Packback, the Chicago-based platform for renting e-textbooks on demand, on Tuesday announced a $1 million seed round from a group of more than 20 angel investors. The total includes a $250,000 investment the company earned from “Shark Tank” star and investor Mark Cuban when co-founders Mike Shannon and Kasey Gandham appeared on the show in March.
Shannon and Gandham founded Packback while students at Illinois State University in 2012. Early on, they reached out to Chicago entrepreneurs and investors they admired for advice — a strategy that finally paid off.
“It was really a relationship-developing process,” Shannon said. “Our advisors evolved into investors.”
Amina Elahi 