Steve Case, the co-founder of America Online and now a billionaire venture capitalist, took to the streets Friday on a tour of some of the state’s most innovative entrepreneurs.
Case, who is currently CEO of Revolution LLC, a Washington, D.C.-based investment firm, was in Portland as part of his Rise of the Rest tour, a series of visits to highlight the burgeoning startup communities that exist outside Silicon Valley. His visit to Maine will culminate with a pitch contest at Port City Music Hall with eight Maine startups, one of whom will walk away with a $100,000 check from Case.
After breakfast at the Portland Regency Hotel, Case made stops at Certify, a company that makes cloud-based travel and expense report management software; Luke’s Lobster’s processing facility in Saco; and CashStar, a pioneer in the e-gift card industry. He also spent an hour mentoring entrepreneurs at ThinkTank, a co-working space on Congress Street in Portland, and Chimani, which makes apps for touring national parks and other outdoor destinations.
This is the fourth leg of Case’s Rise of the Rest bus tour, an initiative he began in 2014 to highlight cities with burgeoning startup scenes. Last year, 75 percent of venture capital went to California, New York and Massachusetts, he said. The other 47 states, including Maine, shared the other 25 percent.
“That’s crazy,” he said during a stop at Central Provisions in Portland for lunch. “That does not reflect the location of great entrepreneurs with great ideas. That’s what we’re trying to do with the Rise of the Rest initiative.”
Case was joined by U.S. Sen. Angus King and Rep. Chellie Pingree for part of the tour.
To date, he’s visited 14 cities and invested $1.5 million in the startups he’s met along the way.
The eight companies that will pitch Case and his panel of judges are:
• Likeable Local, a software company with offices in Portland and New York City that develops social media platforms for small businesses.
• Dream Local Digital, a digital marketing agency based in Rockland.
• Rapport, a Portland-based company developing software to allow small- and medium-sized businesses track and measure their sustainability. Rapport in June won the Top Gun Showcase event held by the Maine Center for Entrepreneurial Development, which came with a $10,000 prize.
• CourseStorm, which is based in Orono and develops course-registration software for education organizations. CourseStorm was recently accepted into the University of Maine’s Scratchpad Accelerator program.
• Spring Point Solutions, a Portland-based company developing software for motor repair shops.
• iKNO Intranet, which is based in Portland and is developing software to allow companies to improve internal and customer engagement.
• Introspective Systems, a Portland-based software company targeting any industry struggling with big-data challenges.
• Lobster Unlimited, a company out of the University of Maine that aims to develop products from lobster-processing industry waste, such as shells.
This story will be updated.