Hey Friends!
Welcome to the 31st edition of the Driver’s Seat! 🚙
Highlights from Last Week:
I had a great time visiting the University of Michigan for our second AI Meetup on Campus.
Special thanks to student leaders at V1 Michigan and the Michigan Venture Club for helping me put this together.
We’re welcoming the Michigan Venture Club to the Drive Chicago office this week for a field trip.
I published a blog on the opportunity for superfandom in music.
The piece highlights three insights:
A musician’s ‘superfans’ make up 20% of their fanbase, but contribute to 80% of their revenue.
I believe superfandom has the power to shift many of the incentives we see in music today, which heavily rely on likes, social clout, and buzz.
AI could offer artists new ways of engaging with audiences.
If you're building / innovating in this space, lmk!
📍 Today’s Lineup:
🔢 The Windy City’s Data Hub
🚶 Chicago's Population Landscape
📊 Chart of the Week
🗺 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 🙏
Let’s dive in! 🚙 🚙 🚙
🔢 The Windy City’s Data Hub
Diving into the Data
The Windy City has the fourth largest data center inventory in the US.
Data center projects in Chicago have created over 8,000 jobs, and newly-announced projects are set to bring an additional $4.3B in investment to Chicago.
The high demand for more data centers has led to a vacancy rate of 6.2% in Chicago, pushing a few data projects to the suburbs.
The Catalysts
In 2019, Illinois launched a $45B tax incentive to kickstart data center development.
Data center projects are exempted from state / local sales taxes, granted that companies invest a minimum of $250M into their facilities.
Chicago has a low cost to power compared to other ecosystems like NYC and SF, where power costs are double.
Why This Matters
The world is becoming more and more digital, which means enterprises are extra focused on protecting their most valuable asset: data.
🚶 Chicago's Population Landscape
The Illinois Economic Policy Institute released a report on how our population has shifted / evolved:
Key Takeaways
Illinois' experienced a growth in its tax base over the past decade.
Chicago saw a population growth of 2% from 2010 to 2022.
Illinois had a 4% increase in residents filing income tax returns, propelled mainly by the surge in filers from the Chicago metropolitan area.
Migration Patterns
Illinois is becoming a magnet for higher education. Folks moving into our state are more likely to be in pursuit of higher education. The state saw an influx of well-educated individuals, both domestically and internationally.
Those who chose to stay in Illinois enjoy higher average annual household incomes and are more likely to own their homes.
High taxes aren't the primary reason people have left. 39% of those who left cited job-related reasons, such as a new job opportunity or job transfers.
📊 Chart of the Week
It’s estimated that Chicago companies received $626M in funding during Q3 2023, which was around 26% less than Q1 funding.
The decrease isn’t unique to Chicago, as all of venture funding from Q3 is down from Q1.
Venture funding in the US is still in recovery mode from the insanity of 2021 and 2022.
US VCs raised $42.7B through the first three quarters of 2023, compared to last year's record of $172.5B.
With all that said, Chicago still had a handful of notable deals get done this last quarter.
Let’s take a look at the 10 largest venture deals in Chicago during Q3:
Of our 10 top deals from Q3, seven of these were in the healthcare space.
🗺️ Events Around The City
Tech Enablement and Digital Marketing
Hosted by the Polsky Center
Tuesday October 17
PostgreSQL Meetup
Hosted by Chicago PostgreSQL Meetup
Wednesday October 18
Exploring Careers in Tech
Hosted by BIT Chicago
Thursday October 19
Coffee, Capital & Conversations
Hosted by Bluestein Ventures, Chicago Ventures, and TriNet
Thursday October 19
👋 See you next week!
Follow me on Twitter and Instagram for even more Chicago startup news and photos of my favorite restaurants in the city.
🗞 Previous Issues of the Driver’s Seat
#29 - Chicago’s AI Landscape
Hey Friends!
Welcome to the 31st edition of the Driver’s Seat! 🚙
Highlights from Last Week:
I had a great time visiting the University of Michigan for our second AI Meetup on Campus.
Special thanks to student leaders at V1 Michigan and the Michigan Venture Club for helping me put this together.
We’re welcoming the Michigan Venture Club to the Drive Chicago office this week for a field trip.
I published a blog on the opportunity for superfandom in music.
The piece highlights three insights:
A musician’s ‘superfans’ make up 20% of their fanbase, but contribute to 80% of their revenue.
I believe superfandom has the power to shift many of the incentives we see in music today, which heavily rely on likes, social clout, and buzz.
AI could offer artists new ways of engaging with audiences.
If you're building / innovating in this space, lmk!
📍 Today’s Lineup:
🔢 The Windy City’s Data Hub
🚶 Chicago's Population Landscape
📊 Chart of the Week
🗺 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 🙏
Let’s dive in! 🚙 🚙 🚙
🔢 The Windy City’s Data Hub
Diving into the Data
The Windy City has the fourth largest data center inventory in the US.
Data center projects in Chicago have created over 8,000 jobs, and newly-announced projects are set to bring an additional $4.3B in investment to Chicago.
The high demand for more data centers has led to a vacancy rate of 6.2% in Chicago, pushing a few data projects to the suburbs.
The Catalysts
In 2019, Illinois launched a $45B tax incentive to kickstart data center development.
Data center projects are exempted from state / local sales taxes, granted that companies invest a minimum of $250M into their facilities.
Chicago has a low cost to power compared to other ecosystems like NYC and SF, where power costs are double.
Why This Matters
The world is becoming more and more digital, which means enterprises are extra focused on protecting their most valuable asset: data.
🚶 Chicago's Population Landscape
The Illinois Economic Policy Institute released a report on how our population has shifted / evolved:
Key Takeaways
Illinois' experienced a growth in its tax base over the past decade.
Chicago saw a population growth of 2% from 2010 to 2022.
Illinois had a 4% increase in residents filing income tax returns, propelled mainly by the surge in filers from the Chicago metropolitan area.
Migration Patterns
Illinois is becoming a magnet for higher education. Folks moving into our state are more likely to be in pursuit of higher education. The state saw an influx of well-educated individuals, both domestically and internationally.
Those who chose to stay in Illinois enjoy higher average annual household incomes and are more likely to own their homes.
High taxes aren't the primary reason people have left. 39% of those who left cited job-related reasons, such as a new job opportunity or job transfers.
📊 Chart of the Week
It’s estimated that Chicago companies received $626M in funding during Q3 2023, which was around 26% less than Q1 funding.
The decrease isn’t unique to Chicago, as all of venture funding from Q3 is down from Q1.
Venture funding in the US is still in recovery mode from the insanity of 2021 and 2022.
US VCs raised $42.7B through the first three quarters of 2023, compared to last year's record of $172.5B.
With all that said, Chicago still had a handful of notable deals get done this last quarter.
Let’s take a look at the 10 largest venture deals in Chicago during Q3:
Of our 10 top deals from Q3, seven of these were in the healthcare space.
🗺️ Events Around The City
Tech Enablement and Digital Marketing
Hosted by the Polsky Center
Tuesday October 17
PostgreSQL Meetup
Hosted by Chicago PostgreSQL Meetup
Wednesday October 18
Exploring Careers in Tech
Hosted by BIT Chicago
Thursday October 19
Coffee, Capital & Conversations
Hosted by Bluestein Ventures, Chicago Ventures, and TriNet
Thursday October 19
👋 See you next week!
Follow me on Twitter and Instagram for even more Chicago startup news and photos of my favorite restaurants in the city.
