This article ran online on April 14, 2020 in Forbes. By Pete Wilkins.
From giving back to the community and supporting frontline health care workers to coming up with novel medical solutions and more, Chicago-based companies have not stepped down in the fight against COVID-19. Rather they are using it as an opportunity to innovate, collaborate, and evolve. Now in my third article of this series, find the latest updates below from the Windy City’s frontline of innovation.
ARCH Venture Partners: Chicago-based firm Arch Ventures recently raised $1.46 billion in funding to invest in early-stage biotech companies. The firm already backs a handful of companies working on COVID-19 therapeutics, including Twist Bioscience, a developer of gene engineering tools used in COVID therapeutics and vaccine development.
Catalytic: Automation technology provider Catalytic is helping companies assess risk and develop emergency response plans to the virus. Companies that have successfully used the technology include Grant Thornton, which quickly built a Pandemic Risk Assessment tool to help businesses get an instant, quantitative assessment of pandemic risks with tailored resiliency plans; and, Reveleer, a healthcare software company, which used Catalytic to build an automation that collects responses and generates a daily report of employee health and productivity. Catalytic is now offering free, unlimited access to its Business Continuity Plan which can be tailored to an organization’s needs for immediate use.
Chicago Beyond: Impact investor Chicago Beyond just announced its initiative Going Beyond, a joint effort with philanthropists Kimbra and Mark Walter to support communities in Chicago. The Going Beyond initiative will deliver basic necessities to people on Chicago’s South and West Sides who have less access to self-care items and healthy foods. With support from the Walter Family, Chicago Beyond will be deploying $250,000 worth of goods to an estimated 5,000 families a week at least until May 1.
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