Pitching at CED’s Venture Connect: You need a lineup card to track 88 startups

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – Startups from across the US will pitch from three different stages at CED’s Venture Connect. Check out our exclusive preview before you go.

Pitches will kick off on Thursday, with 88 different startups speaking from three different stages at the Cisco Systems campus in RTP as the CED returns to an in-person event after a COVID-caused hiatus.

Since the pitch stages will run concurrently, attendees are encouraged to decide ahead of time which pitches they will attend.

“You definitely need to look at the lineup and pick the blocks that you want to see,” said Jay Bigelow, Head of Entrepreneurship for CED. “Be purposeful about who you want to see—either what categories are in, or what stage companies, or some combination of that. So that’ll be fun.”

The three different stages are meant to represent the different stages of a startup lifecycle:

The rock stage
The mountain stage
The peak stage

On the agenda, the startups are divided into three categories:

Tech pitches
Ag/food pitches
Life science pitches

Bigelow commented on the growth of the “ag/food” category, represented by companies like JellaTech, which is developing animal-free collagen and gelatin, and Pearlita, the world’s first cultivated oyster and mollusk company.

“I think those are some pretty interesting companies for people,” said Bigelow. “You know, plant-based oysters, or plant-based gelatin, is not widely known, specifically around here. That’s pretty progressive for the southeast. So those are exciting companies to me.”

He also commented on startups joining Venture Connect Summit from out of state.

“This year, in applications, we had more out-of-state companies apply than I remember seeing,” said Bigelow. “So that’s, to me, symbolic of the rising awareness that this is a good ecosystem to be in.”

Check this story for snapshots of the presenters.