Top Tech Startups in Illinois, US in 2026

Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.

Our mission is to make technical advances towards robots and humans working together side by side, with an emphasis on human-centric design. Diligent Robotics is developing a suite of artificial intelligence that enables robots to collaborate with and adapt to humans in everyday environments. Our first product is a hospital service robot that can assist clinical staff with logistical tasks, allowing them to spend more of their time on direct patient care, improving patient satisfaction, quality of service, and safety.

KINEXON powers the internet of things with smart location and motion data. The Kinexon ONE is an innovative real time location and motion sensing solution. It also detects the condition and status of people, objects and workflows. The core of the system is the Kinexon CELL - a small and lightweight sensor that tracks the 3D position and orientation of people and objects with centimeter accuracy. A cloud based smart analytics application transforms the data and provides the user with valuable and unprecedented insights. KINEXON offers real simplicity and scalability to its customers since the localization infrastructure consisting of so called mini anchors is 100% wireless. With Kinexon ONE we enable customers to use smart location and motion data to improve processes and products in terms of quality, costs and time. Our solutions are used by market leading companies in a number of sectors such as industry, healthcare, logistics, retail, sports, robotics and unmanned aviation.

Our approach is rigorous and pragmatic, driven by technological expertise and analytics informed by real-world experience. We value employees who love to learn and have the tenacity, curiosity and willpower to contribute to our continuing success. We are a small but passionate team, dedicated to enhancing and refining our tried and true methods as we commit to our ongoing growth and performance.

MOLTEN is a cloud platform that streamlines core operations of media and entertainment enterprises. MOLTEN digitizes and transforms rights, content, and licensing operations across enterprises, empowering teams with real-time insight and automation tools to do more, accelerating deal-making and content monetization worldwide. MOLTEN offers multiple integrated cloud-based services to power back-end operations for media and entertainment enterprises, which include content rights, storage, delivery and licensing management.

Our loading dock sensor platform verifies all incoming and outgoing freight, aggregating data that enables shippers and carriers to efficiently manage dock operations, switch out suppliers and understand material flow in real time.

Braze is the leading customer engagement platform that empowers brands to Be Absolutely Engaging™. Braze helps brands deliver great customer experiences that drive value both for consumers and for their businesses. Built on a foundation of composable intelligence, BrazeAI™ allows marketers to combine and activate AI agents, models, and features at every touchpoint throughout the Braze Customer Engagement Platform for smarter, faster, and more meaningful customer engagement. From cross-channel messaging and journey orchestration to Al-powered decisioning and optimization, Braze enables companies to turn action into interaction through autonomous, 1:1 personalized experiences. The company has been consistently recognized as a Leader in marketing technology by industry analysts, and was named a G2 “Best of Marketing and Digital Advertising Software Product” in 2026. Braze was also named a 2026 Best Places to Work by Built In, a 2025 America’s Greenest Companies by Newsweek, and a 2025 Fortune Best Workplace in Technology™ by Great Place To Work®. The company is headquartered in New York with 15 offices across the Americas, EMEA, and APAC. Learn more at braze.com.

Varsity Tutors is a live learning platform that connects students and professionals with personalized instruction to achieve any goal. To date, students have accessed more than three million hours of live instruction on the platform. Experts are available to meet in person or through the company’s award-winning online and mobile platforms, which account for the majority of all sessions.

At DRW, we identify and capture trading and investment opportunities globally. What sets us apart is our diversified approach—trading across many asset classes and instruments, in markets around the world, with horizons from seconds to years. We succeed by bringing together sophisticated technology, in-depth research and careful risk management. DRW is headquartered in Chicago, with offices in London, Montreal, New York, San Francisco and Singapore.

Pinterest is the world's first visual discovery engine. People use Pinterest to discover ideas to try in their daily lives. More than 300 million people around the world use Pinterest to dream, plan and prepare for things they want to do in life. We always start by asking: whose problem are we solving? Is it significant? Are we making Pinners lives better? If products don't work for people they don't work for us. The success of Pinterest depends on the ownership of every Pinployee. We all own Pinterest and work to achieve results that benefit everyone, not just specific teams or individuals.