Roadtrip! Memphis Demo Day startups beckon entrepreneurs, investors

Jul 18, 2018 at 04:15 pm by miltcapps


A DOZEN startups (listed below) are expected to show their wares during an Aug. 16 Demo Day in Memphis, as part of the entrepreneurial community's "Summer of Acceleration," now in its third consecutive season.

Memphis allies Epicenter, StartCo and Memphis Bioworks Foundation are the summertime initiative's executing partners. Seed investments in selected startups are made by Innova Memphis, a for-profit subsidiary of Memphis Bioworks; and, by ServiceMaster Global Holdings (NYSE:SERV), based in Memphis.

Those anchoring partners are complemented by other contributors, among them Launch Tennessee, American Airlines, Archer Malmo, AutoZone, IBM, Baker Donelson, Mosaik, and The Marston Group.

Note: Though it will have no presenters during this summer's Demo Day, another partner in all this -- the AgLaunch program, which operates on a different annual cycle tied to growing seasons -- today announced that it will take applications through August 13 for the next cycle of AgLaunch365 Phase I, which emphasizes business model development and customer discovery for agritech and other agribusiness ventures. Our previous AgLaunch coverage here and here.

Next month's fast-paced two-hour Demo Day does not involve award of "pitch" prizes and is instead seen as enhancing opportunities for startups and potential investors to open dialogues that could lead to investments, partnerships or customer relationships.

Demo Day begins at 3 p.m. CT at the Halloran Centre, followed by hospitality at Catherine and Mary's Restaurant, beginning 5:30 p.m.

Six of this year's 12 participating startups are portfolio companies of the Launch Delta Home Services Accelerator, which, according to a press release, "supports tech-based startups working to disrupt or replace existing home service technologies. The companies may work in the areas of internet of things (IoT) and smart home data, customer service platforms, platforms for delivering service and the home services supply chain."

This year's Launch Delta companies are as follow (some details drawn from VNC research not yet verified - corrections and amplifications welcomed):

A second organization, the ZeroTo510 Medical Device Accelerator​, which was founded and subsequently operated by Memphis Bioworks, ​specializes in commercializing medical devices that seek to reach their markets via the FDA's 510k regulatory pathway.

In May, the organizers said this year's ZeroTo510 presenters are (some details drawn from VNC research not yet verified - corrections and amplifications welcomed):

Two additional startups have been invited to present during Memphis' Demo Day from StartCo's SkyHigh education technology startup program and from Epicenter's logistics and supply chain accelerator; they are, respectively:

In addition to the aforementioned cyclonic level of entrepreneurship activity, Epicenter reminds us that on May 8 the city also was host for the Rise of the Rest Tour, led by AOL co-founder and Venture Capitalist Steve Case.

On that day, eight local startups competed for a $100,000 investment from Case-led Revolution Partners, and a $100,000 match from Innova Memphis.

Soundways, a Start Co. accelerator graduate and participant in the 2016 Summer of Acceleration, won the ROTR competition. VNC

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