The Beat: UChicago partners with Bay Area accelerator
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2 days ago
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The Beat: Chicago's quantum scene strikes multiple deals
Welcome to Chicago Inno's The Beat, a twice-weekly look at the people, companies and ideas that are shaping Chicago's innovation economy. The Big One As local lawmakers and industry leaders continue to pursue their vision for making Illinois a global capital for quantum computing, more corporate partners and tech giants want to get involved. GET TO KNOW YOUR CITY Find Local Events Near You Connect with a community of local professionals. Explore All Events IBM is the latest notable tech firm to affirm its commitment to the local quantum scene. Startups going through Duality, the nation's first quantum startup accelerator, will now get access to IBM's quantum network along with additional support and resources from the tech giant. READ MORE: IBM expands support for Chicago's quantum startups More Chicago Inno news to know The University of Chicago is partnering with Alchemist Accelerator — an institution out of California's Bay Area that's raised $4B and supported more than 650 companies — to help bring more local scientific breakthroughs from lab to market. is partnering with — an institution out of California's Bay Area that's raised $4B and supported more than 650 companies — to help bring more local scientific breakthroughs from lab to market. The Department of Labor is expanding the number of small businesses that could see big cuts in their Occupational Health and Safety Administration fines. is expanding the number of small businesses that could see big cuts in their Occupational Health and Safety Administration fines. Bonsai announced an investment of $1.8M to accelerate go-to-market efforts for its marketing intelligence platform. Infleqtion to build advanced quantum computer in Chicago A new public-private partnership will make Illinois home to one of the most advanced quantum platforms in the world, the state announced Wednesday. As part of an expected $50M investment over the next four years, quantum startup Infleqtion plans to build the first utility-scale neutral atom quantum computer at the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park on Chicago's South Side. Infleqtion will work in partnership with the quantum park and the National Quantum Algorithms Center. READ MORE: Infleqtion to build advanced quantum computer in Chicago as part of $50M investment Sign up for Inno's free twice-weekly newsletter to receive the latest innovation news impacting Chicago
Business Journals
4 days ago
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The Beat: UChicago partners with Bay Area accelerator
In this edition of The Beat, check out how UChicago is partnering with a Bay Area accelerator to bring more local deep tech to market.
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The Beat: Why Chicago's women-led startups see less investment
Welcome to Chicago Inno's The Beat, a twice-weekly look at the people, companies and ideas that are shaping Chicago's innovation economy. The Big One PitchBook's VC female founders dashboard released earlier this month shows venture-capital deal flow to Chicago companies founded or co-founded by women has dropped precipitously this year. Female founders in Chicago have raised $220M across 28 deals in 2025 thus far. That's significantly down from the $926M raised across 86 deals in 2024. GET TO KNOW YOUR CITY Find Local Events Near You Connect with a community of local professionals. Explore All Events Despite that, local investors believe the Chicago startup community has made strides when it comes to keeping women founders in the Windy City, though they say more work still needs to be done. This year's decline in Chicago is a stark contrast to the rest of the nation, where startups with at least one female founder have raised $78.8B over 1,428 deals, blowing past 2021's record of $68.7B. The first two quarters of 2025 were the best on record for startups with at least one female founder, totaling $51.2B and $27.6B, respectively, according to PitchBook data. That growth was powered by a few massive deals, including OpenAI's record-seeing $40B round in March. READ MORE: Venture funding for female founders in Chicago plummets despite national surge More Chicago Inno news to know A local cross-sector coalition aiming to bring quantum technology to market could be getting a big boost from a federal agency. Chicago startup Amphix Bio announced it received an orphan drug designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its treatment of acute spinal cord injury. Chicago named among top US cities for AI readiness Chicago has been named one of the best-prepared cities when it comes to adopting artificial intelligence technologies. That's according to The Brookings Institution, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit think tank, which published a report Wednesday that calls Chicago one of 28 AI "Star Hubs" across the country. While not one of the "Superstar" markets for artificial intelligence — reserved for California's San Francisco and San Jose — Chicago is still well positioned to create, apply and harness the power of AI. READ MORE: Chicago named among top US cities for AI readiness, balancing talent and innovation Sign up for Inno's free twice-weekly newsletter to receive the latest innovation news impacting Chicago.
