25-06-2025
- Business
- Business Journals
The Beat: Emerging names G.J. Hart managing partner
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
G.J. Hart — a man with nearly four decades of experience in the restaurant industry — is joining a local venture capital firm with a war chest dedicated to investing in innovations for restaurants.
GET TO KNOW YOUR CITY
Find Local Events Near You
Connect with a community of local professionals.
Explore All Events
Emerging, a Chicago VC firm that aims to bring new technologies to the food and beverage space, announced Hart as managing partner on Tuesday.
He hopes his role there will help younger companies grow in new ways.
"I think I can add a little bit of experience and hopefully some wisdom along the way to provide ways that they can scale and add strategic direction," he told Chicago Inno. "At this point I've been a CEO for almost 40 years, and I think it's time to do something a little different."
READ MORE: Restaurant industry veteran G.J. Hart joins Chicago VC firm Emerging to help shape future of dining
More tech news to know
As corporate giants continue to pour billions into adding artificial intelligence technologies to their operations, Chicago startup Moonnox has raised $2M to help small to mid-sized consultancies stay relevant.
has raised $2M to help small to mid-sized consultancies stay relevant. Nautilus Solar Energy said it's moved its headquarters from Summit, New Jersey, to downtown Chicago.
said it's moved its headquarters from Summit, New Jersey, to downtown Chicago. Chicago logistics company FourKites announced the FourKites Summit 2025 will be taking place Aug. 26 and 27 at the Swissôtel Chicago.
Why a Chicago software startup brought on a new CEO
One of Chicago's fastest-growing software startups has made a change up top.
Ocient, a data analytics company that closed a $132M Series B in April, named John Morris as its new chief executive officer and board director. A seasoned tech veteran, Morris will continue to "help big companies with big problems" in his new role with Ocient, as he has his whole career, he told Chicago Inno.
"What I'm trying to do is step back, make sure that ... we're hiring ahead for some of these growth opportunities that are going to be coming and that we're thinking about the pipeline for the next three to five years not just the next year or so," Morris said.
READ MORE: Why Ocient brought on John Morris as its new CEO
Sign up for Inno's free twice-weekly newsletter to receive the latest innovation news impacting Chicago.
