#ojaexpress

[primalaska]

#shop #groceries #high #fresh #onlineshop #ojaexpress #training #tech #things #diy #nfl #colour #color #technology #onlineshopping #powerlifting #mumbai #all #tradeonline #onlineboutique #k #shopmumbai #onlinebusiness #shoppingonline #instagram #shoppingzz #instagood #onlineshopp #dinner #everythings (at Manassas, Virginia) https://www.instagram.com/p/B1KJknenrBu/?igshid=s1e00j5ju8wa

[transcendence09-blog]

Flutterwave: An Introduction To What Flutterwave is, What They Do, Achievements.

What is Flutterwave

Flutterwave is an online payment platform that makes it easier for individuals, businesses, and banks to process payments all across Africa. Its services allow customers to make payments using their various local currencies. Flutterwave takes care of integrating bank payment service providers into its platforms so businesses don't have to shoulder the charges and responsibility alone.

Why Flutter?

Let's begin with a bit of history on how the organization came into being. Flutterwave was founded by Olugbenga Agboola, a Financial Technology Engineer, and Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, an Entrepreneur and Co-founder of Andela in the year 2016. The company was created to solve the problem of receiving and making payments in Africa by a team of ex-bankers, entrepreneurs, and engineers to provide a powerful, yet reliable gateway of making payments online. 

Flutterwave has continued to stay ahead of the Fintech industry by challenging their products and improving on every feature they offer. Their HQ is in San Francisco with offices in Lagos, Nairobi, Accra, and Johannesburg. They are changing the way the world does business globally.

Products and Services

The two major products of Flutterwave are: 

Rave

Barter

Rave: is a product that allows website owners and merchants to accept payments globally from customers in 154+ countries with zero setup fees and no troubles. Cards( Visa, MasterCard, Verve e.t.c), bank accounts, and USSD modes of payment are supported. Your customers both local and international can pay you directly from their bank accounts. With Rave, you avoid high conversion fees and can receive funds in your local currency. Rave supports a range of payments in various currencies: Naira, US Dollar, Euro, British Pound, and many more. As a PCI DSS compliant solution, Rave ensures the security of your customer data. Rave is backed with vault-level security to ensure all transactions are secure.

Barter: This app is used to manage finances and includes easy, fast, convenient payment features like peer-to-peer payments, notifications on transactions called smart reminders, etc.

Achievements

Flutterwave Inc has set a trailblazer of records having: 

Successfully processing over a hundred 2.5 billion dollars in transactions.

Over 100 million transactions processed.

Partnered with 50 African Banks

Received the award for Best Payments Company in Africa.

1200 + developers building on Flutterwave.

Integrated and collaborated with top companies worldwide to make payments international. Companies that use Flutterwave include Uber, OjaExpress, kiki kamanu, Flywire, etc.

Flutterwave is taking the African digital economy by storm with it's efficient, safe, easy to use, 24/7 customer care service, and highly secure payment platform. The future of the financial technology sector in Nigeria, and across Africa is very promising. It has seen enormous growth in the past three years. Providing solutions to what used to be difficulties, making payments online have never been more secure and convenient. It is no wonder Flutterwave is dominating the fintech industry.

[bonsoirval-blog]

Growing African Digital Economy

FLUTTERWAVE

Who We Are

Flutterwave is a FinTech firm poised with the sole objective of building payments infrastructure to connect the fast growing African economy to the global economy thereby making it easier for the teeming population of young African entrepreneurs to build global businesses that can make and accept online payment anywhere from all Africa and all around the world.

This is as the worlds digital economy is steadily progressing around us and African deserves inclusion which flutterwave was singlehandedly taken upon itself.

The firm started in 2016 when a team of like - minded ex-bankers, entrepreneurs and information engineers discovered the problem that Africa lags far behind in the global digital market and decided to solve the problem, at least do their own quotas, by developing the award - winning technology backbone needed to make available for businesses all around the world a simple yet powerful, reliable and intelligent payment gateway. This payment gateway, flutterwave has done alot in bringing African from far behind where we were to where we currently are that our digital economic voice is now gradually being heard.

