s efforts to ‘become one of the countries at the forefront of utilizing and investing in A.I.’.  

From beginning with only paper documents in 2016 to now all documents being digitized for its 6.8 million citizens, Serbia has come a long way, tech-wise. Brnabić plans to continue welcoming innovation, investing in education, and advancing the country within the IT sector, beginning their efforts with e-government. 

“It’s almost like being a startup and needing to compete in a fast-changing environment,” said Brnabić. “This is our competitive advantage; we are small, we can adapt much faster, and we showed how it can work.” 

From introducing coding classes into primary schools, IT classes in secondary schools, and machine learning classes in high schools — which has transformed into 29% of all students graduating from tech faculties and every second new job created in the IT sector in 2021 — education has been the forefront of their efforts. 

Serbia has also invested 200M€ into infrastructures for startup & innovation companies, joined 28 other countries in utilizing A.I., and passed a science fund based on the National Science Fund of the United States for more research and development within the country. 

Increasing from an annual IT export in 2012 of 375M€ to 2.7B€ in the latter half of 2016, to now estimates of $4B€ this year, Serbia joins other countries in quickly adapting and innovating with artificial intelligence and machine-learning tech.  

“My advice? Invest in education, and embrace tech. Governments and countries can decide to shut their eyes and pretend things aren’t happening, but they are,” said Brnabić. “We should embrace technology and see how it WILL change society and our ways of life. We must anticipate these changes. The role of government is to provide opportunities for people to gain new knowledge and acquire new skills. If we do our job, technology, and AI, if used in the right manner, can bring so much more positive to the world and mankind.”  

The power of students in A.I. 

Our first-ever student AI Tech Challenge, hosted earlier this year, brought current university students and recent grads together to utilize artificial intelligence while creating models that help solve our partner Discover’s continuous challenge – their call channels. 

After much deliberation, we had not one, but two extraordinary Purdue University students win the challenge with their voice-to-text transcription model.

 Congratulations to Wenliang Chen, a graduate of Purdue University with a Master of Science in Computer Information Technology, and Tianzong Zhang, an aspiring computer scientist pursuing a Master in Computer Science at Purdue University! 

Utilizing A.I. for positive change

As A.I. continues to rapidly adapt and improve, the big question is HOW can individuals — and society itself — use A.I. for positive change? 

A.I. experts joined us to discuss several different focus areas of utilizing artificial intelligence in the workplace, and “outside of the office” in their breakout sessions: 

As artificial intelligence is dubbed “the fourth industrial revolution”, Castrounis and Hamilton explained that this is a new opportunity to take key factors of A.I. into consideration when industries are going through conversions. 

“AI is going to accelerate. We must take the opportunity to think about how we can standardize the impacts and be mindful of them, so they become good impacts and we avoid risks,” said Hamilton. 

A.I. has several impacts on our society, including; economic impact, the future of the workplace, social impact, and environmental impact. So Why A.I., and why should we focus on this? 

“It’s time to stop talking the talk,” said Castrounis. “Organizations should incorporate frameworks like the NIST AI RMF into their governance practices to ensure the development and deployment of responsible and trustworthy AI systems.” 

Dalrymple and Wu’s interactive workshop explored the profound impact of design thinking on Generative (gen) A.I. The leaders and its audience explored Gen A.I.’s transformative potential of human-centered design principles, and the tools to help organizations be more creative, efficient, and user-centric to ensure product-market fit across all parts of the value chain

“We can talk about Gen A.I. in any way today if we wanted to. But ultimately, we want to talk about how you think about starting with user needs? How do you think about the people involved throughout the experience of your product, the delivery of your product, and ultimately the operational elements of your product,” said Dalrymple. “Gen A.I. can help you with all of these things. It can be something that is helping you understand what to put out there in the world and help make that process simpler. It’s a pretty critical opportunity for you.” 

Rao, Ran, and Long’s breakout session discussed how to make businesses organizationally ready to adopt A.I. trends across various landscapes, including talent, technology, data, and tooling. 

