Cherry-flavored Mati is now on the shelves of Whole Foods Markets across the Southeast, but the energy drink’s creator Tatiana Birgisson is celebrating another win too.
On Tuesday, Google announced she’ll represent the Triangle and Durham at Google for Entrepreneurs’ annual national Demo Day in April, with rights to pitch her fast-growing beverage company to a room full of Silicon Valley investors. Of the three companies announced so far by Google, all three are female-founded.
Birgisson tells me she’s “incredibly lucky” and can’t wait to share the vision of Mati at Google, as well as its early success. Specifically in startup communities, it sells three times as fast as competitor Red Bull. She won an NC IDEA grant late last year, and has been mentored for the last nine months through the Google-supported SOAR Network.
“I’m confident employees, judges and viewers will become loyal customers,” Birgisson says. “I’m also looking forward to being in the Valley and getting to know the other top startups from Google communities.”
Durham startup Windsor Circle won the event last year, secured $5.5 million from Comcast Ventures soon after and has been on a hiring spree in downtown Durham ever since. Runner-up Automated Insights, after raising a series B round mid-last year, announced last week it would be sold to a private equity firm. Nationally-known investor Steve Case put $100,000 in every company who presented last April—Google hasn’t unveiled any details about the attendees of this year’s event.
Who will Birgisson be up against, you might ask? Read the full details at ExitEvent.
(Note: ExitEvent is a news partner of WRAL TechWire.)