Bringing African economy to the world is a never ending journey in my opinion because a lot is needed to maintain Africa in the global market as was done to bring her, Africa to the global market.

Flutterwave rightfully prides itself as staying ahead of the industry by challenging it own products and improving on every feature it overs.

Flutterwave has offices in San Fransisco (Headquarters), Lagos, Nairobi, Accra, and Johannesburg.

Flutterwave Products

How does flutterwave serve it teaming clients?

Rave is a flutterwave leading product that makes it super easy to make and accept payments from clients anywhere in the world.

Global business is a very challenging that one has to be constantly up and doing. Rave payment solution makes it easier than its competitors to make secured and reliable payment.

Barter is a system that helps you manage expenses, sending money to loved ones and also in borrowing money. This is to help the user focus on the things that matter more.

Why Choose Flutterwave

Flutterwave covers more than any of its competitors (bwalletpay.com and cashenvoy.com ) and is the most convenient method of making and receiving payment in Nigeria for local and international business.

Comparing their fees leaves you also with no other option than to work with flutterwave.

Gateway      Local  International Withdrawal

Flutterwave  1.4% cap N2000.00   3.8% (if cap N2000, add this to the website) N45 per transaction

Cashenvoy   1.5% + N25.00  3.9% + N26.00   N120 for withdrawals of N4000 or less

Bold wallet    1.5% + N85.00 4.0% + N85.00

Some Flutterwave Clients

According to Flutterwave, these are its clients and what they, flutterwave has to say about each of them:

1. Uber

When Uber decided to step into the African market, the first concern was being able to accept and payout in local currencies that would be beneficial for everyone. With Flutterwave, they were able to focus on the ride-sharing experience, knowing that our secure solid infrastructure would manage verifying transactions and ensuring payouts occurred consistently. We created an inclusive platform that handles marketplaces with ease.

2. Ojet Express

Making your experience abroad feel closer to home with a few clicks. Creating a marketplace of ethnic grocery stores required a reliable payment processing source that can handle user’s local currency, whether they are ordering from Chicago or from Nigeria for Chicago. Our end-to-end payment gateway has the infrastructure to support global marketplaces all under the Flutterwave umbrella of robust security and top performance. Our simple APIs made it easy for OjaExpress to create a flawless checkout experience across their website and app.

3. Flywire

Providing a trusted platform for international studentsBuilding off Flutterwave’s strong payment gateway, Flywire has expanded their global community of students to the African market. Bridging the perilous gap between your home country and your large tuition payments abroad, Flywire can take trusted payments from any country and payout directly to the educational institution. Knowing they have our infrastructure to support growth, they have been able to quickly expand to the healthcare industry.

4. Kiki Kamanu

Payments that set the trend: When designer Kiki Kamanu was ready to bring her distinctive chic looks online, Flutterwave allowed her to reach her global following with the payment methods and multi-language support they needed. Because Flutterwave has developed integrations that allow small business and entrepreneurs to make the most of their online experience, she was able to easily set up our dashboard with her Shopify account.

[bimbolaar]

The Complete Payment Solution you need to thrive in the Global Economy

Flutterwave is a trusted online payment gateway in Nigeria focused on providing individuals and businesses with seamless, intelligent and secure online payment solutions. 

Founded in San Fransisco in 2016 with an office in Lagos, Flutterwave now has an operational presence in Nigeria, Uganda, South Africa, Tanzania, Ghana, and Kenya. In 2018, Flutterwave announced its entry into the United Kingdom and Zambia after obtaining licenses for payment processing and electronic remittances.

Flutterwave boasts of thousands of merchants all over the world with over 100 million transactions worth billions of dollars since inception. Through partnerships with international brands like PayPal, Transferwise, Alipay, Shopify, and VISA, Flutterwave strives to connect its customers with the global economy with ease.  

In 2018,  Flutterwave got ISO 27001 certification which means  Flutterwave has internationally acceptable practices and processes including a robust business continuity plan. 