“Gen A.I. is going to make people’s lives easier, using data and getting insights to make experiences better for customers,” said Rao. 

A research study by McKinsey found that generative A.I. can add up to $4.4 trillion in annual global productivity. 

Breakout session leaders demonstrated how McKinsey is utilizing generative A.I. with a demonstration of their very own tool, Jarvis. The generative A.I. tool was created to reduce the time taken going through documents to see how experts have approached problems previously. 

The potential of A.I

Hosted by Satya Rao, Partner at McKinsey & Company, our diverse group of AI expert panelists discussed ‘Navigating the A.I. Frontier’, with a focus on ethical considerations, latest advancements, & potential societal impacts. 

“To harness the power of A.I., I think investing in the right kind of platform is key. Ask anyone who builds models, your model is only as good as the data that feeds it,” said Anu Kondepudy, Director of Analytics & Innovation at United Airlines. “If you don’t move quickly then your solution is already too old.”

In addition to Kondepudy, expert speakers included Kris Hammond, Professor of Computer Science at Northwestern University & Director of The Center for Advancing Safety of Machine Intelligence, Adam Wisniewski, CEO at EX3 Labs, Adam Caplan SVP of Salesforce A.I., and Raghu Kulkarni, Vice President of Data Science at Discover Financial Services.

“The key challenge is as we feed more data, the risk of unintended consequences increases,” said Kulkarni. 

We ended the summit with an intimate conversation with Max Hjelm, VP of Sales at CoreWeave, interviewed by Ernie Rogers, COO of Magnetar Capital, core investor and independent board member of CoreWeave. 

 “We believe that A.I. will add value to investments. The industry is changing rapidly and we’re ready to help A.I. companies grow. We’re focused on improving business processes and gaining efficiencies” said Rogers.

“What should people be focused on? There’s a lot of subject matter that goes into this industry,” said Hjelm. “I think less of a skill and more of a mentality that you can adapt is a go-getter mentality and tenacity, what business is looking for is people who are willing to push the envelope.”

Current players in A.I. 

Attendees had the opportunity to discover the innovative new products and services that 1871’s first-ever AI Innovation Lab cohort is working on in our Startup Tech Alley.

 Founders set up booths for public engagement, investor conversations, and product demos for inspiration on reshaping industries and driving innovation with their AI-powered solutions.

We had a blast hearing from these founders and their real-life businesses that are making a difference in A.I. in our pitching showcase. 

We heard extraordinary pitches from Nico Anguilar, CEO of  Speeko, Nancy Munro, Founder & CEO of Verbal Transactions,  Derrick L Johnson, Founder of Encounter AI, Marc Ward, CEO of  Socian Technologies,  Nilay Parikh, Founder & CEO of  Arvist,  Kimberly Foerster, CEO of CharacTour, John Burkey, CEO / CTO of Brighten AI, and Ryan Li, Co-Founder & CEO of Revert Technologies. 

Congratulations to our winner Speeko, and the “fan favorite”, Socian Technologies!  

Watch our AI Innovation playlist , and we’ll see you next year for AI Innovation Summit 2024!

2023 gallery

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CHICAGO, July 24, 2023 – 1871 launches a new Tech Leaders experience that’s exclusively dedicated to Black & Latin leaders in technology, starting September 2023.  Applications to join the fall cohort will be accepted through August 25th, 2023 and admission is open to the public.

1871’s Tech Leaders fall 2023 cohort runs for 4 months from 9.15.23 – 12.14.23 and is 100% virtual. While Tech Leaders is designed to train and mentor those in leadership roles within the technology industry, this upcoming cohort is particularly designed for tech leaders with a Black or Latin social identity. 

The Tech Leaders program redefines mentorship, offering personalized guidance and unwavering support to individuals from various backgrounds. Engaging group coaching sessions, leadership development workshops, and dynamic peer-driven forums create an environment where every cohort member’s personal and professional growth is celebrated and nurtured, propelling them towards achieving their leadership development aspirations while fostering strong camaraderie within the cohort.

