WINSTON-SALEM — Venture Cafe, an organization that provides support, weekly events and other programming for the Triad’s startup community, is hosting its second annual “Pitch, Please” competition Thursday evening.

A selection of six teams will be presenting within two set categories—idea stage and investor stage.

The idea stage category is made up of pre-revenue ventures that plan to launch within the next six months. They include:

Greensboro-based CrewPay, an app that helps businesses manage payments to contractors and freelancers. (More coverage of CrewPay here.)

Cardenes Vero, a timestamped vault to store evidence in cases involving domestic violence, harassment or assault.

Greensboro-based iSee Tech, a startup that aims to introduce kids to the IT industry, specifically careers that focus on device repairs. The Greensboro venture is led by Shalisha Morgan, owner and operator of device repair company Geek In Heels.

A snapshot of the crowd at one of Venture Cafe Winston-Salem’s networking events. Photo source: Venture Cafe

For the investor stage, the contenders include:

Haystack CRM, a customer and lead management platform. The Greensboro startup recently landed a spot on NC TECH’s top 10 Startups to Watch list in this year’s Tech Awards.

Winston Salem-based One Donation, a platform that offers a payroll deduction program allowing users to donate to a choice of 1.5 million nonprofits in the U.S. Transactions are recorded in a distributed blockchain, making the flow of funds transparent.

Wellzesta, based in Gastonia, is a software program that increases engagement among senior living residents. The startup was part of the 2015 class of NC IDEA’s former Groundwork Labs program, and has raised three seed rounds led by Spectrum.

The startups will pitch before a panel of five judges—VentureSouth Piedmont Director Maylay Shah, OnceLogix CEO Trinity Manning, Trade Street Capital Partner Randall Tuttle, Launch Greensboro EVP of Entrepreneurship Lou Ann Flanders-Stec and UNCG Colemen Foundation Entrepreneur-in-Residence Noah Reynolds.

Winners will receive prizes offered by local companies and partners.

Karen Barnes, Venture Cafe Winston-Salem’s executive director, says the number of applicants for this year’s Pitch, Please competition has more than doubled since the 2017 program.

“The finalists are stronger than ever and we see this as an indicator of the overall ecosystem’s robust health,” Barnes adds. “We’re teaching more people to take the leap into entrepreneurship and we look forward to helping these founders start, build, grow and scale their organizations right here in the Triad.”

The event is set for Thursday from 6 to 8 p.m. in the auditorium of Wake Forest Biotech Place.

https://wraltechwire.com/event/venture-cafe-pitch-please-competition/