October 1 is the deadline to apply for grant aimed at top 10% of local Minority & Women-led Startups
September 26, 2017– Atlanta — The nonprofit Startup Runway Foundation is proud to announce its third season with a $10,000 grant awarded at the public showcase event this November 2.
Startup applications for the $10,000 prize are open until October 1. “Some of the most dynamic founders in the region apply to Startup Runway,” says Lisa Calhoun, general partner at Valor Ventures, the Atlanta venture capital firm that launched the pitch series with the support of The Gathering Spot professional club.
Startup Runway’s mission is to connect top minority-led startups with quality professional investors. Past Finalists have included startups like Patientory, which just raised $7.2 million in ICO; fintech startup Qoins that was just accepted into a national fintech accelerator; and HealthInfoMap, a machine-learning SaaS healthcare platform from Raleigh, NC. Women and minority-led firms receive about 5% of $70 billion in venture capital invested annually in U.S. startups, but lead 40% of the firms pitching for venture capital.
Leading professional investors are volunteering their time to mentor startups and select the winner at the November 2 Showcase, including Alan Taetle, general partner at Noro Moseley in Atlanta; Jason Caplain, general partner at Bull City Venture Partners in Raleigh, Ashish Mistry, managing partner at BLH Ventures in Atlanta; Allyson Plosko, Healthcare Manager at Village Capital from San Francisco, and Kyle Schlotman, managing partner at Connetic Ventures in Cincinnati, and more.
Startup Runway Foundation is a community-led organization. Its diverse volunteer advisory board works with local community sponsors that provide tax-deductible donations to support the $10,000 grant. The 2017 pitch series’ sponsors include The Atlanta Hawks Basketball Club; Spencer Stuart, the national tech recruiter; and Write2Market, the Atlanta digital marketing agency known for scaling tech companies. New sponsors for the Fall 2017 Showcase include MHR International, an Atlanta-based project management firm, and Myra McElhaney, an internationally acclaimed speaker and author who makes her home in Atlanta.
- Startup Runway is taking applications for the $10,000 prize until October 1st.
- Want to join us? Reserve tickets now to meet top startups and professional investors at the Nov. 2nd showcase event.
- C-suite mentors and angel investors, we need you! Volunteer here.
- If your company would like to get behind Startup Runway Foundation’s mission to connect professional investors with top minority entrepreneurs, find out more here.
About Startup Runway
The Startup Runway Foundation, a 501c3 nonprofit, is the first and largest pitch series in the Southeast that connects select minority-led tech startups to seed capital. It holds two pitch series, Spring and Fall, that draw hundreds of applications from women and minority founders across the Southeast. Find out more and get involved at www.startuprunway.co.
Media Contact
Write2Market
Emily Simpson
emily.simpson@write2market.com
To access an photo album of images from past Startup Runway Showcases, click here.