The “BLKtech” or “LTNtech” affinity tracks of the program are named in line with the social identity distinction of 1871’s other offerings for the designated group. The focus of this cohort is an expression of the main tenets of 1871’s core mission and values, which is to help tech businesses at the business and individual level with accessibility.

1871’s partner Ethos, a culture consulting meets diversity, equity, and inclusion firm, will be facilitating the curriculum of the program. The full cohort will meet for core curriculum sessions, but then break out to distinct groups, BLKtech and LTNtech. More about the experience is below. 

An information session will be held on 8.2.23, from 10:00 – 11:00 AM for attendants to learn more about this hands-on and inclusive experience, and ask any questions they may have.  

“Embracing diversity and inclusivity, our leaders’ program is now extended to encompass a broader range of social and gender identities, empowering often underrepresented Black and Latin individuals with the essential courage and foundation for career acceleration and leadership development,” said Alysha-Aubrey, Sr. Director of Affinities. “Our proven success with the WMNtech Leaders program demonstrates the power of diverse voices in shaping future success that we are excited to bring to our BLKtech & LTNtech community.”

About Tech Leaders Fall 2023 – BLKtech & LTNtech Tracks

  • Runs: 9.15.23 – 12.14.23
  • Format: 100% virtual
  • App deadline: 8.25.23
  • Eligibility includes Black or Latin social identity & 3-10 years of experience working in a technical-facing role. 

This unique experience brings together Black and Latin leaders working in technical roles, nominated Black and Latin employees from various tech companies and universities, and dedicated volunteer mentors who will work in unison to accelerate the personal and professional development and skills of these individuals.

The initiative is designed for mid-career, Black and Latin professionals in the tech industry who exhibit exceptional promise in their current roles and would benefit from the support from this experience. This initiative is open to all gender identities.

Key program information

If accepted, participants should be prepared for an orientation and dedicated time towards the full experience starting from 9.15.23  to 12.14.23. The experience is comprised of the following:

  • Connect Days – 1 Friday / Month – Core curriculum broken down into Workshops & Forums 
  • 1:1 with Super Mentor – Custom  – Goal oriented work with matched mentor
  • Group coaching – 1 day/Month – Peer-to-Peer Mentorship

The forums and group coaching sessions are divided into two tracks, namely the Black Technical Track and the Latin Technical Track. These tracks are specifically tailored to equip each underrepresented group with the essential tools, resources, and guidance needed to achieve their primary goals and desired outcomes from the program. 

Additionally, participants are matched with a dedicated, volunteer Super Mentor. Throughout the program, participants and their assigned mentors will have several meetings for valuable one-on-one time, facilitating discussions on leadership, personal growth, and professional development skills. These sessions serve as an opportunity for participants to gain insights and knowledge from the mentor’s wealth of experience and expertise. 

Applications are open for participation in the fall 2023 cohort of Tech Leaders. The deadline to apply is 8.25.23. More information about the program and applications to become a participant or mentor can be found here.  

 

About 1871

1871 is Chicago’s innovation hub and the #1 ranked private business incubator in the world. It exists to inspire, equip, and support early-stage, growth-stage, late-stage, and corporate innovators in building extraordinary businesses. 1871 is home to ~400 technology startups, ~200 growth stage companies, and ~1,500 members, and is supported by an entire ecosystem focused on accelerating their growth and creating jobs in the Chicagoland area. The member experience includes virtual and in-person access to workshops, events, mentorship, and more. The nonprofit organization has 350 mentors available to its members, alongside access to more than 200 partner corporations, universities, education programs, accelerators, venture funds, and others. Since its inception in 2012, more than 850 alumni companies are currently still active, have created over 14,500 jobs, and have raised more than $3.5 billion in follow-on capital

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On June 21st, our community of innovators gathered together for our second annual Juneteenth celebration, a signature 1871 event.

 Dedicated to honoring the resilience of the African American community and celebrating its history, we are still smiling from all the good vibes that were brought in full by our members, 1871’s Black tech community & their allies that joined.  

Relive the day in our Juneteenth 2023 recap! 

