VentureX – New England: Pitch It, Launch It, Scale It

New England’s ultimate pitch day event is here – January 26th, 2012. VentureX (brought to you by Wasabi Ventures and the abi Innovation Hub) has one simple goal: identify and fund exciting, high-tech startups.  It is a pitch competition, where a winning startup will receive a $30,000 investment for a 5% equity stake.  Let’s work together to spearhead the new startup reality of pitch it, launch it, scale it.

Who should enter:

Early stage entrepreneurs with projects or startups.  Only have an idea?  Hunker down and build it first.  If you need help on how best to position your product or a place to practice your pitch with other entrepreneurs, the abi Innovation Hub is more than happy to assist.  Get in touch at hello@abihub.org.

We’ll be choosing the winner based on the people, product, and of course the Pitch.  Bring your “A” game.

• Applicant must be an owner or founder
• Startups must be for-profit, have raised under $100k in funding and generated under $100k in 2010 revenue

What you get:

We built this competition with the entrepreneur in mind.  We asked ourselves, what does an early stage, tech startup really need to get to the next level?  We answered and delivered – access to capital, development resources and mentorship that is material to the growth of your business.

• $10,000 in seed capital from the Wasabi Angel Fund
• A free year of residency at the WV EDGE Acceleration Center @ the abi Innovation Hub
• $20,000 of engineering and product management services from Wasabi Ventures

The Event:

VentureX begins with an expo-style, cocktail party.  The 10 lucky teams will setup booths and present their project or startup to attendees.  Open and free to the public, each attendee will be given 5 golden tickets, which they can distribute among the 10 startups as they wish (e.g. all 5 tickets to one, 1 ticket to 5 different teams).

The 3 teams that collect the most golden tickets will qualify for the final pitch round.

The “Pitch”:

The three finalists each get 10 minutes to pitch their startup to a panel of 5 successful entrepreneurs and investors.  At the end of the evening, the panel will choose the winner.  Identify and invest – simple, to the point, effective.

While only one team can win the grand prize, every team will get exposure to angel investors, venture capitalists, journalists and other entrepreneurs.