Earlier this month, Valor Ventures and The Gathering Spot opened applications for Startup Runway, an event series connecting the top women and minority led startups in the Southeast with seed capital.
“No venture pitch event in our area has focused specifically on founding teams that feature women or minorities,” said Lisa Calhoun, founding partner at Atlanta venture capital partnership Valor Ventures and Startup Runway co-host, in a recent press release.
Although Georgia ranks atop the country for producing women entrepreneurs and black-owned businesses, only a handful of minority informed founding teams receive professional investments. But with a handful of top early stage investors from New York, Texas, North Carolina, and Georgia committed to participate in the event, Startup Runway hopes to connect them with quality investors.
“Gaining access to potential investors and pitching your concept is often more difficult for minority and women led companies,” founder of The Gathering Spot, a private Atlanta club that provides entrepreneurs an innovative work and social environment, Ryan Wilson said. “Startup Runway will change that conversation by bridging this gap and creating direct connections and broadening the community of success in innovation.”
Applications can be found here. The deadline to apply for the fall series is September 30th.
