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Radar · Marketing Services in Illinois

Best Marketing Services Companies in Illinois, United States

The 565 best Marketing Services companies in Illinois, United States in 2026, ranked by funding and momentum. Funding, investors, founders, valuation, tech stack and live signals. Top: Meridian.

565companies tracked
$673.8Mdisclosed funding
0unicorns
31have raised

Ranked: Best Marketing Services companies in Illinois

#CompanyDisclosed fundingLast roundStageEmployeesFoundedPatents & IP focusRecent signals
1Meridian
Provider of commercial printing services
$250M140 mo agoLate Stage7219913 patents
Biodegradable polymer blends and topical drug‑delivery apparatus for medical applications.
—
2IRI
Provider of market research and advertising services
$125M96 mo agoAcquired5,5001979——
3SAVO
Provider of digital marketing and custom software development services
$93M144 mo agoAcquired1361999——
4Context Media
Provider of content marketing services
$42M266 mo agoAcquired—1999——
5Sandbox
Service agency for marketing and promoting solutions
$28M104 mo agoAcquired400201413 patents
Proppant storage, handling, and debris separation solutions for hydraulic fracturing operations
—
6VSA Partners
Provider of digital marketing, branding, and advertising services
$28M—Acquired169
169 → 144 (-15%)
1982—1 job opening · 1 partnership · 1 award
7Sandbox
Independent advertising agency
$22M122 mo agoDeadpooled124201313 patents
Proppant storage, transport, and handling equipment for hydraulic fracturing operations
—
8UPshow
Cloud based digital signage platform
$22M56 mo agoAcquired382015——
9Rise Interactive
Digital marketing agency
$21M98 mo agoSeries B179
179 → 388 (+117%)
200421 patents
Patents concentrated in computing, sensing & instrumentation
1 expansion
10Affinity Express
Provider of digital marketing, advertising, SEO, and website development services
$16M248 mo agoAcquired1,2552000——
11Performics
AI-powered performance marketing solutions driving growth through data-driven insights
$10M—Acquired3751998—3 awards
12Calmark Group
Provider of marketing solutions
$7M143 mo agoFunding Raised2162004——
13Sentic
Sentic is an IT services and IT consulting company specializing in digital marketing strategies
$2M127 mo agoSeed32014——
14Visual Feeder
Provider of advertising services
$2M49 mo agoSeed152017—1 launch
15Youth Noise
Provider of SEO, PPC, and inbound marketing services
$2M240 mo agoSeed—2000——
16Tavern Research
Platform providing nonprofit AI solutions
$1M16 mo agoSeed—2024——
17Authentic
Provider of branding, advertising, SMS, and web designing services
$1M35 mo agoSeed1,626201818 patents
Healthcare data exchange platforms and blockchain-enabled transaction marketplaces
—
18CakeStyle
Provider of resources for generating business ideas and marketing strategies
$1M166 mo agoSeed—2011——
19OWND
Provider of branding services
$750K39 mo agoSeed72020—1 partnership · 1 award
20Sales Empowerment Group
B2B sales agency driving organic growth with integrated revenue solutions
$540K94 mo agoAcquired522009——
21Tempesta Media
Provider of digital marketing services
$500K44 mo agoSeed332011—1 launch · 1 award
22FarShore
Custom software and design firm building innovative web and mobile applications
$125K110 mo agoSeed1472006——

Top 12 Marketing Services companies in Illinois

#1
Seed · Chicago, Illinois · founded 2024
$1.2Mraised
▾

Platform providing nonprofit AI solutions. It is a co-intelligence platform that provides a secure environment for organizations to store and utilize private data alongside a language model of their choice, delivering tailored insights and solutions. The platform serves nonprofits, advocacy groups, and the public sector, offering a range of features and tools to support operations and decision-making. With a focus on collaboration and innovation, it aims to empower organizations to drive positive change and make a meaningful impact.

LinkedIn Pulse recent public activity · Jul 2026
Audience: 879 LinkedIn followers
Funding rounds
  • Jan 2025Seed$1.2M
Founders & team
Avi ZenilmanCo-Founder
#2
Late Stage · Rockford, Illinois · founded 1991 · 72 employees
$250Mraised
▾

Provider of commercial printing services

LinkedIn Pulse recent public activity · Jul 2026
Audience: 3k LinkedIn followers
Funding rounds
  • Oct 2014PE$250M
Investors
Phatisa
Tech stack
Amazon S3Amazon SesAmazon Web ServicesBootstrapCloudflareCloudflare Bot Management
#3
Acquired · Chicago, Illinois · founded 2015 · 38 employees
$21.5Mraised
▾

Cloud based digital signage platform. The platform offers software and hardware solutions for advertisers that help them in running engaging advertising campaigns by managing the signage content and screens. Also, it has features such as analytics, campaign monitoring, etc. It caters to multiple industries including healthcare, fitness, etc.

