Top startups in Chicago.
45 Chicago companies have disclosed $4.05B in SEC filings, and founders there can apply to 39 accelerator programs.
Most funded in Chicago
By total disclosed across the period, one row per company. Combine filters to narrow — "Recently funded" plus "Hiring now" is who just raised and is actively recruiting.
Filter definitions — Hiring now: open roles on the company's public job board as of Nov 13, 2026. Hiring remote: that board lists remote or distributed roles. Recently funded: a Form D filed in the trailing twelve months. $100M+/$500M+: cumulative disclosed amount across all offerings. Repeat raisers: more than one offering on file. Up-and-coming: incorporated within the last four years and recently funded — incorporation year is disclosed by roughly half of filers, so this undercounts.
Accelerators in Chicago
Chicago founders can apply to 39 accelerator programs in our directory — including 1871, Chicago Venture Summit, Clean Energy Trust, Cleveland Avenue, DWG Business X-celerator, Elmspring Accelerator.