The evening was filled with networking, fun, and laughter as we honored Black entrepreneurs for their contributions and achievements in the tech world and neighboring industries. 

Here’s what happened

    • We enjoyed the late afternoon sunshine while outside on the river-side of the Merchandise Mart, along with our very favorite DJ Marcus who brought the beats!

    • We put our attendee’s  brains to the test and  played “The World Guessing Game for the Culture” trivia game from Team Tipoff.

The day was such a success, and the proceeds from the tickets will directly fund 1871 memberships for Black founders of early-stage tech companies. These founders will now have the opportunity to join 1871’s business community, access our curriculum, and meet with our mentors to fuel their startups!

A big thank you to everyone who joined us in celebration of Juneteenth. This evening wouldn’t have been possible without our sponsors Oracle, Verizon, & World Wide Technology. Thank you for supporting our mission of inclusivity and celebrating diversity.    

We hope you had a great time, and we’ll see you next year for Juneteenth 2024!

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On 06.22.23, 1871 hosted their third BLKtech Pitch Competition. The 3-round competition started with 50+ applicants, 20 founders moved to the semi-finals, and the top 5 finalists pitched their startups in front of a live audience.

Congratulations to the 2023 BLKtech Pitch Competition finalists 
  1. Period, taking home $13k dollars & $10k in Aloa dev credits 
  2. LucidTrade, taking home $9.5k dollars & $2.5k in Aloa dev credits 
  3. Reach Pathways, taking home $7.5k dollars & $2.5k in Aloa dev credits 
  4. Roomii, taking home $2.5k in Aloa dev credits 
  5. SALUBATA, taking home $2.5k in Aloa dev credits 

The finalists also received 6-months of free 1871 membership, on top of their individual cash prizes and development credits. 

Judges for the competition included: 

The third annual BLKtech Pitch Competition was made possible by investment partners  OCA Ventures, Wintrust Ventures, Dom Capital Group, and Tony Wilkins, as well as sponsors State Farm, Aloa,Weber Shandwick, Food Foundry, William Blair, Verizon, EY, and Molson Coors. 

About BLKtech

BLKtech is 1871’s umbrella of programming centered around supporting, equipping, and elevating Black founders & leaders  through curated programming and mentoring initiatives. 1871 has programs,community resource groups, and events dedicated to Black individuals in tech, including BLKtech Founders, BLKtech Voices, and annual celebratory Juneteenth event.  

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Top 5 Finalists for BLKtech Pitch Competition 2023!

Our BLKtech Pitch Competition returns for its third year to highlight and support extraordinary Black tech founders with funding and resources to take their business to the next level. 

This year’s 3-round competition was packed with many amazing startups, including 50+ round 1 pitches and 20 extraordinary semi-finalists from across the globe. After much deliberation, we’re excited to announce the top 5 founders who will be moving forward to our final event on 06.22.23! 

Cash prizes and equity funding from our notable VC partners, totaling $30,000, will be distributed and awarded to the finalists, alongside Aloa credits, totalling a value of $20k and 6-months of free membership to 1871.

Our BLKtech Pitch Competition is made possible by our sponsors, State Farm, Aloa, and Weber Shandwick, as well as Food Foundry, William Blair, Verizon, EY, and Molson Coors. 

Special thanks to our VC and investment partners, OCA Ventures, Wintrust Ventures,  Dom Capital Group, and Tony Wilkins for your continuous support and contributions to this event. 

And now the moment you’ve been waiting for…. Here’s the top 5 startups taking center stage at our BLKtech Pitch Competition 2023 event! 

Top 5 Finalists 

LucidTrade, pitched by CEO, Zakariya Veasy 

Period, pitched by Founder & CEO, Michelle Mbekeani 

Reach Pathways, pitched by CEO, Jeffery Beckham 

Roomii, pitched by Founder & CEO, Dapo Kolawole 

SALUBATA, pitched by Co-Founder & COO, Yewande Akinse 

About BLKtech Pitch Competition 

BLKtech Pitch Competition is a part of our larger Black tech founder initiative, designed to support and amplify Black early-stage founders through tailored programming, mentorship, and community networking opportunities. 

