Chicago has been under the radar, but an expert finally revealed that startups are flocking to the city. The same expert said that he was watching and seeing "new and innovative" ideas be born literally every week, Chicago Business reported. However, the question remains whether the Chicago market is ready and able to sustain the property boom in the area.
Startups in the area have been crucial to people in the area. These helped them find houses to rent and to buy. Bob Gillespie, executive director of Second Century Ventures' tech startup Reach Commercial, said that Chicago has turned the "curve" in terms of real estate tech startups. He added that Second Century has been in the sector for more than 10 years, adding accelerators Elmspring and Reach to their roster of startups.
Gillespie also said that most real estate owners and operators in the area were looking for ways to innovate; they wanted to be part of the solution instead of just waiting for it to solve their problems. These companies wanted tech to disrupt their traditional processes and embraced the early stage of these technologies while remaining open to innovative solutions.
The situation in San Francisco can use some help from Chicago's startups. While San Francisco has become known as an upstart hub for tech companies, even six-figure company executives aren't lucky enough to buy homes near their work. That's about to chance, according to Tech Crunch, with help from tech startup ZeroDown.
The app, described as 'part real estate fund, part tech startup,' wants to help people find homes to buy or rent in the Bay Area. Abhijeet Dwivedi, co-founder, and CEO of ZeroDown, said that this was essentially the goal of most people in the area; finding things to own is, according to the company's CEO, "pretty central" to the American enterprise.
That being said, registering for ZeroDown is not just for anybody. ZeroDown literally seems to be for those who have six-figure salaries--those who have individual or combined salaries of more than $200,000 are welcome. However, the company looks to have customers from all demographics relying on the app to find their homes.
Chicago's market is primed to create opportunities for startups to relocate and begin their journey. From real estate to service-oriented startups, Chicago might find time to meet with the expectations of these tech companies, but it may soon find difficulty keeping up with the real estate requirements of these corporations.
