StartMidwest

Midwest startup news, founder stories & funding data across IL, IN, MI, MN, OH & WI. For founders, funders, and those who help them.

[StartMidwest @StartMidwest]

"We allowed that flywheel to spin into the big TAM"

Several 'smart people' told Tim Huelskamp that @1440_Daily wasn't going to work as concept. Earlier this year, it was valued at $101 million.

Read Tim's Founder Story 👇

https://t.co/mUWsKHWTLg

[StartMidwest @StartMidwest]

Founder Stories: Tim Huelskamp of 1440 -
Tim Huelskamp bootstrapped Chicago newsletter 1440 from 78 subscribers to nearly 5 million readers and a $101M valuation. His playbook for Midwest founders. https://t.co/alLdj4FB8g

[StartMidwest @StartMidwest]

The Midwest College Rankings 2026: for startups and entrepreneurship -
The 2026 Midwest College Rankings: which universities produce the most startup founders and VC-backed startups across six Midwest states? https://t.co/Q1qQWppmwt

[StartMidwest @StartMidwest]

Midwest Startup Funding for the week ending August 21, 2026 -
Midwest startup funding, week ending August 21, 2026: Hopscotch Primary Care's $53m Series D plus rounds for Sonic Fire Tech, Grounded and Capitan Orthopedics. https://t.co/4b1db0AM9b

[StartMidwest @StartMidwest]

Networking So Hard, We Forgot the Whole Point -
VC analyst Claire Stevens on networking fatigue, and why slow, genuine relationship building, not transactional hustle, should be the entire point. https://t.co/tB9nt8GXv5

[StartMidwest @StartMidwest]

26 Midwest Companies in Top 250 of the Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing 2026 -
26 Midwest companies cracked the top 250 of the 2026 Inc. 5000 — led by Chicago's Loop at 14,831% growth. See the fastest-growing businesses across nine states. https://t.co/QpR2cgF1TH

[StartMidwest @StartMidwest]

Midwest Startup Funding for the week ending August 14, 2026 -
Midwest startup funding, week ending August 14, 2026: Niron Magnetics' $150m commitment plus rounds for ApartmentIQ, Vertical Insure and Lucrative AI. https://t.co/5jCL0trFIt

[StartMidwest @StartMidwest]

The weight founders carry: How Midwest builders manage pressure -
How Midwest startup founders in Michigan and Ohio manage financial, operational, and market pressure — hard-won lessons on resilience from the trenches. https://t.co/5gJtwcATPX

[StartMidwest @StartMidwest]

Inside MN:EVC’s First Summit. Lessons for the Next Generation of Investors -
Inside MN:EVC's first summit Minnesota: early-career investors learn how AI, founder expectations, and platform work are reshaping venture capital. https://t.co/fEubR2S9kc

[StartMidwest @StartMidwest]

Midwest Startup Funding for the week ending August 7, 2026 -
Midwest startup funding, week ending August 7, 2026: Adams Street's $5B close plus rounds for InvestiFi, RWX, Quercus Biosolutions and SCO2. https://t.co/zIgVhR5Hxm

[StartMidwest @StartMidwest]

Playing Nice Isn't a Plan: What to Ask Your Co-Founder Before You Commit? -
VC and former founder Ilana Habib shares the hard questions co-founders should ask about equity, control, commitment, and exits — before building together. https://t.co/CzPL32GcrM

[StartMidwest @StartMidwest]

Center for Research on the Wisconsin Economy reports on AI in Wisconsin -
A new UW-Madison CROWE report finds Wisconsin manufacturers have booked $1.6B in AI-related orders — and warns power is the main limit on the state's data center boom. https://t.co/tiejupZKcu

[StartMidwest @StartMidwest]

Corporate Venture Is the Midwest's Home-Field Advantage - Don't Let It Go Dormant -
Corporate venture capital is the Midwest's home-field advantage, but CVCs are retreating. Jim Dallke of TechNexus on why dormant portfolios put the region's edge at risk. https://t.co/H6LdQGylTz

[StartMidwest @StartMidwest]

The Secret Founder: Belief isn't the bottleneck, execution is. -
The Secret Founder on what's really holding back Midwest startups: fake pre-seed funds, messy angel terms, slow no's — and how to fix the system, fast. https://t.co/WX7DTxokuz

[StartMidwest @StartMidwest]

Indiana’s Canary in the Coal Mine Moment -
Indiana startups raised just $33.1 million in Q2 2026, the lowest quarter since 2018. Drew Beechler of Alloy Partners asks if the state is being left behind. https://t.co/AOAb2qbM6p

[StartMidwest @StartMidwest]

Midwest Startup Funding for the week ending July 31 2026 -
Midwest startup funding this week: Jump Capital's $350M Fund 8, Claros Technologies' $55M raise, plus deals from Healia, https://t.co/a7yi17JIyB and Gravie. https://t.co/yO6lrY5UyO

[StartMidwest @StartMidwest]

The infrastructure advantage: build the shovel, not just the goldmine -
Biotech's next big thing may not be a drug. Ruby Miller PhD makes the case for organoids and platform tools as infrastructure breakthroughs are built upon. https://t.co/7LvgH1HjWm

[StartMidwest @StartMidwest]

UnDemo Day 2026 brings investors from across the country to Detroit on October 1, with the NVCA's Emerging Manager Office Hours alongside.

Applications close July 29.

https://t.co/bjC3T16czb

[StartMidwest @StartMidwest]

How does Travis Kalanick negotiate with investors?

The Co-Founder of Uber and current CEO of Atoms, which runs Cloud Kitchens, says he 'starts low' first and then gets everyone excited that the amount could go up.

Watch the full interview 👇️

https://t.co/H8qUPCSBVS

[a16z @a16z]

Travis Kalanick is back.

After 8 years of building in stealth, he joins Ben Horowitz and Erik Torenberg to tell the story of his latest company, Atoms, and its vision to digitize the physical world one industry at a time:

01:32 The a16z & Uber backstory
15:36 Different companies, different rules
21:13 CloudKitchens origins
27:13 An $8 meal delivery
31:58 Building in private
34:59 Computing atoms, not bits
42:54 Autonomous mining
49:02 Ideas are cheap, founders are rare
56:21 From 20,000 employees to 6
1:00:32 Why food came first
1:10:40 Entering a new industry
1:20:21 Parallels to the Industrial Revolution
1:28:26 Who Travis is hiring

@travisk @bhorowitz @eriktorenberg

[StartMidwest @StartMidwest]

PitchMI startup competition: $2 million, but are attention and hype the real prize? -
PitchMI opens applications for its 2026-27 Michigan startup competition with $2M across four semifinals. What the first year produced, and why year three isn't funded. https://t.co/RySZ9IBqsG