It is worth mentioning that Flutterwave is continuously using technology to shape Africa’s digital economy. In recognition of providing efficient business payment solutions across Africa,  Flutterwave received the ‘Best Payments Company’ at the 2018 Ghana eCommerce Award ceremony.

Flutterwave products like Rave, Barter, and Moneywave are modern online payment platforms tailored to drive financial inclusion in the global economy. Whether you are thinking of how to manage your personal finances or looking for the right technology to build and grow your business globally, Flutterwave has a payment solution for you.

Rave by Flutterwave 

Rave is unarguably the easiest way for merchants to make and receive payments from anywhere in the world. Rave is used by giant companies like Uber, Booking.com, Flywire, Jumia, Arikair, OjaExpress and several small and medium businesses across Africa. Currently accepting over 150 currencies from over 26,000 merchants, Rave is the ideal merchants' marketplace.

 Ravepay offers merchants a fully integrated end-to-end payment gateway with no additional operational cost required and the best technology to achieve zero failed transactions. 

Merchants can easily get started on Ravepay with no setup or monthly fees and have control over the acceptance, settlement and transaction analysis process. A reasonable fee is charged per transaction through multiple payment collection channels like;

- In-person through sales mode and the  Rave dashboard 

- App or Website by installing Rave plugins that allow integration with e-commerce platforms like Alipay, Shopify, Magento, and Woocommerce; SDKs and libraries for customized Apps and websites

- Social media using Rave instant payment links from Instagram or Facebook feeds.

Rave merchants can receive money from customers through:

Credit or Debit cards like Visa, Mastercard, and Verve.

Bank Account Payments from the U.S., Nigeria, and South Africa.

Mobile Wallet Payments on MTN, M-Cash, M-Pesa, and TIGO

How to start and grow your business with Rave

1. Develop a business idea- Identify a need or find a solution to a problem.

2. Conduct a market survey- study your potential customers and how best to serve them, look around for competitors and learn from them.

3. Create a business plan - Set measurable goals and how you intend to achieve them.

4. Raise enough capital

5. Register your business for easy identification

6. Start your business online, in-store or even both.

7. Visit Rave by Flutterwave to create a free Rave account and select a payment feature that meets your needs in less than 5 minutes.

8. Display prices and accept local or global payments in your customer’s preferred currency. 

9. Receive payments in your app or website, on social media or in-person through debit or credit cards, bank accounts, and mobile wallets payment in any currency.

10. Manage your funds, expand and pay vendors globally to grow your business.

Already have a business and you want to grow it? Switch to Rave by Flutterwave, accept payment from multiple channels and give your customers the best possible payment experience. 

Pros

Cost-effective, all in One Dashboard.

Accept payment from all channels where your business thrives. 

Enjoy well managed 24/7 customer support from Flutterwave for even bigger solutions. 

Cons

Rave account verification after creating an account might take time so the earlier the better you create a Rave account while deciding to start your business.

Barter

Need a better (financial) half? Get Barter App. Barter by Flutterwave is a payment platform that allows you to manage your personal finances better. 

Whether you are sending money to friends, buying airtime, paying utility bills, internet subscription or saving for your next big project, use Barter.

With Barter, you can add your personal bank account to your app dashboard and monitor your funds in your local currency.

Sign up for Barter on the website or download the GetBarter App to join over 30,000 people already using Barter to make their lives better.

Pros

Easy and efficient way to monitor your spendings.

Allows funding through card or bank accounts and bank transfers.

Access to easily repayable short-term loans.

Cons

Allows local currency transactions only.

- Editing of profile and other personal details used in signing up may take time so be careful when signing up.

Moneywave   

Moneywave is an omnichannel payment solution that allows you to build customizable money transfer platforms, online banking, mobile banking, and Artificial Intelligent solutions.

Similar to Rave, Moneywave allows you to send money from

- VISA to bank accounts on Mobile

- Bank accounts to VISA on Mobile

- Verve to Discover on ATM

- Discover to Verve on Chat boxes

- Mastercard to Mastercard on Web

- AMEX to AMEX on different bank channels

Sign up for Moneywave to get started.

