Federal regulators’ decision to end net neutrality and roll back regulations that some say kept data flowing freely on the internet has left some Chicago business owners concerned for their companies’ futures. While it’s still unclear exactly what the repeal of the Obama-era rules will mean, proponents of net neutrality fear internet service providers will […]
2017 has been quite a year for Chicago tech startups. In between the highs and lows, we’ve seen plenty of early-stage startups that are on the rise throughout the city. To find Chicago Inno’s latest crop of startups to watch, we reached out to roughly a dozen Chicago VCs, CEOs, tech organization leaders and other startup […]
Investors can provide strategic assistance as well as funding Choose investors who can bring specific skills to your company Entrepreneurs should be sure their vision aligns with their investors’ Phil Okun, chief strategy officer of Detroit-based Quikly, a digital marketing platform for retailers, said the company’s investors have provided strategic assistance that has been instrumental […]
Brand loyalty is a funny thing: It’s incredibly difficult to establish, but it’s also incredibly valuable. Yet one wrong move — or lack thereof — can ruin the relationship. There are certain marketing tactics, such as experiential marketing, that have proven to generate brand affinity through fun and engaging events. Experiential marketing is not a […]
Some companies just know how to make an entrance. Between major launches, stealth exits and early funding announcements, a number of Chicago startups emerged out of stealth and onto the scene this year. These rising stars made the biggest headlines. Clearcover Unveiled: September What they do: Customer acquisition costs contribute significantly to what consumers end up paying […]
If you want to generate social media buzz, Corbett Drummey is your guy. He has assembled an army of people with big followings on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Snap and other platforms who are willing to spread the word about you to their followers—for a price. His company, Popular Pays, sprang from an idea he had […]
Marketing and sales company HubSpot today announced it has acquired bot creation platform Motion.ai. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The acquisition will bring bots to HubSpot’s more than 34,000 customers for the first time. “We are going to bring the two products together and make sure that it comes as part of the core […]
HubSpot just scooped up a Chicago startup that creates artificial intelligence chatbots for businesses. Publicly traded HubSpot announced Wednesday that it has agreed to acquire Motion AI, a software startup that launched in 2015 that makes it easy for brands to launch their own chatbot service. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Motion AI will join the […]
HubSpot announced this morning that it has acquired chatbot startup Motion AI. Motion AI launched in 2015 and offers an editor for building chatbots that work on websites, Facebook Messenger, SMS and Slack, no coding required. Even before the acquisition, the tool was already integrated into HubSpot Free CRM. The entire Motion AI team, including founder and […]
Chicago startup Packback looks a little different today than it did in 2014 when it went on Shark Tank and scored a $250,000 investment from Mark Cuban. Back then, Packback was all about online textbooks, offering 24-hour e-textbook rentals for $5 a piece. Since then, the company has gone through a considerable pivot, and it’s now using artificial intelligence to […]
