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WBC Launches ChicagoNEXT Council on
Innovation and Technology; Leading
Global Venture Capital Firm Establishes
New Chicago Office
November 1, 2012
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This month Mayor Rahm Emanuel
announced that World Business Chicago
(WBC) will lead ChicagoNEXT, a new
council of technology business leaders
that will promote opportunities in three
critical sectors: digital, clean technology
and life sciences.
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“ChicagoNEXT will have a straightforward
mission: to foster economic development
and job growth in these vital sectors, and
to attract investment needed to build
technology companies,” said Mayor
Emanuel. “This council will put forth plans that will ensure a vibrant business climate in Chicago,
attracting high-quality jobs, talent and investment.”
4, 2013
J.B. Pritzker, managing partner of The Pritzker Group and a member of the WBC Executive Committee,
will chair the council. He will serve alongside WBC directors Jeff Aronin, Eric Lefkofsky and Pat Ryan Jr.
“ChicagoNEXT is focused on making Chicago the best possible place for technology entrepreneurs,” said
Pritzker. “The council will lead an innovative and aggressive effort to bring new opportunities to the area
and shape the city’s business landscape for generations. I look forward to working alongside Mayor
Emanuel and the other directors to achieve these goals.”
The core goals of the council include attracting new talent in the tech industry, engaging business
leaders in both the domestic and international communities, increasing venture capital investment and
creating new opportunities for entrepreneurship. The creation of ChicagoNEXT emphasizes WBC’s
further commitment to innovation and entrepreneurship, and support for Chicago’s thriving tech industry
a key strategy of WBC’s Plan for Economic Growth and Jobs.
ChicagoNEXT will create a number of innovative programs including shared space partnerships,
exchange programs for entrepreneurs, and outreach to venture capital firms and technology talent. The
first ChicagoNEXT meeting will be held in mid-November.
The council’s leaders recently collaborated with WBC on a tech talent recruitment mission to the
University of Illinois. Mayor Emanuel led the delegation of nearly 40 company leaders to UrbanaChampaign to showcase the opportunities available in Chicago for the country’s most talented young
engineers.
Shortly after the ChicagoNEXT announcement, Mayor Emanuel and New Enterprises Associates (NEA), a
leading global venture capital firm, announced that the company will establish an office in Chicago to
serve its growing portfolio in the region. Currently, the firm has U.S. offices in the Washington, D.C.
region, Menlo Park, California, and New York City, as well as affiliate operations in Shanghai and Beijing,
China; and Bangalore and Mumbai, India.
“This announcement is proof positive that Chicago is one of the best places to grow a tech company and
find investment opportunities, as well as a city that is constantly working to improve its efficiency,
infrastructure, talent and business environment,” said Mayor Emanuel. “NEA has partnered with a
generation of Chicago’s finest companies, and today we ensure that a new generation of companies has
www.worldbusinesschicago.com/news/wbc-launches-chicagonext-innovation-council
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the potential to work with the country’s leading venture capital firms as well.”
With approximately $13 billion in committed capital, NEA invests in information technology, healthcare
and energy technology companies at all stages in a company’s lifecycle, from seed stage through IPO.
The firm's long track record of successful investing includes more than 175 portfolio company IPOs and
more than 290 acquisitions, including investments in technology leaders such as Data Domain,
CareerBuilder, Diapers.com, Fusion-io, Groupon, Juniper, Macromedia, Salesforce.com, TiVo and
Workday.
“NEA partners with great entrepreneurs around the world, and we’ve discovered that many of them are
based here in Chicago,” said Peter Barris, Managing General Partner, NEA. “This city’s entrepreneurs
have transformed traditional industries, like advertising and logistics, and today are shaping new ones,
like social media and mobile payments. NEA has been investing in Chicago for more than 25 years, and it
has been thrilling to play a role in the city’s emergence as one of the nation’s premiere technology hubs.
Establishing an office will help us serve our growing portfolio and become even more deeply rooted in
Chicago’s flourishing tech community.”
NEA’s announcement of a Chicago location was buoyed by other news regarding NEA’s portfolio
companies. First, NEA announced a $35 million investment in Braintree, a Chicago-based company
focused on providing online and mobile payment solutions. Mayor Emanuel visited Braintree’s
headquarters this summer to announce that the company would be creating approximately 150 jobs in
Chicago in the next two years.
NEA also announced that Zumper, an apartment rental website that matches landlords with potential
tenants, will be expanding to Chicago this year as the company enters a third market. Currently, the
company is located only in New York and San Francisco.
NEA has invested more than $300 million in 20 Chicago-based companies including Groupon, ArcSight,
Cleversafe, Echo Global Logistics, InnerWorkings, Neutral Tandem, and Sprout Social. In recent years,
NEA’s investment in the region has accelerated—more than half of the firm’s Chicago-related
investments have been made since 2006, including BenchPrep and Braintree in 2012.
www.worldbusinesschicago.com/news/wbc-launches-chicagonext-innovation-council
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