Flutterwave Developers 

Flutterwave is currently home to thousands of developers who have over the years built  APIs with easy to use plugins, SDKs, and libraries for the integration of customized payment solutions. Interestingly Flutterwave developer community also offers other developers a playground with the aim of continuously improving the standard of payment technology in the Fintech industry.

The future is all bright for Flutterwave as Olugbenga GB Agboola, the CEO at the beginning of the year reinstated their commitment as a customer-focused brand striving to give their customers the best possible checkout experiences at all times. 

[afrimericanone]

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A unique twist to a #westafrican favorite #jollofrice #sushi ... looks #delicious ... @ojaexpress @africanchow @thecornertruck @chefjeff3000 #africancuisine #africancooking #africanchef #africancook #africanfood #education #technology #travel #family #business #art #african #culture #africa #dna #diaspora #community #blog #meeting #afrimerican #vibes #unity #africanculture #africanamerican (at Boston, Massachusetts)

[kytevikky-blog]

Title: Online Payment just got easier with rave by flutterwave

Written by: Adesoji Victoria .O. Email: kytevikky85@gmail.com The world is now global with technology connecting a lot of people and cashless policy being the order of the day. There is no need of handling a lot of cash for business transactions or for personal use and the risk involved because of flutterwave technology that has implemented the use of online payment gateway whereby one can perform all transactions using either a mobile or a computer. The mission of flutterwave is to inspire a new wave of prosperity across Africa by building payments infrastructure to connect Africa to the global economy. Digital payments are one of the most exciting economic stories across Africa. Rave accept all payment methods which include; card payments that accept debit/credit payment from customers in over 154 countries. Visa, Mastercard, Verve and more are all supported. Bank account payments is also available, that is, if you are a business person, your customers in United States, South Africa, and Nigeria can pay you safely directly from their bank accounts or mobile wallet. Using mobile wallet payments allow customers using M-Cash, M-Pesa, TIGO, MTN, and Vodafone to make payment directly from their mobile wallets. Flutterwave is also integrated into Shopify, Quickbooks, Xero, Squarespace, Sage, and Zoho. With flutterwave payment, one will avoid high conversion fees and receive funds in their local currency as Rave supports over 150 currencies. People can increase their sales by displaying prices and accepting payments in their customer's preferred currency. Rave supports payment in Naira, US Dollar, Euro, British pounds and many more. Rave makes a difference by integrating flutterwave point of sale (POS) where one can use sales mode and the rave dashboard to collect payments in their physical stores, restaurants, at events, or anywhere else where they need to take payments in person. Customers can also explore rave documentation with its easy to use libraries, plugins or SDK's and start collecting payments in their online store, website or app today. Flutterwave have businesses they are partnering with; whose aim is to grow the global community. Businesses that use flutterwave are Uber, OjaExpress, Flywire and so on. Rave online collect payments through trending social media channel, whether its Instagram or Facebook, it provides a social payment link for their customers to make shopping their feed quick and simple. People can also manage their finances on the flutterwave barter app which is designed to help their customers focus on enjoying life and less on how to spend, and borrow money. Customers can manage their payments and subscriptions on the app, all they need do is to download the app and sign up for free. With barter, customers can add their bank account to the app dashboard and manage funds in their local currency, and if customers need a boost to get them to the next stage, they can apply for repayable short-term loans, right on the app. Barter just makes everything easy, doesn't it? One of the most important aspects of a good business is customer feedback; it might be positive or negative, or constructive criticism. There is no business without its pro's and con's, as a customer is making use of rave and batter services and enjoying a smooth service, there might be times whereby there might not be a quick delivery, for example, sending money through barter app from one customer in Nigeria to another customer in the United States, there might be hitches or delay from the service provider which may affect the transaction, in such a scenario, rave have flutterwave review, a platform where a customer can make their complaints known. Rave also has flutterwave customer service where they are always ready to listen to their customers' complaints about their services. Indeed, rave by flutterwave is the easiest and safest way to send and receive money, make payments and subscriptions, and many more services that are rendered. Why not join the bandwagon today and start to enjoy their services, no need to be rushing to the bank every time you want to make a transaction, just do it at the comfort of wherever you are and enjoy a speedy and smooth service. Oh! Lest I forget to tell you, using barter app to make any transaction gives you back some percentage of the money thereby making you to also save as you are making the transactions. Make hay while the sun shines; start sending or receiving money and start saving using flutterwave services. Visit www.flutterwave.com to start transacting and doing business. Enjoy!

