Tech roundup: Grubhub co-founder reveals his next big thing, Zuckerberg visits Chicago and more – Built In Chicago

Grubhub co-founder Mike Evans launches new on-demand handyman service

On Monday, Grubhub co-founder Mike Evans revealed his next big thing: on-demand handyman service Fixer.com. Evans, speaking to Crains, said the idea for Fixer came after he had difficulty getting someone to install a rain barrel at his home. Like other on-demand handymen services, the platform charges a flat rate of $80/hour for jobs. However, it differs from competitors like Thumbtack in that its professionals are all full-time employees which allows them to respond to work requests in an hours time. Fixer is currently available by invite-only to those in the Chicago area. [Crains]

Two Chicago tech companies crack the top 10 of Crain's 2017 Fast 50

Crains Fast 50 list, which ranks Chicago-area companies with the fastest-growing revenues over a five-year period, was revealed this week and two tech companies made it into the top 10. Signal came in at number four and Outcome Health landed at number seven. Both have posted outstanding revenue growth numbers over the past five years, with Signals revenue growing 11,638.7% and Outcome Healths growth checking in at 2,963.2%.

2016 was a big year for Signal, which posted $29.1 million in revenue while also closing a $30 million Series E funding round. Meanwhile Outcome Health leveraged its strong 2016 to raise an incredible $500 million from investors during its first ever funding round. A total of 16 tech companies made Crains Fast 50 for 2017. [Crain's]

Sittercity's founder launches new app to get people to the polls

Sittercity founder and serial entrepreneur Genevieve Thiers introduced her newest venture Monday, a politically focused app called EveryElection. The iOS app an Android app and web version are in development alerts users to upcoming elections. The app also provides information on candidates and measures on the ballot. Thiers told Built In Chicago that the idea behind the app is to make remembering to vote, and being an informed voter, easier. Well make it easy for you, but you have to take the step of downloading that app and looking at the alerts, she said. [Built In Chicago]

Mark Zuckerberg visits Chicago for the first Facebook Communities Summit

Last week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was in Chicago to kick off the companys first ever Communities Summit. The free event spanned two days and was only open to administrators of groups on the social networking site who had registered in advance. It included workshops and feedback sessions with company employees. Both Zuckerberg and Facebook chief product officer Chris Cox spoke at the event, with announcements including new features for admins to better manage groups and tools to weed out bad actors.

CloudRanger launches visual server management platform for AWS users

Photos via featured companies

See the original post here:
Tech roundup: Grubhub co-founder reveals his next big thing, Zuckerberg visits Chicago and more - Built In Chicago