Greenville-based Hook Security has earned a coveted spot to pitch at Venture Atlanta in October after winning the Judge’s Choice award at NEXT Venture Summit Sept. 22.
Founded in 2018, Hook Security provides humorous training for nontechnical users about cybersecurity threats like phishing emails and messages. The firm was among 10 finalists to pitch their companies to a panel of venture capitalists at this year’s summit.
The 2022 all-day Venture Summit brought together more than 300 investors, startups and community partners to highlight the best and brightest startups in the Carolinas. The goal of the competition is to provide local companies the opportunity for growth, thereby elevating Greenville’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.
NEXT Executive Director Eric Weissmann said the summit’s size and impact have grown each of its seven years in existence, which underscores the thriving nature of the Upstate’s startup ecosystem.
“We had a really great group of folks,” Weissmann said. “I think this is a testament to everybody’s readiness to get back out in public and make connections.”
The NEXT Venture Summit has evolved into the largest annual gathering of venture capitalists in the state with each of the two previous years drawing successively larger groups of investors. This year’s summit drew more than 30 investor judges representing 27 investment firms.
Hook Security beat out nine other finalists (which had previously been selected from a field of 30 semifinalists) to take home the top prize.
The nine finalists include:
- Earnest — This Greenville company is a digital payment platform allowing
the rapid transfer of earnest payments in real estate transactions. The company
is aiming to expand its services to include all transaction types in the real estate
industry. - Ecobot — This Asheville company uses a workflow-based mobile/cloud platform
to aid architecture, engineering and construction professionals create more
resilient projects. - Girlology — This Greenville firm has developed a digital health platform that
provides grade by grade support to help girls feel confident and informed about
their changing bodies and minds. - Momtech — This Charlotte company makes products that solve problems
for moms and babies by replicating the natural biomechanics of nursing. - Omedym — This Liberty, SC, company provides a digital platform for
business-to-business transactions by affording buyers and sellers with digital
guided product experiences. - ProAxion — This Cary, NC, company provides cloud-based predictive
maintenance analytics for companies using manufacturing machinery. The
technology combines vibration analysis and temperature monitoring to provide
early warning of potential maintenance issues. - Rabbu — This Charlotte company helps real estate investors find, buy and
operate short-term rentals at scale. The company provides data tools that
investors use to buy Airbnbs and a management company that operates 300
properties across 40 markets in the US. - ScopeStack — This Greenville company has developed a software platform that
automates part of the sales process for IT companies. - TestedHQ — This Mauldin company is a product development research firm that
provides real-time end user feedback to consumer product companies using
remote visits, artificial intelligence and data algorithms.
