Inside these posts: Venture capital

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Steam coal company buying Magnetar unit

Magnetar Capital, an investment management firm based in Evanston, said on Monday that James River Coal Co. has entered into an agreement to purchase International Resource Partners LP, a metallurgical and steam coal company based in West Virginia. Get the full story »

Monroe Capital raises $250M

Chicago-based Monroe Capital LLC said it has raised a $250 million debt and equity fund that it’ll use to invest in middle-market businesses as well as woman-and-minority-owned firms in poor communities. Get the full story »

Sprout Social gets $10M in venture funding

Sprout Social, a Chicago-based startup that helps businesses manage their social media presence across different platforms, has raised $10 million in venture funding. Get the full story »

Chicago startup GiveForward raises $500K

GiveForward, a Chicago-based startup that helps people raise money for out-of-pocket medical expenses, has raised $500,000 in its first round of funding.

Desiree Vargas Wrigley and Ethan Austin started GiveForward in 2008 and had looked for some funding at that time, but “what we kept hearing from investors is: ‘You should be a non-profit,’” Vargas Wrigley said. She and Austin funded the company themselves, with Vargas Wrigley waiting tables at Cafe Ba Ba Reeba in Lincoln Park in the meantime.

The GiveForward platform allows people to create personalized fundraising pages and share their cause through social media such as Facebook and Twitter. GiveForward collects the donations, which can be done through credit or debit cards, and passes them along to the beneficiary after deducting 7 percent for processing fees. The company said its users have raised $3.5 million since the company’s inception and about 10,000 users have joined the site, with almost half of them signing up in the last six months. Get the full story »

Citadel investment banking unit loses 3

From Bloomberg News | Chris Boas, Brad Kurtzman and Carl Mayer, senior executives at the investment banking unit of Chicago-based Citadel LLC, have left the firm. Get the full story>>

Nanotech developer lands $65 million from Lurie

Technology firm NanoInk, Inc. said it has received $65 million in financing from Chicago investor Ann Lurie’s Lurie Investments.

“This financing provides working capital to continue our commercial activities and support our growing sales base,” said NanoInk chief executive officer James Hussey, a long-time local developer of biotechnology. “This financing also provides an opportunity for the company to convert substantially all of our debt to equity.” Get the full story »

Illinois venture-capital exits weak in third quarter

More than 110 venture-backed companies nationwide were able to cash out through mergers, acquisitions, buyouts or initial public offerings in the third quarter, though only one of the businesses is based in Illinois.

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