There was much to celebrate as New Jersey’s entrepreneurial community gathered together at the Prudential Center to witness Newark Venture Partners’ inaugural Demo Day. Included were top executives and representatives of Newark-based Audible, Prudential and more.
First, of course, they celebrated NVP’s first accelerator class, a group of nine exciting startups that have chosen to build and grow their companies in Newark.
But on a larger scale, the Demo Day was a celebration of Newark as it continues to redefine itself as an up-and-coming city with a blossoming entrepreneurial community driven by innovation, technology and investment capital.
“All the [startup] founders have already gotten an idea of how special it is to be in Newark,” said Don Katz, founder and CEO of Audible as well as NVP.
When Katz founded the accelerator in 2015, he had the two-fold goal of prominently placing Newark into the east coast’s technology ecosystem while creating New Jersey’s most elite early-stage fund. As they debuted their first accelerator class with the backdrop of the New Jersey Devils ice rink at the Prudential Center, the first fruits of his plan could now be publicly seen and celebrated.
Katz spoke at the event along with NVP co-managing partners Dan Borok and Tom Wisniewski, each one adding their own enthusiasm into why they’re so excited about where the city of Newark is headed.
“There’s so much upside in Newark” said Borok. “First of all, it’s a transportation hub only 20 minutes from Manhattan with a lower cost of living. There’s also fibers running beneath the streets which enable super high-speed Internet access.”
Perhaps most importantly, though, Borok highlighted the sense of community that exists in Newark, and why that makes it such an attractive place to build a company.
Borok himself has deep ties to the city; both his father and grandfather were born and raised here, and he grew up working at his family business in downtown Newark. That’s what drives him, along with the entire team at NVP, to keep moving the city forward.
“There’s been lots of positive change driven by education and smart real estate development,” said Borok. “But we think the third leg of the stool is technology job creation driven by venture capital.”
That’s what NVP has noticed happening in cities across the U.S. such as Oakland, D.C. and Detroit: using venture capital as a job creating agent. Now, they’re investing in great companies to build in Newark and eventually scale enough to becoming a meaningful job creator and part of the city’s economy.
Like many other cities, Newark’s had its share of troubles developing its urban core, but they’re hoping to focus their work directly on that sector in hopes of helping it prosper.
“We want to accelerate the comeback of a great American city by tethering Newark to the elements of the economy that are growing sustainable jobs and do it in a measurable way,” said Katz.
Katz’s company Audible came to Newark almost a decade ago in 2007 to embrace the city’s renaissance as a defining principle of the company, and he hopes that NVP can prosper through that strategy in the same way.
“We will reclaim Newark’s history of innovation, and we will deliver growth in all levels of employment,” said Katz.
The company has a very specific strategy for helping their portfolio companies succeed, and one that sets them apart from other types of accelerators: mentorship.
“We built a platform that enables mentorship for all our portfolio companies,” said Borok. “We have great companies and leaders like Don Katz who’ve committed themselves and their employees to be mentors for our startups.”
Wisniewski said the idea of mentorship is “at the heart of what NVP does.”
At the Demo Day, the audience of invited guests that included entrepreneurs, investors and business executives got to witness NVP’s nine accelerator companies in action as they pitched their startup ventures and showed why NVP is so excited about each one. Alphachannel, Dream Forward, Navinata Health, Barkly, Bowtie, Kidcase, Native Tap, Sales Huddle Group and Up Channel all presented.
“These are great teams with great products, but they’re also pioneers,” said Borok. “Pioneers for being a part of our inaugural accelerator class and pioneers for moving here to grow their business.”
With a slate of exciting, young startups growing in a city that’s excited about technology and what it potentially can bring, NVP sees its inaugural Demo Day as the start of a new generation of Newark entrepreneurship.
