Seth Kravitz the cofounder of TechNori (http://Technori.com) deserves a lot of credit for trying to fix a lot of this. 1871 is a nifty place as well but to get VC funding outside of that place a serial entrepreneur named RJ has set up http://ventureconnects.com to fix the gap. There is an exciting startup community in Chicago! Outside of the ones mentioned in the article these are worth mentioning:
http://Markitx.com http://StageBloc.com http://Bikespike.com http://Firemeibegyou.com http://Visuhire.com http://WeDeliver.us http://Spartzmedia.com http://Rscu.com http://Mjinews.com