In a globally nerve-racking year for Chicago businesses – whether the problem is the plague, inflation, labor and supply shortages, or just opening the office or not – There has been an unmistakably optimistic trend: the region is having a banner year in establishing a tech company.

This is seen more than anywhere else in the continued vitality of Fulton Market, which benefits from the “cool factor” as an office location and where developers continue to place heavy bets. It’s also starting to help the Loop, which is almost considered a bargain for those in need of office space. The tech boom bodes well for job creation here in the years to come.

Chicago closes 2021 after spawning 12 “unicorns,” the industry name for companies that have achieved a billion dollar valuation based on the capital they have raised and the stakes assigned to backers. funds. The number comes from Pitchbook data tracked by World Business Chicago, the city’s economic development promoter, and sets a record. In 2020, Chicago bred two new unicorns.

Behind that lies the success of Chicago startups in raising funds, $ 7.9 billion in venture capital this year, a billion more than in 2020, World Business Chicago said. The group is delighted that Chicago is now playing in the premier tech league of San Francisco, New York, Boston and Los Angeles.

Last week, Amazon said it was increasing its office space in the twin buildings of 222 W. Adams St. and 227 W. Monroe St., to 200,000 square feet, by about a third to accommodate 450 jobs. of white collar workers he plans to add a few more years. Facebook and Google have added space here in recent years, and Salesforce is slamming its name on a new skyscraper.

But it’s also playing out in lesser-known tech names. One of the best examples is Tegus, which sells business and market information to large investment firms and fund managers, private equity providers and large corporations. It has a niche among competitors such as Bloomberg, FactSet, Chicago Morningstar, and many more.

According to CFO Bob Casey, Tegus had 35 employees when the pandemic hit in March 2020. It ended that year at 115 and will close 2021 with 275 employees, he said. “By the end of next year, we’ll be north of 650,” Casey said. Most of the staff will be in Chicago, where Tegus has taken two floors, or 47,000 square feet, at 200 N. La Salle St. He also rents at 120 S. La Salle St.

The company’s customer base has grown rapidly to approximately 1,500 accounts worldwide, Casey said. To finance its expansion, it raised $ 90 million in second stage capital. It is also enhancing its product line with its purchase of BamSEC, which improves access to data that publicly traded companies must file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC database known as Edgar, a go-to resource for investors, can be called clunky.

Twin brothers Michael and Thomas Elnick founded Tegus in San Francisco, but brought him to Chicago in its early days in 2018. Casey said Chicago made all the difference. “It has been a tremendous accelerator for our business,” he said. “We found incredible talent.

Not to mention the low turnover. Casey said tech workers on the coasts are working to find wealth in stock options. In Chicago, there is more commitment to building something. “We had to be where we could build an organization with the values ​​and culture that we wanted,” he said.

Tech companies that have moved from the coast to Chicago, and there are several, are also finding lower costs. The Illinois flat-rate income tax benefits most tech workers, especially compared to New York and California, and office rents here are about half the rate in San Francisco, Casey said. Despite higher property taxes, the cost of living here is lower than in other tech hubs.

These are facts Chicago bashers need to understand.

So great is Casey’s enthusiasm for the small town that civic boosters should be bottling him.

“Chicago has a lot of strengths, and we’re better when we play with them,” Casey said. He said Chicago was a “city of sales,” focused on getting the product to the customer, perhaps a legacy of its history in food production and packaging, mail order sales and even advertising. Workers here can be programmers but don’t have to be. They can work in sales and customer service, Casey said.

Universities, startup incubation centers, and organizations that make connections between entrepreneurs and funders, such as TechNexus and Penny Pritzker’s P33, all contribute to the results.

Examining Chicago’s record with startups in 2021, Pete Wilkins, managing director of venture capital firm Hyde Park Angels, wrote on Forbes.com that Chicago has become “the Midwest’s premier innovation hub, and without doubt one of the top three in the country “.

A little positivity won’t hurt as we ring in the New Year.