Our New Render Capital Fund Announces Virtual Pitch Event
In an effort to better support entrepreneurs in Louisville and Southern Indiana, Access Ventures launched Render Capital, which is a new $15 million regional fund focused on providing early-stage risk capital for local entrepreneurs. We envision a robust and thriving regional economy where entrepreneurs see Louisville and Southern Indiana as a place they can find the appropriate capital necessary to start and grow businesses. In order to do that we need to address some of the critical issues that oppose the growth of regional economies.
Our new Render Capital fund is excited to present the winners of the 2020 Render Competition at our first-ever pitch event on Friday, September 25th.
Earlier this year, our Render Capital fund launched the Render Competition. Our goal with this initiative is to build an enduring entrepreneurial ecosystem in Greater Louisville by providing early risk capital to high-growth startups through an annual competition. Each year, startups will apply and compete for one of eight investments of $100,000 each that will help them to grow and scale. Winners are required to locate within the Greater Louisville region and will be supported with free coworking memberships, various discounted services, and pro bono consulting from Render Capital’s network of partners.
The inaugural Render Competition began earlier this year with a national call for submissions. We received over 200 submissions and our judges worked to narrow down these submissions to the 15 best finalists to present a virtual pitch. Companies were evaluated on a rubric based on criteria including team, product, market, competition, business model, financial management, and scalability.
Our Render Capital team is looking forward to presenting the winners of the 2020 Render Competition at our first-ever pitch event on Friday, September 25 via video presentation. Until then, starting Monday, September 21, Render Capital will be releasing four video pitches each day of the week revealing our fifteen finalists. Behind the scenes, our selection panel will be meeting with and evaluating each finalist and voting to determine the 8 awardees. Winners will be announced during our virtual pitch event on Friday, September 25 that will also include a keynote address from Ian Hathaway, author of Startup Community Way and Senior Executive Director of Techstars.
Our team is super excited about this new opportunity through our Render Capital fund which will help attract more startups and talent to Louisville as well as continue to help support existing businesses in the area. Make sure you subscribe and register for the upcoming virtual pitch event and learn more each day leading up to the event about the fifteen Render Competition finalists.
