Eight Memphis startup companies are traveling to Silicon Valley this week to pitch their business plans and try to make connections within the high-tech haven.
The trip was organized by
Start Co., a local nonprofit aimed at growing and supporting Memphis’ entrepreneurial community. The eight companies are all graduates of Start Co. accelerator programs, which serve as a first-stop for budding businesses and are designed to help potential entrepreneurs take the first actionable steps toward launching a business.
Start Co. CEO and founder Eric Mathews and president Andre Fowlkes are leading the visit. It is the organization’s third trip to Silicon Valley in 18 months and another effort to highlight the strengths of the Memphis entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Throughout the visit, Start Co. hopes to exchange best practices and lessons in failure with their peers as well as find new resources such as mentors, sponsors, partners and other providers for its programs and investment capital.
On Wednesday, Start Co. will host its own Demo Day at San Francisco seed fund and accelerator
500 Startups. The event will have a definitive Memphis twist, with local barbecue and libations served to attendees. It also will provide a forum for the eight accompanying businesses to pitch their ideas to investors representing brands such as PayPal, American Airlines and SoftLayer.
The Memphis startups making the trip include:
Barter Sugar - an online bartering community for services and items without spending money.
Cabsolutely - a cloud-based dispatch platform for taxi cab companies, enabling them to compete with ride-sharing applications.
eDivv - an online marketplace for trading beauty products.
Phase - a mobile app that helps gamers set up gaming events by simplifying the process of picking a game, finding a time and notifying friends.
Pickle - a platform for brand engagement via user-generated selfies.
Play-tag - a smart wearable technology for dogs, digitally connecting humans who love them to a network of people, products and services.
Troopto - a group gifting platform for co-workers.
Musistic – a technology that allows collaboration with anyone, anywhere, on almost any digital audio platform.
You can follow Start Co. and the teams on their San Francisco journey using the #neverstopSF hashtag on Twitter.
And stay with High Ground in the coming weeks as we profile all the participating companies and what’s next for their big ideas.
By Jane A. Donahoe
Enjoy this story?
Sign up for free solutions-based reporting in your inbox each week.