[jamiekturner]

Chicago startups you should pay attention to in the next years

Chicago used to be referred to as a “flyover city” during the late 1990s, since big venture capital funding in Boston and Silicon Valley would fly to each other looking at deals while ignoring Chicago startups entirely.

They would even insist that any startup that wanted their funding needed to relocate to their city in order to get a closer look a financing, leverage their expertise, and tap into the local ecosystem.

That was then. Now Chicago startups have an ecosystem all their own. Angel investors have organized into a number of networks, including Hyde Park Angels, Cornerstone Angels, and Wildcat Angels.

A number of incubators, accelerators, and startup office spaces have come to the city, as well, including Lightbank, Tech Nexus, TechStars Chicago, Sandbox, Catapult, and 1871.

Local universities have also done a lot to formalize their entrepreneurship programs, including U-Chicago, Northwestern, DePaul, Loyola, IIT, and UIC. Built-In Chicago, the Illinois Technology Association, and the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center have done a lot to help to make business networking more accessible for digital tech startups in Chicago.

This list Chicago startup documents some of the ones you should keep an eye on. These new startups are taking advantage of the unique and vibrant startup economy that has taken root in Chicago. Their new ideas, business models, and hard work are almost certain to pay off.

ExplORer Surgical

This surgery workflow tool helps to create better communications in operating rooms, a place where that is very important.

The startup has created a “surgical playbook” that can be used by medical professionals in the operating room, helping everyone from surgeons to assisting staff to be sure they are on the same page. They have raised $3 million last year,  $500,000 of which came from the UChicago Startup Investment Program.

Kin Insurance

This Chicago startup makes it easier to buy home insurance by making use of data from sources that better assess risk. They also put the whole process online.

Data from satellite images, public records, building permits, and MLS information is used to build policies. Kin makes home insurance much easier and much smarter.

BallotReady

This startup company is a voter information company that provides people with info about all the candidates on the ballot. Their goal is to help voters be more informed on who they are voting for, especially in local elections.

RXBAR

RXBAR is a $600 million company. They have a savvy digital marketing campaign and an undeniably delicious line of nutrition bars that uses egg whites, almonds, cashews, and dates to create healthy and filling meals for people on the go.

The company has gone from its cofounder’s basement to the Kellogg Company boardroom in under four years. They are likely to become an even bigger presence after their acquisition by the food giant and plan to grow their team a lot in the coming year.

CityBase

This company wants to help local governments make their websites more accessible using cloud-based technology.

They hired a new COO in 2017, former DialogTech SVP Josh Mallamud. It was recently honored by the city of Chicago by adding 50 new hires to its busy team.

Braviant Holdings

This company makes use of advanced machine learning and proprietary technology to streamline the online lending process and help improve access to credit. They have nearly tripled the size of their team since they opened their doors in 2016 and plan to keep growing.

Amper

Amper’s goal is to help factories improve both machine and labor productivity by monitoring machine metrics in real-time. Their app helps companies react to issues and make plans using real-time data now hat is going on their assembly lines.

Truss

This commercial real estate platform helps small companies make use of tech to help find office space. Its brokerage technology helps companies to more easily manage the whole office search in one platform.

A company can search for spaces, virtually tour the inside, negotiate price, and sign lease documents, all on Truss’ site.

Xaptum

Xaptum is the telecom for the internet of things, providing the infrastructure behind real-time, smart-thing communication.

TapGenes

TapGenes is a private family health network building healthy relationships between families, healthcare providers, and favorite consumer wellness brands.

Stridekick

Stridekick is a social fitness platform that integrates with the leading fitness trackers and smartwatches to allow individuals to participate in fun fitness challenges with friends, family and coworkers.

