Startup Spotlight
Discover four recent funding successes born out of the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
- By
- November 26, 2025
- Entrepreneurship
For nearly three decades, the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation has helped entrepreneurs at Chicago Booth and across the university turn their ideas into realities. Often, these startups evolve into thriving, well-established businesses that make a meaningful impact on their communities.
As highlighted below, its programs include one of the nation’s top-ranked accelerator programs, the New Venture Challenge, and the UChicago Startup Investment Program, which combines venture capital and university co-investment for university affiliates. The Alumni New Venture Challenge, no longer active, supported UChicago alumni around the world in launching early-stage ventures.
Below, learn about four startups from the Polsky Center that are finding success at different funding stages.
Seed: Plural
Based in San Francisco, the Alumni New Venture Challenge finalist has raised a $7.13 million seed round led by Paradigm, bringing total capital raised to $10 million.
Plural is scaling its tokenization platform to help developers finance solar, battery, and data-center assets. As a registered broker-dealer and transfer agent, Plural unlocks capital from institutional and private-wealth investors to access distributed energy for the grid edge.
The company has tokenized or is in the process of tokenizing more than $250 million in energy assets—and is currently hiring for key roles at its San Francisco headquarters, says cofounder and CEO Adam Silver, MBA ’20.
Post-Seed: Andes STR
A first-place New Venture Challenge winner, Andes STR is a proptech company specializing in the investment and management of short-term rentals. Its founder is Sebastian Rivas, MBA ’21.
The firm, based in Austin, manages more than 450 properties, amounting to more than $150 million in assets across Chile and the United States. It closed a $4 million post-seed round to fund expansion into Latin America and the US over the next 12 months.
Meanwhile, Andes STR continues to evolve its AI-driven deal-sourcing and portfolio-management platform to greatly accelerate acquisition, marketing, and operations for its institutional clients and to maximize their returns.
Series E: Kin
Kin, a tech-enabled, direct-to-consumer insurance company, launched in 2016, when the total addressable market for homeowners insurance was approximately $100 billion. That number is expected to grow to $200 billion by 2027.
In September, Kin raised $50 million in Series E funding, bringing its total equity funding to approximately $286 million and its total pre-money valuation to $2 billion.
Support came from the UChicago Startup Investment Program as well as big-name investors such as NBA star Draymond Green and golf champion Rory McIlroy, both of whom participated in its $80 million Series C round. Founder Sean Harper, AB ’03, MBA ’09, says he plans to eventually take the company public.
Acquisition: Simple Mills
Katlin Smith founded Simple Mills in 2012 while a student at Booth. A 2014 NVC winner, the company generated 2024 net sales of $240 million and has products in more than 30,000 stores nationwide.
The brand leads the natural-foods market for crackers, cookies, snack bars, and baking mixes made with nutrient-dense ingredients. It was recently acquired for $795 million by Flower Foods, one of the largest exits in Polsky Center history.
Smith started Simple Mills after searching unsuccessfully for healthy snack options while traveling as a consultant. She remains with the company, which intends to expand distribution and promote brand awareness while exploring further innovative snacking options.