Eight local startups got a rare opportunity to practice pitching to investors earlier this week in the first StartupSac Warm-Up Pitch. Recognizing that there are few opportunities for Sacramento founders to practice their investment pitch, we solicited support from sponsors, including the City of Sacramento, to organize an event to help near investment-ready startups hone their presentations skills and pitch decks and receive valuable feedback for future pitches to investors. The result was StartupSac Warm-Up Pitch.

We put out a call for startups to apply for the opportunity to pitch in September. After going through a pitch workshop and a practice run event to prepare, and being postponed due to the air quality issues of the Camp Fire, the eight finalists convened Tuesday evening to pitch in front of a panel of judges consisting of five local investors.

StartupSac Warm-Up Pitch Presenting Startups

Aiyotek
Aiyotek develops medical alert technology solutions for the elderly.

AppA11y
AppA11y develops mobile games for the visually impaired.

e-Handoff
e-Handoff is an online, closed loop communication system for saving lives.

Fanalyze, Inc.
Fanalyze has developed a fantasy sports search engine and analysis platform.

Humaxa, Inc.
Humaxa improves employee engagement and retention with employee feedback technology talks, listens, gathers data, and kicks off activities that have the highest probability of improving engagement.

ProPlanr
ProPlanr is a planning and collaboration task management platform for the next generation of teams.

Yellow Circle Inc.
Yellow Circle is advancing technology education for students around the world through technology boot camps, mentorship programs, internship opportunities, and an online computer lab platform.

And one Wildcard — We added an additional presenter because we really like what she’s been doing even though her company, MultiCultural Press, isn’t quite as far along as the other presenting companies. We like the social good aspects of the company and are also impressed with the hustle they’ve displayed.

MultiCultural Press, Inc
Multicultural Press is a multilingual story app for bilingual mixed families and any child interested in adding a second language to his reading experience.

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 packages of services to help them advance their company.

StartupSac Warm-Up Pitch Second Place

The Second Place prize went to Carolyn Peer, Co-founder & CEO of Humaxa.

StartupSac Warm-Up Pitch First Place & Audience Favorite

First Place prize and audience favorite went to Jocelyn Munroe, Co-founder & CEO of e-Handoff.

 

We’d like to thank the sponsors of the event, without whom, it would not have been possible.

Sponsors

Platinum Sponsor

Sacramento State Carlsen Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship

 

Gold Sponsor

Buchalter

 

Silver Sponsors

 

Judges

We’d also like to thank the panel of judges who generously gave their time to judge the pitch event and offer advice and feedback to the presenters after the pitches.

L-R: Katherine Cota, Vaibhav Nadgauda, Kwame Anku, Roger Akers, Ben Brasher

  • Kwame Anku, Chairman & CEO, Black Star Fund
  • Ben Brasher, Founding Partner at Blacktop Capital
  • Katherine Cota, Executive Director at Carlsen Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship
  • Vaibhav Nadgauda, Managing Partner at Moneta Ventures LLC
  • Roger Akers, Managing Partner, Akers Capital LLC

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