Rheaply, Inc.

Rheaply aims to drive scientific breakthrough by making science more efficient and connected. To that end, Rheaply has built a novel web application which allows academic researchers to connect with their colleagues in order to easily ask for help with experiments, find a collaborator, or search for surplus scientific supplies.

Rentgrata

Rentgrata is an apartment listing service-meets-resident referral platform that connects prospective renters with current residents of apartment communities. Users can browse apartments and chat with current residents who have also signed up with Rentgrata. Both parties can earn a split of a referral reward if the prospect signs a lease.

Phenix

Phenix provides global real-time IP video solutions and is the only company that can deliver synchronous streams with less than 1/2 second of latency/delay at broadcast scale. They offer an end-to-end solution by capturing signals at the source and handle encoding, ingest, transcoding, composition and content delivery to any endpoint.

Packyge

Packyge is an open Ecommerce ship-to-store network. It’s free for retailers to participate, and consumers get cash for picking up their shipments. As usage grows they create propensity models based on online purchasing and location data to build local audiences for advertisers. The platform is also available to retail chains on a white label basis…

Omega Grid

Omega Grid’s platform enables utility companies to create and manage a peer-to-peer energy market.

OjaExpress

OjaExpress is an ethnic grocery delivery platform, which allows US consumers to shop for their hard to find ethnic groceries in a convenient and efficient manner.

MortgageHippo

They work with mortgage lenders to devise and implement their digital mortgage strategies on their consumer-centric SaaS platform. Their platform guides consumers through every step of the mortgage process and facilitates the transaction between a borrower, the loan officer and other important parties (e.g. real estate agent).

Megalytics

They are a real-time aggregator of big data sources, bringing the most comprehensive & relevant data sets available for commercial real estate owners and asset managers.

Keyo

Keyo let’s you pay with just your palm at stores, no phone, nor wallet needed. They also save stores money by reducing their payment processing fees to a flat 1% per transaction. If you have entrepreneurial spirit and would like to join a motivated and energetic team, Keyo is the place for you. Payments are evolving and Keyo is ahead of the curve…

Kannatopia

Kannatopia is a social network for Cannabis enthusiasts and patients 21+ Kannatopia is a community to connect, socialize, experience, share, learn and explore with people who have similar interests. Their vision is to “Connect the Cannabis World & Elevate Experiences”.

Heretik

Heretik is a Relativity (leading eDiscovery platform) application that marries effective text analysis machine learning models and flexible document review capabilities. Their solution structures contract data for smarter, faster, and more favorable decisions.

Health iPASS

Health iPASS is like Square for Healthcare Patient Payments. They are the FIRST exchange to connect Consumers with their Healthcare Providers – and bring Transparency (into Cost of Care), Convenience and Trust to Healthcare Billing. Health iPASS is an innovative patient check-in and payment technology company that secures payment.

FanFood

FanFood enhances the fan experience at live events. They are a mobile ordering technology platform that delivers food and drinks to fans’ seats or picked-up via express line. FanFood is available on the iOS and Android app stores.

eazyScripts

EazyScripts makes it easier for telemedicine doctors to submit prescriptions. Its cloud-based software allows doctors to submit prescriptions using their smartphone or tablet.

Cooler Screens

Cooler Screens is transforming retail cooler surfaces into IoT-enabled screens. Their media platform reimagines the brick-and-mortar shopping experience for consumers in the cooler and freezer aisle while delivering new marketing opportunities and smart merchandising for brands and retailers.

Codeverse

Codeverse® is the world’s first fully interactive coding school and educational technology platform for kids aged 6-12, founded on the mission to teach a billion kids to code. To book weekly coding classes and 2018 Spring/Summer camps, visit www.codeverse.com.

CloudRanger

They make it easy to manage your backup policies, disaster recovery and server control for AWS.

CivicScape

CivicScape combines data and community input to effectively deploy law enforcement.

ChangEd

ChangEd uses spare change to help students pay off their loans!

