Egeria and Japa Walk Away as Winners at StartupSac Warm-Up Pitch Competition

A new set of five Sacramento area startups took to the stage at Granite City Coworking’s event space in Folsom last week to pitch to a panel of judges and room of investors in the latest StartupSac Warm-Up Pitch Competition. The pitch competition culminated weeks of training and practice for the participating founders. Leading up to the event, the cohort of five startups attended a workshop to learn what investors want to see in a presentation when startups pitch to them, as well as two practice sessions to get ready for the event.

Presenting Startups

Egeria

Egeria is democratizing public funding. Their platform streamlines public private partnerships and provides a single source of truth when it comes to government business.

 

EyeRate

EyeRate is a consumer reviews platform reinvented. They provide on-demand customer reviews at the point of sale and manage the customer experience in real time.

 

Harmony Legal

Harmony Legal is a cloud-based law firm practice management solution. They build software for law firms to help them run more efficiently and manage their cases, clients, employees, and all the little tasks that suck away time.

 

Japa

Japa delivers real-time parking availability to drivers and enhanced parking analytics to parking lot owners/management.

 

PestScope

PestScope is a real time pest mapping and integrated pest management information system service.

 

Each of the presenters pitched for five minutes and then answered questions from the panel of judges for five minutes. A First Place, Second Place and Audience Choice were selected and awarded a non-cash prize package of services to help them advance their company. And the winners are:

First Place: Egeria

Second Place: Japa

Audience Favorite: Japa

Thanks to everyone who made this event possible: the presenters, our sponsors, partners, and panel of judges.

 

StartupSac Warm-Up Pitch Partners and Sponsors

StartupSac Warm-Up Pitch would not be possible without the generous support of our partners and sponsors.

Partner

 

Platinum Sponsor

 

Silver Sponsors

 

 

Venue Sponsor

 

Panel of Judges

Barb DeHart, Fourthwave.io and Sama Learning
Barbara DeHart has spent her career leading businesses in the media & entertainment technology industry. Barbara recently co-founded Sama Learning whose purpose is to use technology to teach technology, particularly in STEM. Barbara has extensive experience in product strategy & management, distribution & marketing and mergers & acquisitions.

Denise Ferre, Moneta Ventures
Denise Ferre is a Partner at Moneta Ventures and its Chief Financial Officer. Prior to joining Moneta Ventures, Denise was the CFO and co-founder at Sparta Consulting, a global IT consulting firm. She spearheaded the financial operations of the $100+ million company with over 1,500 employees. Besides the financial operations, Denise was also responsible for HR, IT and legal departments at Sparta . Before Sparta, Denise was the Business Unit Controller at Rapidgm, a global IT consulting firm, and later assumed the role of U.S. Controller when the firm was acquired by Fujitsu in 2006. Denise has a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration and Accounting

Oleg Kaganovich, DFJ Frontier and Wyndow
Oleg is the founder of real-time local discovery startup Wyndow. In addition to being the company’s Chief Wyndow Washer, Oleg is an investor, adviser, operations and former non-profit executive, with an interest in media and entertainment, travel, energy, environment, sustainability, food & agriculture, and consumer products. Over the past several decades, he has spent his time focused on company building, partnership/relationship development, mentoring, and investing in early stage innovation-driven companies in North America, Europe, Saudi Arabia/greater Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and Russia.

Mariah Lichtenstern, DiverseCity Ventures
Founding Partner, DiverseCity Ventures. At the intersection of technology, entertainment, and venture capital, Mariah Lichtenstern addresses social, economic, and environmental equity through entrepreneurship. Mariah is the Founding Partner of DiverseCity Ventures and Managing Director of the Founder Institute, Sacramento Chapter. She is a member of UCLA Ventures, and serves as an advisor for CalSEED CleanTech Fund, Berkeley SkyDeck, and Village Capital Finance Forward US 2019. She is an alumna of UC Berkeley, USC, and UCLA.

Steve Mills, DCA Capital
Steven R. Mills serves as both a Partner in the DCA Capital’s investment banking business as well as a General Partner of DCA Capital Partners, the Company’s affiliated private equity fund. Mr. Mills brings more than 25 years of executive financial management and transactional experience to the Firm. Prior to joining DCA, he served as the Chief Financial Officer of Responsys, Inc., a global provider of on–demand email and life cycle marketing automation software and solutions.

Jules Walker, KPMG
Jules is the Senior Director of KPMG’s Emerging Technology Practice leading the business development efforts in the Bay area and Pacific Northwest, focusing on creating and expanding relationships with VC-backed technology companies. He works closely with early-stage startups as well as mature private companies approaching IPO. He has spent his 20+ year professional career in financial services working for companies such as Bank of America, Robert Half and Textron Financial. Most recently, Jules was a Principal with Ravix Group, providing finance/accounting and HR solutions for early-stage companies. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Finance from the University of Connecticut and his MBA from Middlebury College.