Funding rounds
  • Sep 2021Venture Debt$10M
  • Sep 2020Series A$14M
  • Mar 2019Series A$6M
  • Mar 2017Angel$1.5M
Founders & team
Adam HirsenCo-Founder & CEOMatt GibbsCo-Founder & CMO
Investors
4490 Ventures, Jump Capital, TDF Ventures, Espresso Capital, G2T3V, MK Capital
Tech stack
Amazon CloudfrontAmazon S3Amazon SesAmazon Web ServicesChili PiperCore-Js
#4
Acquired · Chicago, Illinois · founded 1999 · 136 employees
$93.1Mraised
▾

Provider of digital marketing and custom software development services. The company delivers cohesive strategies for organizations. Services include search engine optimization, pay-per-click advertising, content marketing, and data analytics. The company also builds custom, mobile-first websites and scalable, high-performance applications tailored to operational needs.

Funding rounds
  • Jun 2014Series D$49.1M
  • Jun 2013Conventional Debt$10M
  • Jun 2011Series B$14M
  • Jul 2008Series B$10M
Investors
Sterling Partners, SAP Ventures, NXT Capital, Sapphire Ventures, Goldman Sachs
Tech stack
WordpressMysqlPhpZurb FoundationGravity FormsYoast Seo
#5
Acquired · Chicago, Illinois · founded 1979 · 5500 employees
$125.3Mraised
▾

Provider of market research and advertising services

Investors
ICG Enterprise Trust, Ares Capital Corporation, Constitution Capital Partners, Cohesive Capital, UNC Kenan-Flagler Private Equity, HarbourVest Partners
Tech stack
Apache Http ServerBootstrapDocusignFacebook PixelFont AwesomeGoogle Font Api
#6
Seed · Chicago, Illinois · founded 2018 · 1626 employees
$1.2Mraised
▾

Provider of branding, advertising, SMS, and web designing services

Funding rounds
  • Jul 2023Seed$1.2M
Founders & team
Mike NellisFounder & CEO
Investors
Grassrootsanalytics, Higher Ground Labs
Tech stack
CloudflareCloudflare Bot ManagementCore-JsFlickityFont AwesomeGoogle Analytics
#7
Acquired · Chicago, Illinois · founded 2014 · 400 employees
$28Mraised
▾

SandBox is a service agency for marketing and promoting brands. It helps brands to design the website, create strategies, promote across various media solutions and connect with brands to improve business performance. Clients include LG, American Express, United healthcare, Kite, Coherus and Shire.

Funding rounds
  • Sep 2017PE$6M
  • Mar 2016Conventional Debt—
  • Mar 2016PE$22M
Founders & team
Mark AnthonyCo-Founder & President
Investors
Alaris Equity Partners, CIBC
Tech stack
CloudflareCloudflare Browser InsightsGoogle Font ApiHostingerHttp/3Litespeed
#8
Acquired · Chicago, Illinois · founded 1999
$42Mraised
▾

Provider of Enterprise Content Integration (ECI) solutions. The company helps unify, organize and optimize enterprise content. It's software and solutions provide stand-alone value or complement existing content management investments to leverage content across the extended enterprise.

Investors
Lehman Brothers, New Enterprise Associates, Adams Capital Management, Shamrock Ventures, SVB
#9
Acquired · Elgin, Illinois · founded 2000 · 1255 employees
$16Mraised
▾

Provider of digital marketing, advertising, SEO, and website development services

LinkedIn Pulse recent public activity · Jul 2026
Audience: 68k LinkedIn followers — 3.6% of this cohort's audience
Funding rounds
  • Oct 2005Series B$3M
  • Jul 2004Series A$1.1M
  • Nov 2003Series A$715.5K
  • Oct 2002Series A$1.5M
Founders & team
David GrantFounder/Executive VP Advertising Services
Investors
Hercules Capital, Flagship Pioneering, Ticonderoga Capital
Tech stack
AkismetAmazon Web ServicesAnimate.CssAstraAzureBootstrap
#10
Series B · Chicago, Illinois · founded 2004 · 179 employees
$21Mraised
▾

