Upstate business and community leaders, entrepreneurs and angel investors will want to mark their calendars for NEXT’s venture pitch event on Thursday, Sept. 22, at the One Auditorium, located at 2 W. Washington St., from 1:30–6 p.m.
NEXT has been recruiting venture capital to Greenville for the past five years through smaller private events, dinners and meetings, but this will be the first year the company hosts this particular event format. “This year we wanted to create more of an entrepreneur ecosystem to be involved,” says NEXT CEO John Moore. By making the event more inclusive to this network, attendees will have new opportunities to create connections. “We wanted to open it up while [venture capitalists] were here to show them the power of the ecosystem,” adds Moore.
Attendees will hear live pitches from six small, innovative companies. The pitches will last eight to 10 minutes and will be followed by a Q&A session. After company pitches, venture capitalists from the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast will take part in an “Insider’s View of Venture Capital” panel to provide insight and discuss trends in venture capitalism. Many of the panelists have not spent extensive time in Greenville, nor have they “been exposed to the entrepreneurial ecosystem here,” says Moore.
Additionally, two top local entrepreneurs, Peter Barth of coding school The Iron Yard and Shay Houser of channel-only cloud technology solutions provider Green Cloud Technologies, are scheduled to speak. “They are examples of world-class companies that have started here,” says Moore. “They’re examples of success coming from Greenville and the Upstate.”
To close out the evening, there will be a networking hour with investors and innovators from 5 to 6 p.m., and alcoholic beverages will be served.
The auditorium seats 250, and the event is expected to sell out. Tickets are $50. For purchase, visit bit.ly/next-venture.
WHAT // NEXT Venture Pitch Event
WHEN // Thursday, Sept. 22, 1:30–6 p.m.
WHERE // One Auditorium, 2 W. Washington St., Second Floor
COST // $50
