Chicago Venture Summit Opens Future of Health With Record 300-Plus Startups
The Chicago Venture Summit opened its first edition devoted entirely to health innovation with a sold-out event featuring more than 300 startups, the largest startup portfolio in its history. More than 900 founders, investors, healthcare leaders, researchers and public-sector representatives are attending from more than 30 U.S. states and 15 countries. Organized by World Business Chicago, the summit connects growing companies with investors, customers and institutions. Since its founding in 2014, it has used a public-private approach to support entrepreneurship in Chicago and Illinois. Deputy Mayor Max Budovitch attended on behalf of Mayor Brandon Johnson. The program includes talks by leaders from Rush University System for Health and Health Care Service Corporation, along with sessions on climate-related health investment, artificial intelligence in care and AI’s role in cancer diagnosis. Startup presentations involve organizations including MATTER, Northwestern Medicine and University of Chicago Medicine Ventures. World Business Chicago says the region’s life sciences and healthtech industries support more than 210,000 jobs across 13,000 businesses and generate $93.5 billion in annual output. Healthtech employment has risen nearly 50% since 2020. The broader healthcare sector employs nearly 556,000 people in Chicagoland and is projected to add more than 37,000 jobs by 2030, more than any other industry in the region.
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