Funded Biotechnology Startups in Chicago
Chicago's biotechnology funding picture, across these 22 rounds spanning September 2021 to November 2025, skews early-stage but includes several substantia…
Chicago's biotechnology funding picture, across these 22 rounds spanning September 2021 to November 2025, skews early-stage but includes several substantial raises. The largest single round belongs to Paragon Biosciences, which closed $185M under a Series Unknown classification in November 2022. Vanqua Bio's $85M Series B from September 2021 is the only visible Series B in the set, while Grove Biopharma and Xeris Pharmaceuticals each raised $30M — via Series A in April 2025 and Post-IPO Equity in January 2022, respectively.
The 2025 entries, seven in total, run from Dimension Inx's $80K raise in February to Grove Biopharma's $30M Series A in April, with four of the seven carrying a Seed label. Series Unknown is the most common stage designation across the full set, accounting for 12 of the 22 entries — a pattern consistent with undisclosed structures or non-standard vehicles. Clever Carnivore is the one company with multiple rounds visible here, having raised in both August 2023 and November 2025.
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Frequently asked
What are the largest rounds among these Chicago biotech companies?
Paragon Biosciences leads with $185M, closed in November 2022 under a Series Unknown classification. Vanqua Bio raised $85M in a Series B in September 2021. Grove Biopharma and Xeris Pharmaceuticals each raised $30M — via Series A in April 2025 and Post-IPO Equity in January 2022, respectively.
How much funding activity has there been in 2025?
Seven of the 22 rounds in this view closed in 2025, ranging from Dimension Inx's $80K raise in February to Grove Biopharma's $30M Series A in April. Four of those seven are explicitly labeled Seed, reflecting a strong early-stage tilt in the current cohort.
Which round stage appears most frequently in this dataset?
Series Unknown is the dominant label, covering 12 of the 22 entries shown. Seed is the next most common with four rounds. Series A appears twice (Grove Biopharma, Synapticure), and the set also includes one Pre-Seed, one Series B, one Venture-Series Unknown, and one Post-IPO Equity.
Are there any companies in this view that have raised multiple rounds?
Clever Carnivore appears twice — a $4M round in August 2023 and a $2M Seed in November 2025 — making it the only company in these 22 rows with a visible multi-round history.
Which companies represent the later or post-early stages of the capital stack?
Vanqua Bio closed an $85M Series B in September 2021, and Xeris Pharmaceuticals raised $30M in Post-IPO Equity in January 2022. Synapticure's $25M Series A from November 2024 and Grove Biopharma's $30M Series A from April 2025 represent the most recent growth-stage activity.
What is the range of disclosed round sizes in this dataset?
Disclosed amounts span from Dimension Inx's $80K (February 2025) at the low end to Paragon Biosciences' $185M (November 2022) at the high end. One entry, CancerIQ's August 2024 round, lists an undisclosed amount. The median of the disclosed raises falls in the low single-digit millions.
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