We are so honored to bring together our community of early, growth, and late-stage members, along with corporate members and VC partners as we celebrate well deserving Black-led startups!  

Help us cheer on the finalists as they pitch their businesses to an innovative panel of VC investors by attending the event, either in-person or virtually, from 4:00 – 7:00 PM CST. 

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nuEra Launches Fundraiser Campaign for Howard Brown Health during Pride Month

nuEra Cannabis, a leading cannabis vertically integrated company in Illinois, is proud to announce the launch of a month-long fundraiser campaign in support of Howard Brown Health Throughout the entire month of June, nuEra, along with other participating cannabis dispensaries in Illinois, will be donating $2 per unit sold of the special edition nuEra “Puff Puff Pride,” a 3.5g premium flower product. Additionally, nuEra will donate all net revenue from the sales of a limited-edition “show your support” nuEra Pride logo pin. All proceeds from the campaign will be dedicated to Howard Brown Health, an organization that provides LGBTQ+ affirming healthcare and transformative social policy work, serving more than 40,000 adults and youth in its diverse health and social service delivery system.

The campaign aims to raise awareness and support for the crucial work done by Howard Brown Health in actualizing human rights and equity for all individuals. By collaborating with other cannabis dispensaries in Illinois, nuEra strives to create a collective impact that will contribute to the betterment of LGBTQ+ healthcare and social services.

To kick off the month-long fundraiser, nuEra will be participating in Higher Love’s Pride Month Kickoff Event on June 1st. The event will be held at the Palm House located at 619 W. Howard Street, Evanston, IL. It promises to be an engaging celebration of diversity, inclusivity, and community support.

“We are thrilled to launch this fundraiser campaign in support of [Howard Brown Health] during Pride Month,” said Jonah Rapino, Director of Marketing at nuEra. “At nuEra, we believe in the importance of supporting the communities where we operate and providing accessible healthcare to all individuals. By partnering with Howard Brown Health and other cannabis dispensaries, we hope to make a meaningful contribution towards fostering a more inclusive society.”

nuEra encourages individuals to show their support by purchasing the special edition “Puff Puff Pride” product and the limited-edition nuEra Pride logo pin. Customers can find these products at nuEra’s six dispensaries and other participating cannabis dispensaries in Illinois.

For more information about the fundraiser campaign and nuEra’s collaboration with Howard Brown Health, please visit https://nueracannabis.com/nuEraPride & https://howardbrown.org/.

About nuEra:

nuEra is a vertically integrated company in Illinois committed to providing high-quality products and exceptional customer experiences. With a dedication to community engagement and social responsibility, nuEra actively supports initiatives that promote inclusivity, diversity, and equitable access to cannabis and healthcare.

About Howard Brown Health:

Howard Brown Health is a prominent LGBTQ+ affirming healthcare organization dedicated to providing comprehensive, holistic care to individuals and communities in need. Through its diverse health and social service delivery system, Howard Brown Health works to actualize human rights and equity for all, serving over 40,000 adults and youth.

PR Contact:

Elana Cohen
Tree of Life PR elana@treeolifepr.com 847-997-4404

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CHICAGO: June 6th, 2023 – Global non-profit innovation hub 1871 is hosting its first ever AI Innovation Summit on June 29th, 2023. This public event will engage over 250+ key players in the artificial intelligence space, including; growth-stage AI startups, corporate leaders, and AI investors and experts.  

The AI Innovation Summit is co-hosted by execution partner and industry expert Why of AI, a leading AI strategy-consulting and business training company. 

The summit is a capstone event for the AI Innovation Lab program, launched earlier this year with support from general sponsor The Chicago Cubs, and anchor sponsors Discover, McKinsey, and Microsoft. 

This summit is part of 1871’s larger Innovation Lab product suite, which brings together key tech players with industry experts to solve leading industry issues & develop solutions to revolutionize future operations. 

