Tuesday, October 31, 2017 - Reverb.com, the online marketplace for buying, selling, and learning about music gear, has been named a winner at the 16th annual Chicago Innovation Awards.

The winners were announced at an event held at Chicago’s Harris Theater on Monday, October 30, with nearly 1,500 businesses, civic leaders, and more in attendance. The Chicago Innovation Awards is the Chicago region’s foremost recognition of the most innovative new products or services brought to market or to public service each year.

Since launching in 2013, Reverb.com has grown into the most popular music gear website in the world, with sales expected to reach $400 million this year and more than 10 million musicians and music lovers visiting the site monthly. Last year, Reverb increased international users by 700%, grew international sales by 150%, and hired on-the-ground team members in the UK, Australia, France, Germany, Japan, and more.

“Chicago’s innovators continue to demonstrate the breadth of innovation found in the Chicago region, cutting across all industries, sectors and sizes,” said Tom Kuczmarski, co-founder with Chicago journalist Dan Miller of the awards. “2017 winners are pioneers in healthcare, food services, data analytics, architecture, chemical products, transportation, government, household appliances, digital technology, childcare, non-profit, economic development, and beauty care.

“Our team of developers, customer engagement reps, and marketing pros comes to work each day to make Reverb.com the best place online for music shops, working musicians, rockstars, and more to buy and sell music gear,” said David Kalt, founder and CEO at Reverb.com. “We’re proud to do that work in Chicago and we couldn’t have built this incredible international musician community without the support of the local tech community.

The winning organizations receive a variety of honors including the opportunity to ring the NASDAQ Bell in New York City, and meetings with the Mayor, Governor and Cook County President.

“Over 530 organizations nominated for this year’s awards,” said Luke Tanen, Executive Director of the Chicago Innovation Awards. “As a group, these nominees generated record totals in economic output, with nearly $3.4 billion in new revenues achieved from their new products and services, along with the creation of over 15,000 new jobs. The winners represent the best from this very impressive group.”

The complete list of this year’s Chicago Innovation Award winners can be found at www.chicagoinnovation.com. The Chicago Innovation Awards are supported by Gold Sponsors Comcast Business, Wintrust Financial and SMS Assist; Silver Sponsors Exelon, Vedder Price and others.