Company lists · Data refreshed September 2026
Top 25 Visual effects animation companies based in Chicago, United States
RevenueBase identified 70 visual effects animation companies headquartered in Chicago, United States as of September 2026 and tracks 5,116 professional contacts across them, including 197 with verified work emails. Los Angeles is the largest hub.
This list covers visual effects animation companies headquartered in Chicago, United States, matched on what each company actually does as described in its own words. Ranked by team size, largest first. Every row shows the company's own description, its RevenueBase Smart Search rating, and when it was last checked. Data refreshed September 19, 2026.
Published by RevenueBase, a B2B data infrastructure company. This list was built with RevenueBase Smart Search, the natural-language company search RevenueBase customers use to build their own targeted lists and unlock verified emails and direct dials at the companies on them. How these lists are built and judged.
The 25 largest visual effects animation companies based in Chicago, United States
Ranked by team size| # | Company | Contacts | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 157 contacts → | ||||
Partial evidence “Optimus is a collective of award winning filmmakers, storytellers, and artists working with agencies and brands to develop and produce engaging and effective creative content.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 19, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 2 | 72 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “Cutters Studios is a collaboration of creative elements that work together to develop the solution for your production and post production needs.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 19, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 3 | 33 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “We design and produce striking, meaningful and impactful brand content.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 19, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 4 | 32 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “Director, creative director and designer Erin Sarofsky kick-started Sarofsky in 2009 and formed a group of extraordinarily talented makers who have been providing their services…” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 19, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 5 | 31 contacts → | ||||
Partial evidence “The Heist is a creative studio specializing in animation, motion design, and live-action storytelling.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 19, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 6 | 24 contacts → | ||||
Partial evidence “A collective of designers and visual artists who delight in experimentation and thrive on collaboration.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 19, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 7 | 22 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “Periscope Post and Audio is the Midwest’s premiere full service professional post production studio.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 19, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 8 | 21 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “BluBlu is a global, design-driven, Oscar-nominated, Sundance-winning creative studio that thrives on crafting top-tier animated content and design for renowned brands.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 19, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 9 | 20 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “11 Dollar Bill is an award winning team of post-production and design experts with offices in Chicago, Boulder, and Raleigh.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 19, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 10 | 8 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “Chicago is an October sort of city even in spring.” - Nelson Algren October is a production & post-production studio in Chicago, IL that also has capabilities in graphics…” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 19, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 11 | 7 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “Chicago's Radar Studios is a full-service production company.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 19, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 12 | 6 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “Headquartered in Chicago, Atomic Imaging/Golan Studios is an international full–service emerging technologies solution provider.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 19, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 13 | 5 contacts → | ||||
Strong evidence “We make TV commercials, web content, animations, visual effects, commercial photography and some of the world's best startup videos.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 19, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 14 | 4 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “Alter partners with creative minds to produce striking imagery for print, broadcast,and interactive media.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 19, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 15 | 4 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 19, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 16 | 4 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “Reel Captivation is a creative, full service studio based in Chicago.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 19, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 17 | 4 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “RA IMAGING is passionate about teaming up with agencies, brands, and producers to engage their audiences.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 19, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 18 | 3 contacts → | ||||
Strong evidence “Indivio Media is a media production company specializing in post-production, animation, video editing, motion graphics, visual effects, art direction, audio and sound design for…” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 19, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 19 | 3 contacts → | ||||
Partial evidence “We are Midnight Snack FX, a hungry animation collective that started in Chicago.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 19, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 20 | 3 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “Voke Studios is a full service post production studio offering editorial, 2D & 3D motion design, VFX, color, and sound for the film, entertainment, and advertising industry.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 19, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 21 | 3 contacts → | ||||
Strong evidence “DiscreetFX gives our clients that final missing piece of the puzzle to help them build stunning video broadcasts by using our unique visual effects transitions for NewTek's…” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 19, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 22 | 2 contacts → | ||||
Partial evidence “We’re Tiny Wolf, a design & animation studio.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 19, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 23 | 2 contacts → | ||||
Partial evidence “Bryan Grant Studios is a one-of-a-kind design & animation studio specializing in brand strategy, motion design & 2D/3D animation.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 19, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 24 | 2 contacts → | ||||
Partial evidence “Run Kick Shout is a design-driven animation studio based in Chicago, specializing in 2D and 3D animation.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 19, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 25 | 2 contacts → | ||||
Partial evidence “I am Rachel, a 3D artist who loves to faff around and play and learn in 3D, and bring my skills to bear to solve complex pieces of an animation project.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 19, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
RevenueBase Smart Search
RevenueBase Smart Search assesses information from a company’s LinkedIn profile, information supplied directly by the company, its website, and other publicly available sources. It uses that information to rate how closely the company relates to this list’s category: visual effects animation companies. Every row carries its rating and the description the rating was read from, so each one can be checked rather than taken on trust.
- Strong evidence
- The company's own public description of its business names visual effects animation companies.
- Partial evidence
- Its own public description names part of visual effects animation companies, so it works in or next to the category without describing itself that way.
- Indirect evidence
- The description shown does not name visual effects animation companies. The match rests on the rest of the company's public profile rather than the one sentence quoted here, so this is the rating to check first.