Summit Agenda

From 9:00 AM to 6:30 PM, summit attendees can participate in curated AI-focused programming, including:  fireside chats, expert panels, topical breakout sessions, pitch showcases, interactive tech experiences, inspirational keynote, and more. 

The summit will include a fireside chat with Prime Minister of Serbia, Ana Brnabić, who will be bringing a global perspective on AI-driven transformation. Stay tuned as we announce other amazing guest speakers who will be joining our full-day agenda! 

The AI Innovation Summit showcases cohort 1 of the lab and gives them the limelight to showcase their AI-driven businesses, as well as interact with thought leaders, AI enthusiasts, investors, and more! 

This content, paired with presentations from industry leaders and executives, will make for an unforgettable day centered around all things AI and tech. Breakfast and lunch will be offered to in-person attendees, followed by happy-hour networking and drinks in the final hours of the event.

Winners of 1871’s first-ever student AI Tech Challenge will be publicly announced at the summit to highlight their success of building an incredible voice-to-text transcription model using artificial intelligence.

While attendees can watch virtually, only a select group of events will be live streamed. In-person participation is highly recommended. 

Registration is required for this event – RSVP here. 

To sponsor the summit, email corpinno@1871.com. To stay up-to-date on 1871’s AI-related programming & news, subscribe here. 

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CHICAGO, May 23, 2023- 1871 has opened applications for their 5th cohort of BLKtech Founders, an affinity program designed to support and amplify Black early-stage founders and their startups. Applications for both 1871 members and non-members will be accepted through June 26th, 2023. 

Starting July 2023, this unique offering runs for twelve weeks, combining professional development curriculum, 1:1 mentoring, and peer group development programming.

The cohort is designed to create a safe, judgment-free space for Black founders to meet others in similar entrepreneurial situations to connect and address the unique challenges they face due to their social identity.

The program will run from 7.11.23 – 9.12.23, meeting virtually every Tuesday from 3:00 – 5:00 PM CST. 

BLKtech Founders C5 is proudly supported by general partners Molson Coors, EY, Verizon, William Blair, and Food Foundry. 

“This program focuses on you, as the founder which is essential to starting a successful business but is often overlooked. Our personal and professional development sessions help you to overcome common scenarios and roadblocks that, unfortunately, inevitably, happen to Black founders. It also instills in you a sense of pride in what makes you unique, not minimize it” said Alysha Aubrey Bursey, Sr. Director of Affinity Programs. “The beauty of these cohorts is that when you log into that Zoom, everyone looks like you, you can be your full self. It allows people to open up and breaks down that wall that underrepresented groups tend to put up for survival. Because of this, the people that you meet within the cohort are going to be rallying behind you forever, regardless of if your company makes it or not.” 

About the experience

Key takeaways for participants in the program: 

  • Learn how to maximize their key leadership skills
  • Gain confidence in themselves and their startups 
  • Overcome obstacles one faces when starting a business
  • Build reputable relationships with experienced founders and 1871 members who are dedicated to supporting this group. 

“Participating in the 1871 BLKtech Founders cohort helped me personally and professionally by providing access to a network of entrepreneurs who were facing some of the mental and emotional challenges that I was facing, especially while navigating through the pandemic and the ever-rising racial tensions that have emerged over the last year,” said Tanisha Hemphill, Founder of Black Mom Resource. “It felt good to have a space where we could share resources and regularly check in with each other. 

Important Dates

 If you would like to learn more about sponsoring BLKtech Founders or any other affinity-related program, reach out to corpinno@1871.com.  

About 1871

1871 is Chicago’s innovation hub and the #1 ranked private business incubator in the world. It exists to inspire, equip, and support early stage, growth stage and corporate innovators in building extraordinary businesses. 1871 is home to ~400 technology startups, ~200 growth stage companies, and ~1,500 members, and is supported by an entire ecosystem focused on accelerating their growth and creating jobs in the Chicagoland area. The member experience includes virtual and in person access to workshops, events, mentorship, and more. The nonprofit organization has 350 mentors available to its members, alongside access to more than 200 partner corporations, universities, education programs, accelerators, venture funds and others. Since its inception in 2012, more than 850 alumni companies are currently still active, have created over 14,500 jobs, and have raised more than $3.5 billion in follow-on capital.

