Newsletter Articles

February 13, 2024 – Prairie Capital, a Chicago-based middle-market private equity firm, has sold its majority position in Upshop (the “Company”), a Prairie Capital VI portfolio company, to Level Equity, a leading technology growth equity firm. Prairie and members of Upshop management retained significant ownership stakes in the business.  Upshop is the leading provider of a…

Join us for a fun and energizing day of golf, networking, and fundraising in support of the IVCA Promoting Diversity Foundation on Monday, June 24, 2004, at Olympia Fields Country Club.   The Foundation funds year-round diversity initiatives focused on: Event information can be found HERE! Sponsorship information can be found HERE! The IVCA Promoting…

February 14, 2024 One of the finest commitments to creating a space for diversity in the Venture Capital and Private Equity industries is the IVCA Scholar Program. The IVCA Scholarship provides undergraduate students a very rare opportunity to be placed with a Venture Capital or Private Equity firm for 10 weeks. In addition, Scholars participate…

Washington D.C., February 13, 2024 — Data Society, a leader in tailored data science and AI workforce training and development solutions since 2014, announced it is joining forces with a Growth Catalyst Partners (GCP)-backed company launched in late 2023 to help organizations drive cultural change as they leverage data and AI to gain competitive advantage.…

Illinois Venture Capital Association Illinois Legislative ReportDavid Stricklin / Stricklin & AssociatesWednesday, January 31, 2024 LEGISLATURE MEETS NEXT WEEK Hundreds of bills are being filed in the Illinois General Assembly in advance of the Friday, February 9 deadline for filling new legislation. Many of them are quite frankly “message” bills or measures which are intended…

CHICAGO – January 30, 2024 – Pritzker Private Capital (“PPC”), a leader in family direct investing, today announced that Dwight Gibson, an accomplished industrial executive and experienced board director, has joined PPC as Operating Partner. Mr. Gibson brings over 20 years of experience leading corporations in the industrial sector. As Operating Partner, Mr. Gibson will…

Chicago, IL – January 30, 2024 – Following a successful year in 2023, RCP Advisors (“RCP”) is pleased to announce the promotion of Patrick dePenaloza to Principal, alongside several additional promotions across the firm. Patrick joined RCP’s business development team in 2016 following his earlier relevant experience at Neuberger Berman. Patrick oversees RCP’s fundraising efforts, in addition…

January 31, 2024 When GET CITIES (GET stands for Gender Equity in Tech) was founded in 2020, their goal was to tackle a burgeoning tech industry that “deliberately excludes most of the population,” which figured into the equation that tech is “100 years away from gender parity.” They have expanded into advocacy for trans and…

Illinois Venture Capital Association Illinois Legislative ReportDavid Stricklin / Stricklin & AssociatesWednesday, January 17, 2024 2024 SESSION OFF TO A COLD START Literally and figuratively. Bitter cold embraced Springfield this week just as it did the rest of Illinois and the Midwest, so the House has canceled a scheduled session day tomorrow (Senate may do…

Chicago, Ill., January 17th, 2024 – Wind Point Partners (“Wind Point”), a Chicago-based private equity firm, announced today that it has partnered with MOREgroup (or the “Company”), a family of leading architecture and engineering brands focused on education, healthcare and government end markets. The Company offers a turnkey suite of architecture, design and adjacent engineering…