Monday, July 27, 2015

We're tops for women-led startups

We're tops for women-led startups


JOHN PLETZ ON TECH

Chicago still has catching up to do when it comes to its startup scene, but there's one place where the city leads the pack: It has the highest percentage of women-led startups among 35 cities worldwide that were studied by San Francisco-based Compass, a provider of benchmarking software.
The report says Chicago, with 30 percent female founders, has the greatest percentage of women entrepreneurs out of the top 20 startup ecosystems. The data is based on surveys of 11,000 respondents from startups, as well as investors and others. The figure is similar to one cited by Chicago-based startup hub 1871.
Overall, Chicago moved up to No. 7 from 10th place in the last survey by this group, conducted in late 2012. Silicon Valley ranked first, followed by New York; Los Angeles; Boston; Tel Aviv, Israel; and London.
Chicago was among the startup ecosystems that made the biggest leaps in the top 20, along with New York; Austin, Texas; Bangalore, India; and Singapore.
One factor in Chicago's favor is an increase in exit activity, acquisitions and IPOs, such as GrubHub, Fieldglass and Braintree. A sharp rise in venture financing totals, fueled by huge rounds such as Avant's $225 million investment and $56 million pulled by Raise.com, also helped.

Chicago's biggest asset? Its market for startups to sell their products and services.