Binfer

Binfer is a direct device to device data transfer platform that includes File Sharing, Sync, Web Drop, Communication and Private Cloud products. User data is never stored on any third-party servers.

ApartmentJet

ApartmentJet is a short term rental solution for the multifamily apartment industry that provides owners and property management companies the portfolio-level visibility, control, revenue opportunity, and ability to maintain a sense of community too easily sacrificed in today’s sharing economy.

Ending thoughts on these Chicago startups

Chicago startups have come a long way.

A number of venture capital firms have started to get more aggressive in investing in the area, including Pritzker Group, MK Capital, Origin Ventures, OCA Ventures, Apex Ventures, and Chicago Ventures.

The state government of Illinois and the city of Chicago have also helped Chicago startups, embracing them as a salvation for the city and state’s economic issues. This includes the launch of the Illinois Invest Venture Fund.

Groupon’s incredible rise, based in Chicago, also had a large halo effect on the local startup ecosystem. It put the city on the map and offered lots of inspiration to hundreds of other startups.

According to Built In Chicago, 367 digital startups launched in 2012, a 187% increase from 2011 and a 15 times increase from the 25 startups per year average that existed between 2004 to 2008, which was before Groupon. 59 of these companies successfully raised more than $1MM each, aggregating over $391MM in venture capital raised in 2012.

This was a 4 times increase from the $109MM average per year between 2004 to 2008. Things do not look to be slowing down.

Chicago has also drawn the attention of some major coastal venture capital firms. There have been multi-million dollar raises from  Activ, Analyte Health, Avant Credit, Belly, Big Machines, Braintree, BrightTag, Cleversafe, Fruition Partners, Future Simple, Groupon, GrubHub, inXpo, Mu Sigma, Narrative Science, Networked Merchants, Retrofit, SilkRoad, Singlehop, Sprout Social, 37 signals, Total Attorneys, Trunk Club and Valence Health, invested by major coastal VC’s like Accel, Alsop Louie, Andreessen Horowitz, Bain, Battery, Benchmark, Bessemer, Digital Sky, Draper Fisher, General Atlantic, Greycroft, Greylock, Highland, Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed, Maveron, NEA, Sequoia, Trinity, and USV. Chicago is no longer a “flyover city” and has become a major destination for big venture funds. Chicago startups no longer need to relocate.

What’s more, these Chicago startup investments are leading to some very good returns. Groupon and Textura are IPOs, and it looks Grub Hub is looking for an IPO after its merger with Seamless. Braintree was sold to PayPal/eBay for $800MM.

Oracle acquired Big Machines for $400MM. Accenture bought Acquity got $316MM. ValueClick was bought by Dotomi for $259MM. This list goes and on and on, all of it very impressive.

If you enjoyed reading this article about Chicago startups, you should read these as well:

Awesome Boston startups to watch in the upcoming years

Amazing Australian startups that you can apply for a job at

Innovative virtual reality companies and their neat presentation websites

Startups in Amsterdam that you should keep an eye on (and their cool websites)

Cool startups in Los Angeles that you should check out

The post Chicago startups you should pay attention to in the next years appeared first on Design your way.

from Web Development & Designing https://www.designyourway.net/blog/web-design/chicago-startups/

[jillilama-blog]

Regrann from @officialblackwallstreet - OjaExpress @ojaexpress is bringing cultural grocery shopping online. The company helps customers shop for groceries from their favorite cultural grocers, as well as expose non-native eaters to different ethnic fares. It serves as a marketplace for small grocers that sell culturally specific groceries that lack the technology infrastructure to sell their goods online, and engage and attract new customers. The company is currently based on the South Side of Chicago and has been focused there, but they are currently garnering interests in other regions of the country. “We are currently focusing on African and Caribbean immigrants, in the US, but fully intend to include other immigrant communities as we grow,” founder Boyede Sobitan told Black Enterprise. “We realized that the immigrant community is left out of the on-demand grocery shopping landscape.” (Via @blackenterprise) - #regrann #blackbusiness #blackbusinessmatters #blackdollars #blackdollarsmatters #blackexcellence #economicempowerment #BuyBlack #SupportBlackOwned #blackentrepreneur #supporteachother #uplifteachother #loveeachother #iammysisterskeeper #iammybrotherskeeper #blackisbeautiful #blackpower #chicago

