Venture Atlanta partners with Catalyst by Wellstar, Florida Funders, Knoll Ventures, and Panoramic Ventures to host First Pitch Competition: Startup Showcase Live

At this year's Venture Atlanta event, four pre-seed and seed startups will compete to win a $500,000 investments prize in front of a live audience.

ATLANTA, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Venture Atlanta, one of the largest venture capital conferences in the nation that supports the Southeast's most promising tech companies, has announced a new format for founders competing in the pre-seed and seed pitch competition on September 27-28, 2023. Venture Atlanta Startup Showcase Live will partner with the Southeast's most active venture capital firms – Catalyst by Wellstar, Florida Funders, Knoll Ventures, and Panoramic Ventures to host one of the largest pitch competitions to date.

To apply to the Venture Atlanta Showcase Live competition, submit your application here. The deadline for applications is July 28, 2023.

"Each year, the Startup Showcase attracts some of the most innovative pre-seed and seed companies in the Southeast and we feel this will be an incredible platform for those companies to have the opportunity to win the $500,000 investment. At Venture Atlanta, our mission has always been to connect companies with capital and this certainly meets that objective," said Allyson Eman, CEO of Venture Atlanta. "We're thrilled to strengthen our 2023 Showcase by partnering with some of the most respected venture capital firms in the region."

Founders will have a chance to pitch well-known investors on stage in front of a live audience and win a $500,000 investment from Catalyst by Wellstar, Florida Funders, Knoll Ventures, and Panoramic Ventures.

"We're excited to bring this new format to Venture Atlanta to give founders exposure to over 450 investors representing more than 250 funds nationwide," said Mark Flickinger, Venture Atlanta Chairman of the Board. "This partnership speaks to the ongoing collaboration across the ecosystem to support extraordinary founders building category-leading companies across the Southeast."

Venture Atlanta Startup Showcase Live will select 40 of the best seed stage startups in the Southeast through a competitive application process. The selected startups will participate in virtual mentoring days, and from there, 10 semifinalists will be selected during a kickoff event at the Atlanta Tech Village on September 13. The semifinalists will then go on to present on stage at Venture Atlanta. Through audience voting and investor judges, four finalists will be chosen to take the stage to compete for the ultimate prize in the grand finale pitch competition.

The competition will occur during Venture Atlanta, scheduled for September 27-28, 2023, in Atlanta at The Woodruff Arts Center and Atlanta Symphony Hall. The conference is set to sell-out again this year, building on the momentum from 2022, which recorded the largest audience ever in attendance. Venture Atlanta welcomes leading venture capitalists, startup founders, corporate enterprises, government officials, media outlets, and guest judges.

To-date, more than 760 technology companies have pitched at Venture Atlanta since the conference's 2008 inception, of which companies have raised an aggregate of more than $7.5 billion in venture capital funding.

About Venture Atlanta
Venture Atlanta, the Southeast's technology innovation event, is where the region's most promising tech companies meet the country's top-tier investors. As the Southeast's largest investor showcase helping launch more than 760 companies and raise $7.5 billion in funding to date, the event connects the region's top entrepreneurs with local and national investors and others in the technology ecosystem who can help them raise the capital they need to grow their businesses. The annual nonprofit event is a collaboration of the Atlanta CEO Council, Metro Atlanta Chamber, and the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG). For more information, visit www.ventureatlanta.org. For updates, follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn, and visit our blog.

About Panoramic Ventures
Panoramic Ventures is a venture capital firm that partners with extraordinary founders to drive exceptional outcomes. Since 2007, the firm has invested in the success of B2B software and tech-enabled service businesses at all stages of maturity. In addition to capital, we support entrepreneurs with access to infrastructure, acumen, and talent that results in category-leading companies. Our distinct multi-stage investment platform has driven consistent top-quartile returns over 15 years. For more information, visit panoramic.vc or follow Panoramic Ventures on LinkedIn, Instagram, or Twitter @panoramicvc

About Florida Funders, LLC
Recognized as the top VC in the Southeast region by Pitchbook, Florida Funders is a venture capital firm and angel network that invests in early-stage technology companies in Florida and beyond. The Florida Funders platform creates a unique experience that educates our community of investors, provides transparency during the funding process, fosters communication across the ecosystem, and empowers the strategic relationships that drive investments.  Our experienced team is composed of investors, entrepreneurs and advisors focused on being the most respected and impactful early-stage tech investment firm in the U.S.  To learn more, visit floridafunders.com.

About Catalyst by Wellstar
Catalyst by Wellstar is the first-of-its-kind innovation company and venture firm created and operated within a health ecosystem to holistically address healthcare disruption by harnessing problems, building solutions, deploying capital, and establishing strategic partnerships across industries. Catalyst is actively investing in Pre-seed to Series A startups that align with the company's six focus areas: customer experience, data, digital health, future of work, supply chain and logistics, and sustainability. Visit Catalyst.wellstar.org to learn more.

About Knoll Ventures
Knoll Ventures is an Atlanta-based early-stage venture capital firm that invests in non-coastal B2B software companies at the pre-Series A stages. The Firm typically participates in a company's first institutional financing round, supporting founders at the earliest stages of the growth process. Knoll began investing out of its second fund in 2022 and takes a long-term perspective when partnering with founders to identify ways to add value beyond just writing a check, thereby increasing the odds of long-term success.

Media Contact:
Allyson Eman
[email protected]

SOURCE Venture Atlanta