Apply
Founder Institute Image

The Chicago Founder Institute, the local chapter of the world's largest pre-seed startup accelerator, is proud to announce the newest Alumni from the Chicago Virtual Fall 2020 program.

Over 260 people applied to the program, and after an intense four months of aggressive business-building sprints and constant evaluation and feedback from investors and mentors, just six companies were able to make it through. 

Each of these Founders have demonstrated a high level of perseverance and creativity, and their businesses have been thoroughly vetted and supported by a panel of Chicago's top startup experts and investors.  

And now, without further ado, we present the Alumni of the Chicago program: 

  • Comfort Eats - your favorite American snacks delivered to your door, Comfort Eats provides Americans abroad access to custom care packages of comfort food with affordable international shipping and a personal “from home” experience.

  • LawRise - a lawyer recommendation engine to helps individuals find the injury lawyer right for them, providing customized lawyer ratings based on their unique needs.

  • Mainmarts, Inc - partnering with small-mid size retailers to serve their customers better by enabling strong online presence.

  • Perceive Now - an analytics platform for actionable intelligence on worldwide research activities, focused on industry prospective collaborations with universities, with 350 million scientific articles and patents aggregated for unique insights and connections.

  • Snapshota dashboard web-based software solution for solopreneur freelancers to organize, track, and grow their business.

  • Video Telematics Gateway - VTGW is mission-critical video for commercial fleets: school buses, ambulances, trucks, vans - video to reduce litigation and insurance costs, find operational blind spots, and improve driver safety and driving behavior. 

The Chicago Virtual Fall 2020 program would not have been possible without help, because it truly takes a city to raise a startup. We would first like to thank the Managing Director of the Chicago Founder Institute Jason Jacobsohn. Our Local Leaders play an incredibly important role in building the local Founder Institute program, and creating an environment and network in Chicago that is conducive to building to great companies.

In addition, the Chicago Virtual Fall 2020 accelerator program was supported by some of Chicago's top technology organizations, including:

In the Founder Institute's pre-seed accelerator program, early-stage entrepreneurs and teams build their business alongside a critical support network of local startup experts that share equity in their success, and through a structured and challenging business-building process that has helped alumni raise over $1.75BN. 

After Graduation, the new Chicago Founder Institute Portfolio Companies now have a fast-growing company that has been fully validated by experienced startup founders, with access to the Founder Institute's global network and post-graduate support programs to continue building their business. 

Leaders of the world’s fastest-growing startups have used the Founder Institute to raise funding, building a co-founding team, get into seed-accelerators, generate traction, recruit a team, build a product, transition from employee to entrepreneur, and more. Based in Silicon Valley and with chapters across 200+ cities and 100+ countries, the Founder Institute’s mission is to Globalize Silicon Valley and empower talented and motivated entrepreneurs to build companies that will create one million new jobs.

The next Chicago Founder Institute program is being planned now. If you are interested in being notified when applications open, visit FI.co/apply/chicago.

 

*  *  *

Alumni of the Founder Institute are creating some of the world's fastest growing startups, having raised over $1.75BN in funding, and building products people love across over 200 cities worldwide.

See the most recent news from our Grads at FI.co/news, or learn more about their stories at FI.co/journey


Related Insights

More insights
Founder Institute Image
Grad News

Founder Institute Dallas Produces 5 New Technology Companies

By Sana Balti on Mar 15, 2024
Founder Institute Image
Grad News

Founder Institute and The Entrelliance Foundation Launch a New Leadership Lab Program for Startup Founders

By Emiliya Strahilova on Feb 29, 2024
Founder Institute Image
Grad News

Founder Institute Lagos Produces 11 New Technology Companies

By Sana Balti on Feb 28, 2024

Are you ready to apply to the world's largest pre-seed accelerator?

Apply to the Program