NEWS

by Justin Martin

December 7, 2017

Judges look on as local businesses make their pitch at a previous VenturePitch SWFL event. © Naples Herald

Entrepreneurs will compete for up to $50,000 of investment funding in a “Shark Tank” style competition held as part of 2018 VenturePitch at Babcock Ranch in April.

Contestants have until February 15 to submit their application for the event where four finalist will be able to pitch their business plan to a group of experienced investors, just like the popular television show.

Timothy Cartwright, general partner of Naples-based Adrenaline Venture Fund which will make the investment, said that the commitment to solar-power at Babcock Ranch makes it a great place to host the event.

“Babcock Ranch is the ideal host for VenturePitch SWFL because of its leading-edge focus on clean energy, multi-modal mobility and entrepreneurial incubation,” says Cartwright. “We are excited to make this event a draw for the entire Southwest Florida region.”

Companies who are interested in competing must be less than two years-old, have a scalable business model, and must have not raised more than a million dollars. SCORE, a nonprofit association that helps small businesses get off the ground, will evaluate the applications, narrowing the field to 10 semi-finalists. From there, four will be selected to make their final pitch to investors on April 12.

During the event, SCORE will be providing seminars on what angel investing is and how business owners can know what angel investors are looking for.

In 2017, BooqSmart, an online booking platform for career and job training courses, won the first place award. The Prayer Deck, a social prayer app won in 2016.

Entrepreneurs who would like to apply for the competition can do so at http://www.tamiami-e.co/.