Built By Iowa Promises $100,000 Investment for Entrepreneurs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact
Heather Stanley, Marketing and Communications Manager
319.221.1667 / heather.stanley@geonetric.com
Cedar Rapids, IA November 5, 2014
Built By Iowa Pledges Big Support to Iowa Startup Accelerator Ahead of Launch Day
Built By Iowa announced today it will guarantee an initial investment of $100,000 in one or more of the teams in the 2014 class of the Iowa Startup Accelerator (ISA). The announcement of the investment comes just a day ahead of two major events in Iowa’s startup community: 2014 Iowa Startup Accelerator Launch Day and the first ever Midwestern Investors Summit.
Built By Iowa plans to have the first $50,000 investment announced during the ISA 2014 Launch Event on Thursday night, by the team receiving it. The second $50,000 investment will be announced by Build By Iowa co-founders Adam Ingersoll and Ravi Patel, at the end of Thursday evening, after seeing all the pitches and inviting input from the other investors in attendance.
Ingersoll adds, “Our hope is that our investments will encourage other angels and VCs to join us in backing the promising startups coming out of the accelerator program. The investor community needed an entity like the ISA to help develop more investment-ready companies here in Iowa, and now it’s time for us to do our part.”
Eric Engelmann, Managing Director of the ISA said of the announcement, “We’re excited about this commitment from our partners in the investment community. It demonstrates that Iowa is a great place to be an entrepreneur, and that our efforts at the Iowa Startup Accelerator have not gone unnoticed by angel investors looking to help talented new companies get off the ground.”
The ISA Launch Day event will be held Thursday, November 6th from 5:00 – 8:00 p.m. at the Cedar Rapids Convention Center at the DoubleTree Hotel. Event organizers are expecting a standing-room only crowd of 800+ attendees. A mix of angel investors, managing directors from private equity funds, and community leaders will also be part of the event to see the ten startup companies of the Iowa Startup Accelerator showcase their progress from the 94-day program.
A group of investors will also be meeting on Thursday afternoon for the first Midwestern Investors Summit, which will bring together over 50 investors, connectors, and key figures in the startup community to discuss the future of collaborative investment ecosystem across the Midwest. This invite-only event will take place before the official ISA launch event.
The Iowa Startup Accelerator is an application-based, 94-day bootcamp for high-growth startup companies backed by a seed investment fund, which provides a $20,000 cash investment in ten companies per year for five years in exchange for a 6% equity stake in the early-stage startups. Built By Iowa (BBI) is a private equity firm and one of the early investors in the ISA’s Seed Fund. Built By Iowa’s founding team includes two Iowa natives – Ravi Patel, President of Hawkeye Hotels and Patel Endeavors, and Roby Miller, Founder and CEO of TelePharm, as well as Adam Ingersoll, a founder of multiple successful startups in Los Angeles, who is now based in Iowa. BBI was recently honored as the 2014 Investor of the Year by Silicon Prairie News and was recognized as a “Game Changer,” by the Big Ten Network.
“Our fund is primarily focused on supporting good Iowa-based businesses that have what it takes to disrupt their respective markets,” said Ravi Patel. “Promising startups in the Midwest are often overlooked by the larger venture capital firms who tend to target companies in the traditional entrepreneurial hot beds on the coasts and in Silicon Valley. Our goal is to give our talented entrepreneurs here at home the fair shot they deserve.”
The Iowa Startup Accelerator Launch will conclude on Friday with a brunch at the Geonetric Building with open time slots for startup teams to follow-up with investors in one-on-one meetings. For the entire schedule of events, please visit http://midwesterninvestorssummit.splashthat.com.
