Chicago grew up as the country's rail crossroads, and that same infrastructure logic shows up now in its logistics and enterprise-software companies. Northwestern, the University of Chicago, and UIC all sit in or near the city, and its options and futures exchanges (the CME, the CBOE) gave it a financial-engineering culture that Chicago's fintech scene draws on more directly than people assume.
Region Stats
Total firms
53
VC / investors
23
Companies
17
Universities
13
People
10
By Thesis
AI, Software & Cloud
5
Consumer & Retail
5
Life Sciences, Biotech & MedTech
2
Durable Goods
1
Known For
Enterprise
Fintech
Logistics
Chicago