RevenueBase Smart Search is how these lists are built: RevenueBase's data engine and AI assemble the companies that match a category defined in a user's own words, so a list can be about what companies actually do rather than about whichever industry code they were filed under.
Showing 25 of 70 visual effects animation companies based in Chicago, United States
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Visual effects animation companies based in Chicago, United States at a glance
As of Sep 19, 2026Companies by employee count
Email recency for this list is measured across the whole United States list rather than for Chicago, so it is reported there. Company counts and contact totals on this page are exact for Chicago, over 70 companies.
How this list was built
Company categories are rarely black and white. RevenueBase reads each company's own description of its business to decide whether it belongs among visual effects animation companies, so some rows will be adjacent to the category rather than pure plays. The description and RevenueBase Smart Search rating on every row are there so you can check each match yourself.
- Source
- The RevenueBase company graph: 60 million companies and 398.9 million professional contacts resolved from primary sources, queried with RevenueBase Smart Search, the natural-language company search available to every RevenueBase user.
- What qualifies
- Companies headquartered in Chicago, United States whose own description of what they do matches “visual effects animation companies”. Matching reads each company's description, not its industry code or its name.
- RevenueBase Smart Search
- RevenueBase Smart Search is how this list is assembled and how each row is rated. RevenueBase's data engine and AI assess a company's LinkedIn profile, information supplied directly by the company, its website and other publicly available information, then relate it to a category defined in a user's own words. Each row is rated strong evidence (its own description names visual effects animation companies), partial evidence (it names part of the category) or indirect evidence (the description shown names none of it and the match rests on the rest of the company's profile). The description supporting each rating is quoted on the row.
- What we exclude
- Companies whose own description does not clearly place them among visual effects animation companies, and records with no verified work email. Companies headquartered outside Chicago are excluded even when they keep an office there.
- Match quality
- In blind human judging of this matching method, 86% of matched companies were on target. Expect roughly 1 in 7 rows to be adjacent to the category rather than a pure play. Every row shows the company's own description and its RevenueBase Smart Search rating so you can judge each match yourself. Read the full methodology: how the lists are built, how the judging worked, and what the figure means.
- Ranking
- Team size, largest first: companies are ordered by the number of professionals RevenueBase tracks at each one. Employee ranges shown are reported bands, for context.
- Verification
- Every listed company carries at least one verified work email, 197 across the full list. Contacts re-verify on a rolling cadence, and each contact's own verification date is shown inside RevenueBase.
- Refresh
- This page's figures were pulled from the company graph on September 19, 2026. Lists refresh periodically as the graph is re-checked.
- Corrections
- Wrong category, wrong headquarters, or a company that has closed? Use “Report an issue” on any row. Reports go to the RevenueBase Data Team and feed back into the company graph.
Visual effects animation companies by metro in the United States
- Visual effects animation companies in Los Angeles351
- Visual effects animation companies in New York241
- Visual effects animation companies in Chicago70
- Visual effects animation companies in Atlanta67
- Visual effects animation companies in San Francisco59
- Visual effects animation companies in Santa Monica44
- Visual effects animation companies in Burbank41
- Visual effects animation companies in Portland41
- Visual effects animation companies in Austin36
- Visual effects animation companies in Miami35
- Visual effects animation companies in Brooklyn33
- Visual effects animation companies in Dallas32
- Visual effects animation companies in Boston26
- Visual effects animation companies in Culver City26
Frequently asked
What is RevenueBase Smart Search?
RevenueBase Smart Search is how RevenueBase decides which companies belong on this list and how strongly each one fits. Its data engine and AI assess a company's LinkedIn profile, information supplied directly by the company, its website and other publicly available information, then relate it to the category the list is about. Each row is rated strong evidence when the company's own description names visual effects animation companies, partial evidence when it names part of the category, and indirect evidence when the description shown names none of it and the match rests on the rest of the company's profile.
How many visual effects animation companies are there based in Chicago, United States?
RevenueBase identified 70 visual effects animation companies headquartered in Chicago, United States as of September 2026, matched on each company's own description of what it does rather than its industry code.
What is the largest company on this list?
Optimus, headquartered in Chicago, tops this list with the largest team on record.
Which city has the most visual effects animation companies?
Los Angeles leads with 351 headquartered companies, followed by New York (241) and Chicago (70).
How do I get contact information for these companies?
A free RevenueBase account lets you run this exact search and work the top results, verified emails and direct dials included. Upgrading unlocks all 197 verified decision-maker contacts tracked across these 70 companies.
How current is this list?
The list refreshes periodically as the company graph is re-checked. This page's figures were pulled on September 19, 2026.
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About this data
RevenueBase is a B2B data infrastructure company. Its company graph covers 60 million companies and 398.9 million professional contacts, with emails verified on a rolling cadence rather than scraped once and left to decay. These company lists are generated directly from that graph with RevenueBase Smart Search, the same natural-language company search every RevenueBase user has: describe a market in plain words, get the companies that match, and add verified emails and direct dials for the people at them. It is the same data that powers RevenueBase's B2B data products, and a free account includes 500 credits to start. How these lists are built and judged.
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