Digital marketing agency

LinkedIn Pulse recent public activity · Jul 2026
Audience: 66k LinkedIn followers — 3.5% of this cohort's audience · 40 engagements/post (1.6× cohort median)
Activity: 1 expansions announced in 12 mo
Funding rounds
  • Mar 2018Series B$8.7M
  • Jul 2016Series A$12.3M
Investors
Quad, Quantometrica
Tech stack
Windows ServerMicrosoft Asp.NetAzureIisModernizrLinkedin Insight Tag
#11
Deadpooled · Chicago, Illinois · founded 2013 · 124 employees
$22Mraised
▾

Sandbox is an advertising agency which was formed with merger of four other agencies. Sandbox helps clients with creative development, strategic marketing. The group is an independent company which is owned by the employees and a group of holding companies. Acquired GA Communication Group.

Funding rounds
  • Mar 2016Conventional Debt—
  • Mar 2016Series A—
  • Mar 2016Series A$22M
  • Feb 2015Venture Debt$27M
Investors
Monroe Capital, Alaris Equity Partners
Tech stack
Google Font ApiCloudflareHttp/3
#12
Acquired · Chicago, Illinois · founded 1982 · 169 employees
$28Mraised
▾

Provider of digital marketing, branding, and advertising services

LinkedIn Pulse recent public activity · Jul 2026
Audience: 20k LinkedIn followers
Hiring: 1 hiring post in 12 mo (public) · hiring: Director, UX Design
Activity: 1 partnerships · 1 awards (incl. VSA) announced in 12 mo
Funding rounds
  • Conventional Debt$28M
Founders & team
Anne-Marie RosserCEO
Investors
Cognitive Capital Partners, Keebeck Cognitive Partners
Tech stack
Node.JsReactNext.JsTypekitLinkedin Insight TagGoogle Tag Manager

Funding & investor landscape

$673.8Mtotal disclosed funding
23companies funded
38disclosed rounds
0rounds last 90 days
Most active investors
Alaris Equity Partners2 rounds
Albatross Ventures2 rounds
Europa2 rounds
G2T3V2 rounds
Maranon Capital2 rounds
New Enterprise Associates2 rounds
Sandbox Industries2 rounds
4490 Ventures1 rounds
Adams Capital Management1 rounds
Aktion Partners1 rounds

Notable founders

Avi Zenilman
Co-Founder · Tavern Research
Adam Hirsen
Co-Founder & CEO · UPshow
Matt Gibbs
Co-Founder & CMO · UPshow
Mike Nellis
Founder & CEO · Authentic
Mark Anthony
Co-Founder & President · Sandbox
David Grant
Founder/Executive VP Advertising Services · Affinity Express
Anne-Marie Rosser
CEO · VSA Partners
Eddie Yang
Founder & CEO · Visual Feeder
Yaxi Yang
Founder · Visual Feeder
Ben Otfinoski
Partner · Sentic
Millie Tadewaldt
Co-founder and CEO · CakeStyle
Cecelia Myers
Co-Founder · CakeStyle
Prism market signals · United States · country-scoped Prism corpus, 18,294,285 docs

Market landscape — 10 sub-themes by coverage

Share of Marketing Services coverage by sub-theme.

Regulatory-risk over time rising

Funding & growth over time

funding rising · growth rising

Common questions

How many Marketing Services companies are there in Illinois, United States?
Radar tracks 565 indexable Marketing Services companies headquartered in Illinois, United States that meet our profile-completeness bar.
What is the total funding raised by Marketing Services companies in Illinois, United States?
The Marketing Services companies in Illinois, United States on this list have raised a combined $673.8M in disclosed equity funding across 23 funded companies.
Which is the highest-funded Marketing Services company in Illinois, United States?
Meridian is the highest-funded Marketing Services company in Illinois, United States, with $250M in disclosed equity funding.
How many Marketing Services companies in Illinois, United States are funded?
23 of the 565 Marketing Services companies in Illinois, United States on this list have disclosed at least one equity funding round.
How many Marketing Services unicorns are there in Illinois, United States?
None of the Marketing Services companies in Illinois, United States on this list currently has a disclosed valuation of $1B or more.
Who are the top investors in Illinois, United States Marketing Services companies?
The most active investors in Illinois, United States Marketing Services companies on this list include Alaris Equity Partners, Albatross Ventures, Europa, G2T3V, Maranon Capital.
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