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Fans of ABC’s hit entrepreneurial-pitch series “Shark Tank,” take note: Groundswell Startups is organizing a similar contest for fledgling tech companies — with a $20,000 prize for the winner.
Applications are being accepted for the Space Coast Pitch Challenge, scheduled for March 10 at the Melbourne incubator-coworking hub off U.S. 1
“It’s going to be a very ‘Shark Tank’-like event, where companies will get up there. They’ll have five minutes to pitch their product with their pitch deck. There’ll be a stage with lighting,” said Jarin Eisenberg, Groundswell Startups chief operating officer.
“And then the judges are going to have three to four minutes to ask those companies questions. And then they’ll go back, and they’ll deliberate,” Eisenberg said.
“And that night, we’ll give a $20,000 grand prize to someone,” she said.
More:AOL co-founder Steve Case to host $100,000 tech startup pitch contest in Melbourne
More:Denver ‘space tug’ startup Atomos wins $100K Rise of the Rest pitch contest at Groundswell
Application deadline is Jan. 20. Companies must be based in or have a substantial presence in Brevard County.
In July 2019, Groundswell drew an estimated 350 people to a $100,000 Rise of the Rest pitch competition organized by AOL co-founder and billionaire Steve Case. The event attracted the tech incubator’s largest crowd since its March 2017 grand opening.
Denver startup Atomos Space, which hopes to develop electric-propulsion “space tugs” to move satellites into various orbits, bested seven rival companies and won the contest.
More:Groundswell Startups spawns high-tech expansion boom in south Melbourne along U.S. 1
More:‘Shark Tank’ star Daymond John to give virtual speech for Eastern Florida State College
The Space Coast Pitch Challenge is backed by the Space Coast Economic Development Commission, Cypress Bank & Trust, TSS Solutions, Health First, Relentless Private Equity Group and anonymous private donors.
“The strength of Florida’s Space Coast has always been its brainpower, ingenuity and entrepreneurial spirit,” Lynda Weatherman, Space Coast EDC president and CEO, said in a press release.
“A goal of the EDC is to find new ways to leverage that strength for the betterment of our community, which is why we are excited to partner with Groundswell Startups on the Space Coast Pitch Challenge to discover new sources of talent and ideas,” Weatherman said.
Eisenberg said she floated the pitch-contest proposal during a September expansion event that drew investors from across the Southeast. Tomahawk Robotics, a former Groundswell tenant, had recently moved next door into a new 8,500-square-foot headquarters with outdoor “drone cage.”
She said a retired Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate offered to donate seed funding to the pitch contest, and she contacted the Space Coast EDC to get the ball rolling.
“Our ecosystem is so ready for it. It’s matured. We’ve crossed the $60 million mark in the amount of funding our companies have received,” Eisenberg said.
“So we’ve kind of proven time and time again that when a good idea comes to us, we can build a company out of it. We can get it funded. We have all the resources you need right under our roof to build a great company and launch,” she said.
In November 2020, “Shark Tank” star Daymond John — who founded the hip hop apparel company FUBU — shared business advice during an Eastern Florida State College virtual speech.
Rick Neale is the South Brevard Watchdog Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY (for more of his stories, click here.) Contact Neale at 321-242-3638 or rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @RickNeale1
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