Vivid Seats, the Chicago-based secondary ticket marketplace, could be up for sale with a desired price tag of $1.5 billion.
Tag Blue Sky
Cubs won the World Series, but Powerball tops Chicago’s 2016 Google searches
Powerball was the only entity to beat the Chicago Cubs this year — by being the most popular search query in Chicago, according to Google.
After criticizing how white tech is, venture capitalist deals with blowback
Samara Mejia Hernandez just wanted to draw attention to the fact that women and minorities are underrepresented in tech.
But she got more than she bargained for when a post she published last week on the subject, “Why your boss is still a white guy,” quickly went viral.
Chicago developers launch Decred, a Bitcoin alternative
If you’re not sure you understand Bitcoin, you just fell another step behind: Decred, a digital currency created by former Bitcoin developers in Chicago, is the latest alternative coin seeking acceptance among cryptocurrency enthusiasts.
Company 0, the Chicago-based maker of Bitcoin tools and secure communications software, launched Decred widely Monday, CEO Jake Yocom-Piatt said.
By midday Tuesday, Decred was trading on at least one exchange for less than 1 percent of the value of Bitcoin, which was worth about $373 at the time — giving the new coin a value of $1.27.
Venture capitalists are so white – but what if they weren’t?
What if venture capitalists looked less like Oscar voters and more like the rest of Chicago?
The vast majority — 87 percent — of venture capitalists are Caucasian, according to a 2011 survey from the National Venture Capital Association, and 89 percent are male. Only 4 percent identify as African-American or Latino nationally, and there are very few in Illinois. The widely mocked Oscar voter lineup is 94 percent white and 77 percent male.
It’s hardly a representative group to define what success looks like, whose ideas are funded and even who pursues entrepreneurship to begin with.
Kate Spade x Everpurse available for purchase, but original customers remain empty-handed
Nearly six months after Everpurse promised frustrated customers it would fill outstanding orders with Kate Spade branded products, customers are still seeking resolution. Kate Spade started selling products from its line featuring Everpurse smartphone-charging pockets online and in stores this month. Read more →
It must be tough to create company culture in a coworking space, huh?
I talked to startups in some of Chicago’s most popular and well-equipped coworking spaces to learn about how they work within the restraints of a shared office to cultivate a unique company culture. Read all about it here.
Starter School classes are on hold as it awaits approval from the Illinois Board of Higher Education
I spoke to co-founder Neal Sales-Griffin and a representative from the Illinois Board of Higher education to find out what is delaying the full-time, $36,000 coding and entrepreneurship school from recruiting its third class. Read more here.
Here’s how ContextMedia plans to hit its goal of hiring 600 new employees by the end of 2016
I spoke to several leaders at Chicago-based health information provider startup ContextMedia to learn about how they are balancing rapid growth with a detailed, multi-phase interview process. The series of interviews and activities is essential for finding good fits and maintaining culture, they said. But the length of the process could be a detriment, some others said. Read the article here.
Everpurse customers are angry; will a national product deal help?
Chicago fashion tech company Everpurse has abandoned production of its eponymous product and shifted attention to pursuing deals with national fashion brands, but not before leaving a trail of angry customers who placed orders that were never filled.
After at least a year of complaints from customers who have paid for bags, Everpurse told them in an email early Thursday morning that it is on the verge of announcing new products in collaboration with a top fashion brand that will allow it to fufill orders. Some customers have had orders pending for more than a year. It is the first communication some of them have received in months.
Amina Elahi 