Best of SaaS: Chicago's Top Tech Companies

Chicago is my kind of city.

And apparently many software vendors think the same way. Chicago is home to more than 6,000 tech companies, and nearly 400 startups have been founded in the city over the past five years.

San Francisco was once the tech hotspot. But in recent years, companies have quickly fled California to establish their headquarters in other major cities, such as New York, Austin and, you guessed it, Chicago.

But as Silicon Valley's popularity wanes, Chicago's tech companies are thriving. In 2021, nine Chicago startups achieved “unicorn” status, reaching a valuation of at least $1 billion (humble boast: G2 is one of those unicorns!).

Chicago may be considered the "second city," but it's on its way to becoming number one in technology.

Many major corporations have operations in Chicago, including Boeing, McDonald's, Kraft Heinz, and United Airlines. With big players like this putting down roots in the Midwest, it's no surprise that innovative tech companies are flocking to The Windy City.

And if you're wondering exactly what makes Chicago attractive to big tech companies, you're not alone. A few theories attempt to explain this.

First of all, the cost of living in Chicago is significantly lower than in major cities on the east and west coasts. This means lower overhead costs for businesses and a relatively more comfortable lifestyle for employees. Second, Illinois is the third largest producer of computer science degrees in the United States. These graduates then flock to Chicago for jobs in software engineering and development.

And third, many people think that Chicago's appeal can simply be attributed to the strong work ethic that Midwesterners are known for. But whatever the reason, there's no doubt that Chicago's tech industry is booming, from fintech and healthcare to e-commerce and information technology (IT).

> Chicago's Top Tech Companies DealRoom Popular countries Printavo Syndigo rytr ball of smoke Guardian Safety FourKites Social Sprout project44

As Frank Sinatra sang, "Chicago Calls Me Home". Now is the time to see which tech companies share the sentiment of Old Blue Eyes. We've identified the top Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) companies in Chicago, based on our own internal data.

G2 rates products and vendors based on a variety of factors, such as reviews from our user community and aggregated data from online and social media sources. Learn more about G2's research scoring methodologies.

*Some user reviews may have been edited for clarity.

10. Trading room

DealRoom is a due diligence management platform that centralizes deal data and due diligence requests, without spreadsheet trackers or insecure chat threads. The platform's secure virtual data room and project management tools help companies reduce due diligence time by 25-40%.

"I really like the flexibility of options and configuration offered by the DealRoom platform. DealRoom can set document-specific permissions and support documented comments in both directions. I also liked the ability to express relationships between documents; for example, parent-child and/or parallel relationships."

– DealRoom review, Ammar R.

With DealRoom, businesses can perform all due diligence tasks on one secure and comprehensive platform. DealRoom helps streamline communication and offers powerful project data analytics not available when stand-alone rooms are used. DealRoom also offers machine learning that alleviates repetitive tasks.

DealRoom at a glance Category: M&A Platforms Website: dealroom.net Established: 2012 Segment: Small business (1-50 employees) 9. Popular countries

The popular country is...