Foley & Lardner’s Chicago office, home to Catapult Chicago, is proud to see the recent uptick in praise for the uniquely collaborative start-up community located in Chicago’s River North neighborhood, as it has made important progress on Chicago’s scene for emerging companies, where it is striving to grow the next generation of premier startups in Chicago.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel addressed the Chicago business community at large on November 4, 2013, during which he took time to praise Catapult for its successes alongside other large players in the Chicago startup market. Mayor Emanuel has high hopes to create 40,000 technology jobs in Chicago during the next ten years, thereby doubling the size of Chicago’s tech economy in the same time period. Mayor Emanuel’s press release about the initiative included the following ambitious observations: “We are seeing unprecedented growth in this vital sector, from established international corporations to startups designed by Chicagoans. Now is the time for us to double down and ensure that Chicago’s tech economy is a strong, lasting pillar of our overall economy.” In Q3 of 2013, Chicago companies raised $265 million in venture capital; in 2012, Chicago saw a new startup emerge every day, more than triple the rate from two years prior. To facilitate this growth in part, Mayor Emanuel also announced three initiatives in the startup space, including:
- Chicago will host a venture capital summit alongside Lollapalooza. Interested? E-mail [email protected].
- Purdue University is developing a sixteen-month weekend MBA geared toward engineers and computer scientists.
- Leaders in the Chicago technology scene, along with Mayor Emanuel, will visit the top five American business schools to recruit talent to Chicago.
Foley & Lardner is glad to see successful Catapult alumni taking part in the progress Mayor Emanuel anticipates. Check out a recent Catapult blog post about BidMed, one of the most recent alumni of Catapult and a great success story unto itself.