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Thought Leaders Inspired Positive Change & Growth for Chicago Tech Community at ScaleUp 2023.

On May 10th, thought leaders and growth-scalers from across the Midwest gathered for 1871’s 6th Annual ScaleUp, a half-day dedicated to innovating growth, inspiring change, and connecting peers in the tech community. 

This year’s hybrid event featured a legendary lineup of 15 thought leaders who shared incredible insights, personal advice, and best practices for scaling growth companies as they continue in today’s ever-changing tech industry. 

“This day is about imparting knowledge, meeting other people, and an opportunity to ask questions while pushing your own thinking,” said 1871 CEO, Betsy Ziegler. “Success for today is what you put into it.” 

Without further ado, here are 5 lessons for growth companies to utilize as they continue to grow, scale, and lead their businesses. 

Lesson 1: Be agile

Andy Kofoid, current 1871 board member and president of Databricks shared insight on his personal career journey, and the importance of integrating change and pushing for growth across all companies, especially as AI and LLMs continues to evolve in his chat with 1871 CEO Betsy Ziegler, Artificial Intelligence: A Disruptive Force for Growth Companies. 

“It took me a long time to build that change-management muscle, and it all depends on the outcome you’re trying to drive to. To survive and thrive, whether you’re a CEO or in any other role in a highly dynamic and innovative environment, you have to think about innovation, thought leadership, and speed responsiveness as the core tenants of how you’re driving the business. You better be ready to change, you can’t be comfortable with stability and routine, because it just won’t fly in this world. If it takes you three-to-six months to do something and you accomplish it in a week, think about how far ahead you’ll be in the game – don’t miss that window of opportunity.” -Andy Kofoid

Lesson 2: Prioritize building relationships & transparency

 Moderated by Kevin Willer, partner of Chicago Ventures, panelists Nick Solaro, general partner at Drive Chicago, Sonia Nagar, 1871 board member & general partner at Pritzker Group Venture Capital, Jason Felger,  head of operations at Jump Capital, and Dana Sun, senior associate in digital health at OCA Ventures, shared their personal and professional insights on the ups and downs of the current market, and advice on how to continue growing funding in Raising Capital in Today’s Market. 

“The pace of venture employment has just slowed down, so  it gives you time and it gives VCs time to actually build a relationship. Great companies are still being funded at exceptional valuations and relatively quickly, once you actually establish that relationship.” — Jason Felger

“Most venture funds are experiencing some level of markdown, and we make it a point to communicate that very, very clearly to our LPs. There’s no beating around the bush. We’re very honest and transparent, but we’re also talking about what we are doing to address the problem – not just wallowing in the fact that the market sucks right now.” — Dana Sun

“We want to feel like a partner, so we appreciate having transparency, regular communication, and over communication in the bad times. We’re going to lean harder into the relationships where we feel like people are being good stewards of capital and good partners to us.” — Sonia Nagar

Lesson 3: Invest in culture & community

Moderated by Julianne Cox, vice president of Business Development at Invest Northern Ireland, panelists James Taylor, CEO of Launchways, Willemijn Schneyder, CEO & founder of SwipeGuide, and Cass Baker, president & COO of GainShare, discussed the adaptations  their companies made as they transitioned to a virtual workplace from the COVID-19 pandemic. Panelists shared the importance of a community both on screen and in-person in Managing A Growing, Global Workforce. 

