Interest in Atlanta’s social entrepreneurial community is alive and thriving if last night’s turn-out for social enterprise accelerator Village Capital’s first Atlanta ‘final pitchfest’ was any indication. More than 100 of the city’s best and brightest squeezed into the Manuel Tavern event room to hear companies from Village Capital’s first Atlanta cohort give their pitch and vie for two $50,000 prizes.
Audience looking on at Village Capital Pitchfest at Manuel's Tavern
Unlike other accelerator programs, winners are decided upon by the companies themselves. According to Ross Baird, executive director of Village Capital, which has launched 13 similar programs worldwide, companies assess each other throughout the 10-week program based on six factors: product, customer validation, financials, impact and exit strategy/return of capital.
And the Winners Are…
Last night, the companies chose SmartGaon, a provider of healthcare and insurance subscription services to under-served consumers in India and viaCycle, a provider of bike rental systems similar to that of Zipcar to communities such as university campuses, as recipients of the $100,000 prize. Each company will receive $50,000.
“[the] $100,000 is raised via a ‘philanthropic investment’ fund that Village Capital manages,” said Baird. “We raise grants/investments from partners into our fund, and make equity investments into companies. Returns are recycled into future companies. In Atlanta, program investors include Invest Atlanta and Social Enterprise at Goizueta [Emory) University],” he added.
viaCycle, the winner of 2012 Startup Riot was absent but for good reason: they were en route to participate in the highly-competitive Y Combinator accelerator program in San Francisco, Calif. Additionally, their system is currently in use at the Georgia Tech campus.
According to SmartGaon, the company had increased its subscription base from a few hundred to 3,300 during its participation in the program. Originally targeting only rural communities, the company is expanding its reach to urban areas in India due to demand.
VIP Crowd
While the accelerator program is not geared specifically for technology start-ups, the event attracted some of the city’s veteran technology investors including: Sig Mosley, president of Imlay Investments and the managing partner of recently announced early-stage venture fund CTW Ventures along with CTW Ventures principal Wei Chun Tai of CTW Ventures, Nelson Chu of Kinetic Ventures, Linnea Geiss of Arcapita and Jay Cranman, Points of Lights’ civic incubator.
Feedback on the companies from this particularly discerning group was largely positive with a number of investors expressing interest in pursuing further discussions with several of the companies. Also in attendance were Michelle Morgan from The Hub – Atlanta and Jay Jameson from Invest Atlanta. Both organizations are Village Capital partners for its Atlanta program.
Village Capital – Atlanta Companies:
1. Ballers Bridge - social network for athletes of all skill levels.
2. Biochar Central – Technology that converts agricultural and wood waste into fertilizers. The company projects a 38 percent ROI and a 30-month payback period and plans to pursue a franchise strategy.
3. Campus2Night – Saving the college newspaper through a smartphone app that delivers deals to the student body. The twist: utilizing existing ad sales staff at the college newspaper as its sales team.
4. Chaka Marketbridge – Online marketplace for fair trade home goods where veteran designers from U.S. brands (e.g. Macy’s, Crate and Barrel, etc.) collaborate with producers from third world countries to create home goods products that meet American quality and esthetics expectations while retaining the cultural integrity of producers’ home country. The company has its products on 130 store shelves in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean.
5. Excelegrade – Software as a service that helps teachers and schools track student progress on a question by question basis. The company offers a question bank; and tests created using this bank can be administered via smartphone and the web. It also offers students the option to enroll in remediation services via 3rd party sites such as the Khan Academy. Freemium model.
6. FogDog – System that monitors grease traps and filters waste from commercial kitchens. The delivery model is similar to that of home security systems whereby kitchens pay a one-time installation fee and a monthly subscription fee thereafter. Customers include Atlanta’s Marriot Marquis and select Atlanta Starbucks locations.
7. Local Three – Makes local produce available to institutional kitchens by aggregating and processing local produce so that they may comply with institutional kitchen standards.
8. Nathalie Bredt Designs – Fair trade distributor for 300 Ecuadorian artisans of upscale accessories.
9. Sidewalk District – Online marketplace for independent retailers.
10. SmartGaon – Winner
11. Swipe for Change – Payment processing technology that enables a percentage of the merchant’s top line revenue to be donated to a non-profit of the merchant’s choice.
12. Tethered Air – Balloon-powered cable robotics that move objects over rough terrain. Technology has a wide variety of applications including disaster relief, eco-tourism, landmine detection and eradication and freight handling in seaports.
13. TOHL – Enables rapid large-scale water access in disaster zones.
14. viaCycle – Winner.
15. We&Co – Linkedin for service professionals such as servers, baristas and hair-stylists.
Village Capital First Cohort at Manuel's Tavern