[seedoflife]

The latest The Roney Smith Daily! https://t.co/QgNX8c8Xfs Thanks to @theatlantavoice @OjaExpress @ellisromance #ai #worldbookday

The latest The Roney Smith Daily! https://t.co/QgNX8c8Xfs Thanks to @theatlantavoice @OjaExpress @ellisromance #ai #worldbookday

— Roney Smith (@seedoflife) April 23, 2018

via Twitter https://twitter.com/seedoflife April 23, 2018 at 03:48PM

[fb101-blog]

@Alphrica1906: RT @OjaExpress: Ground #Crayfish available on the #OjaExpress app! #OjaExpress #Chicago #Foodie #Groceries #Door2Door #Delivery… https://t.co/tkNTTGoVpz

http://twitter.com/Alphrica1906

[groceryhero-blog]

OjaExpress want to bring your favorite African store online and also help deliver their produce to you. Via OjaExpress.com you can order from your favorite grocery store and we will deliver it to you. You do have to leave you house.

[afrimericanone]

Great Event Yesterday hosted by @africansinboston ... learned alot about how technology can solve some of the many problems Africa and the African diaspora face... @ojaexpress very impressed.... #education #technology #travel #family #business #art #african #culture #africa #dna #diaspora #community (at Cambridge Innovation Center)

[10topnotch]

#blackfriday #blackexcellence #blackentrepreneur #blacklivesmatter #myblackisbeautiful #ojaexpress #southsidechicago

[un-enfant-immature]

WeWork and SoftBank unveil the first 14 startups in their Emerge accelerator for underrepresented founders

SoftBank Investment Fund and WeWork Labs say they’ve officially kicked off the first session of Emerge, an accelerator program designed for underrepresented founders.

In their press release, the companies describe Emerge as “launched by SoftBank with support from WeWork Labs” (that’s the co-working company’s global accelerator program), with a goal of brining more equality to tech and venture capital.

It’s an equity-free, eight-week program that includes workkshops, access to mentors from SoftBank and the WeWork community and sessions SoftBank executives . It all culminates an a showcase event for investors and SoftBank partners.

The Emerge website describes the program as based in San Mateo, Calif. — but given COVID-19, the sessions and programming are all virtual.

“Supporting underrepresented founders is a top priority for us, ensuring we see more diverse startups across the tech ecosystem,” said Catherine Lenson, managing partner and chief human resources officer at SoftBank Investment Advisers, in a statement. “There is a lack of diversity in the sector as a whole, and we need to do more to address it. That is why we’re excited to launch this program and to see the positive impact that these inspiring founders will have.”

This is also a reminder that while the larger corporate entities are currently embroiled in a legal and financial dispute, WeWork and its largest investor remain closely intertwined.

Here are the 14 startups in the initial program:

Aquagenuity, which allows users users to take any smart device an track water quality and monitor their environment in real-time from any smart device

Bridge to College, which helps students choose colleges wisely by matching and providing data

Caldo uses flexible automation and mobile designs to power satellite eateries for retaurants

GameJolt, a platform for gamers to follow 100K+ games while they’re still in development

Koniku, which diagnosing disease using beath

Mogul, which helps employers find diverse talent

Moment AI, which uses AI to understand the driver and improve safety

Node, which builds houses through a proprietary assembly kit

OjaExpress, a marketplace connecting immigrants and foodies to local ethnic mom and pop grocery stores

Proven, which offers personalized skin care products powered by The Skin Genome Project, winner of MIT’s 2018 Artificial Intelligence Award.

Rebellyous Foods, a production stack for plant-based meat.

ScriptHealth, which provides easy access to prescription medications.

Shyft, which builds IoT hardware and integrated software to connect and intelligently manage distributed energy resources

SPS, a cross-border payments provider operating across all major U.S. states and Canada.

Rebooted startup program WeWork Labs celebrates its one-year anniversary