“There’s two things in mind that organizations have failed – trust and communication. We need a level of transparency with wins and losses. Everyone learns and communicates differently, so the best way is to get to know everyone on an individual level so you can effectively communicate and give them one-on-one attention to make the relationship last.”  — James Taylor

“Think about coffee check-ins, think about lunch roulettes, but also think about well organized virtual events that are really focused on building a sense of belonging and community. We were making sure that we have a layer around the work that’s really about driving a sense of community and belonging.” — Willemijn Schneyder 

“Everything you say and do is representative of your culture. The most valuable thing we learned along the way was a full mentoring program. We matched up someone senior to them to mentor. You have to plan out effective ways to engage and build relationships because everybody has a different way that they appreciate things, regardless of what the breakdowns are. Give them the space and voice they need (type B), so that type A doesn’t take over the room.” — Cass Baker

Lesson 4: Leverage mentorship from leaders accessible to you

Moderated by Marc Schiffman, president & CEO of SMS Assist, panelists Garry Cooper, CEO of Rheaply, Jeremie Bacon, co-founder of The Forge, and Coco Meers, CEO & co-founder of Equilibria, shared their insights on what makes up a versatile and successful board, and their personal expertise on crafting a well-oiled machine in Governance: Insights from Board Members of Growth Companies. 

“I think of my board as my accountability mirror. Of course it’s a helpful discussion and of course you’re relying on them for strategy,  counsel, and risk mitigation, but they’re also there to hold you accountable. When you’re alone as a CEO in the deepest darkest place of ‘what do i do now’, take those thoughts to the board and allow yourself to share that hard work of ‘what if’ with them, because that’s why they’re there so you don’t have to be alone.” — Coco Meers 

“The framework that I think about is how can everyone in the company support the mission? If you have the power to find board members,have a very specific reason in which you’re getting them on the board, and then to operationalize the reasoning you have.  I try to have a thesis on why I want people on the board, and try to extract that value from them.” — Garry Cooper 

“It’s important as an operating team and as a CEO of a company to think of your board like you think about your teammates. We need to surround ourselves with the best talent possible at all times for the job to be done to be successful. You don’t want to grow your board bigger than it should be relative to the size of your business. Manage your board like you manage your team in terms of the skillsets, and don’t be afraid to hire, fire, and replace and remove and find better opportunities for your board like you do with your team from time to time.”– Jeremie Bacon

Lesson 5: Your health is #1

Andy Dunn, founder of Red Swan Ventures,  founder & CEO of Pie Labs, and author of Burn Rate: Launching a Startup and Losing My Mind, sat down with 1871 CEO Betsy Ziegler for an intimate discussion about his memoir, dedicated to his personal Bipolar disorder diagnosis and mental health struggles. Dunn shared advice for founders, thought leaders, and peers surrounding their mental health and advocating for supporting others. 

“The best investment you can make in a pre seed-stage company is in the ability of the founders to endure stress. If you think to yourself ‘ I don’t have any mental health issues’, that’s a mental health issue right there. Because you don’t need a chronic condition to have an acute mental health crisis at some point, life just brings it. The thing about a startup is its ongoing stress, so if you’re a founder or lead teams, be in some form of therapy for three months every two years. You don’t need to be a mental health professional to employ empathy.” — Andy Dunn

Dunn suggests for those looking to learn more skills in understanding how to help others in need of mental health support, is to take the Be There Certificate. This free, self-paced learning experience is designed to increase mental health literacy, and to provide those with knowledge, skills, and confidence to safely support anyone struggling. 

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Applications for Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500 are now open.

It’s back! Applications for Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500 are now open. Celebrating the fastest growing, most innovative companies in the country, this awards program recognizes the top industry disrupters in public and private companies in the technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and energy tech industries. 

  

Eligible companies are selected based on the percentage of fiscal year revenue growth, and the list is compiled from applications submitted directly to the Technology Fast 500 website. Being recognized as a Technology Fast 500 winner provides increased visibility, brand recognition, and growth opportunities for companies, leveraging Deloitte’s U.S. and global brand recognition and visibility. 

“Chicago’s diverse ecosystem of start-ups continues to be a bright spot for our local economy,” said Tracy Harrison, managing director and Chicago emerging growth company practice leader, Deloitte & Touche LLP. “With the exciting growth of the city’s tech and innovation scene, I look forward to seeing the diverse display of innovative approaches this year’s Chicago applicants bring to the table.”

The application period is open from April 3 to June 23. Winners will be announced on Nov. 8. A

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