The deadline to enter Delaware’s 2nd annual community-led Startup 302 funding competition is nearing.
For the second year, Delaware’s Startup 302 funding competition is putting its focus on startups from underrepresented groups.
“So this is a funding contest – essentially a pitch competition for early-stage companies who are led by underrepresented founders,” said Delaware Prosperity Partnership (DPP) innovation support manager Noah Olson. “So that is founding teams led by women or primarily people of color who – generally speaking – are vastly underrepresented when it comes to seeking early-stage funding – most commonly venture capital.”
Olson says goal is to improve on numbers that show only one percent of all venture capital-funded founders are Black, less than half of one percent are Latinx and only eight percent are women.
Olson says last year’s inaugural competition selected 10 winners and handed out more than $275,000 in prize money.
He says they learned a great deal from last year’s competition.
“We learned that there’s a great audience and appetite for this type of competition from the startup competition – both in Delaware and outside of Delaware,” Olson said. “I think it’s important to note that this competition is open to companies both in Delaware – which is the organizers focus, but also companies outside of Delaware to help open up a bridge to the Delaware startup ecosystem.”
The deadline to enter this year is Sunday, February 20, 2022.
Olson says women, people of color and those of Native American descent are encouraged to apply.
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