Hey Friends!
Welcome to the 28th Edition of the Driver’s Seat newsletter 🚙
I spent majority of last week in San Francisco representing Chicago during the TechCrunch Disrupt conference.
Meeting with founders / investors in SF to discuss the rise of Chicago Tech 3.0 got me fired up!
(Chicago 3.0 has a nice ring to it… marking an evolution from the World's Fair Era = 1.0, the Groupon/GrubHub Era = 2.0, to our promising present + future = 3.0)
During my time in SF, I had the opportunity to attend an impressive GENESIS meetup, which was organized in collaboration with the Entreprenuers@Berkeley club.
GENESIS is a dynamic collective / community of driven Gen Z entrepreneurs in Chicago, which was founded / supported in the Drive Chicago office 🚙
I’m proud of what these guys are doing for our ecosystem. The establishment of more entrepreneurial collectives in Chicago will undoubtedly bring significant benefits to Chicago 3.0 🚀
You can stay up-to-date with GENESIS Chicago events here.
Overall, founders in the Midwest must push boundaries as they drive innovation, particularly when it comes to harnessing transformative technologies like LLMs, semiconductors, supercomputers, and blockchain.
Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth, during a recent visit to UIUC, said something that has stuck with me for a while:
"Students [and founders] in the Midwest should blur their boundaries as they shape innovation."
Think big, Chicago.
📍 Today’s Lineup:
🤑 The Illinois Semiconductor Scholarship
✅ Windy City Highlights
🏫 Midwest Grads Turned Founders: UMich Edition
🗺 Events Around the City
🔙 Previous Issues of the Driver’s Seat
Subscribe to the Driver’s Seat 🚙 for the best insights on Chicago's GROWING innovation economy 🙏
Before we dive in… we’re looking for a Software Engineer / full-stack dev to join our team in Columbus!
Lmk if you’re interested (or know someone that’s interested) in building software within a venture firm 👇
Let’s dive in! 🚙 🚙 🚙
🤑 The Illinois Semiconductor Scholarship
The Samsung and UIUC Partnership
Samsung is providing $5M in scholarships to students at UIUC to grow our semiconductor talent pipeline.
Samsung’s Austin Semiconductor is leading the partnership with the Grainger College of Engineering.
This partnership will allow UIUC to establish a new semiconductor minor program, which will launch in the fall of 2024.
History of Semiconductors at UIUC
UIUC is the birthplace of groundbreaking innovations, including the integrated circuit, LED, and the transistor—a cornerstone in the development of computer chips.
The university has close to 40 top ten ranked degree programs focused on microelectronics-related disciplines.
There’s been a keen focus from the university to connect students within Grainger Engineering to industry partners through the creation of Center for Advanced Semiconductor Chips with Accelerated Performance.
Why This Matters
This investment not only fuels the creation of 44,000 new semiconductor-related jobs, a result of the CHIPS and Science Act introduction, but also serves as a significant boost to UIUC's Engineering Program, already holding the prestigious 5th rank nationally.
This development will act as a powerful catalyst, fostering a stronger ecosystem of entrepreneurs emerging from the state of Illinois.
✅ Windy City Highlights
In case you didn’t know:
✅ Chicago ranks #4 in new venture firms started since 2019. (McKinsey)
✅ Venture funding in Chicago has grown 36% in the past 5 years. (Pitchbook)
✅ From 2016-2021, 1,943 IL-based startups raised venture funding which was over $18B. (NVCA)
✅ Since 2019, 32.6% of all investors involved in venture deals in Chicago invested in Black, Hispanic or Latino, or women founded startups. (WBC)
✅ There are over 350 women founded startups in Chicago, which captured 6.4% of all venture capital raised. (WBC)
✅ Chicago leads as the top ecosystem for Hispanic founders and ranks second for Black founders. (WBC)
🏫 Midwest Grads Turned Founders
We’ve covered well-known alumnus at great Midwest universities that have changed the world through their inventions.
This week, let’s take a look at University of Michigan
Google co-founder, Larry Page, graduated from UMich grad school in 1995.
Stephen M. Ross founded Related Companies, one of the largest real estate development firms in the United States.
Tony Fadell founded Nest Labs, a company that pioneered smart home technology and was acquired by Google. He graduated from UMich in 1991.
Tom Monaghan co-founded Domino's Pizza while he was a student at U of M.
Dug Song and Jon Oberheide co-founded Duo Security, a cybersecurity company that was acquired by Cisco for over $2B.
Thomas Knoll is the founder of Photoshop, an idea that he started working on while at U of M during the early 80s.
The founder of Leo Burnett Company, which is one of the largest advertising firms in the US graduated from Michigan in 1914. The company is HQ’d in Chicago.
C-SPAN, co-founded by University of Michigan alum John D. Evans, revolutionized congressional transparency by introducing cameras into the US Congress, documenting legislative work for the first time.
DoubleClick was founded by Kevin O'Connor, who graduated in 1983.
Jeff Lawson was the founding CTO of StubHub and the founder of Twilio. He graduated from U of Mich in 2003.
🗺️ Events Around The City
I'm hosting three AI Meetup(s) on Campus at leading Midwest universities in October:
Illinois Tech on October 3rd 👇
University of Michigan on October 10th
UIUC on October 25th
And now for this week’s events:
Hype Week Kickoff
Hosted by Raj The Startup Hypeman
Monday September 25th
Angel Networking Gathering
Hosted by the Josephine Collective, Vitalize Angels, Lofty Angels, and Drive Capital
Tuesday September 26th
Harnessing Innovation to Address Mental Health Needs
Hosted by MATTER
Tuesday September 26th
AI Deep Dive
Hosted by SVB and Open AI
Wednesday September 27th
Chicago VC Happy Hour
Hosted by Chicago Blend
Wednesday September 27th
The Power of a Changing Workplace
Hosted by 1871
Thursday September 28th
Fuel Up Friday ft Amanda Lannert
Hosted by Drive Capital
Friday September 29th
👋 See you next week!
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