Upstate Capital Association to host startup showcase with accelerators
On December 9 online, for the first time, the Upstate Capital Association of New York is hosting the Venture NY Series A Showcase in partnership with 43North, GENIUS NY, 76West, Grow-NY and Luminate. Featuring some of the fastest-growing startups from across New York, this event includes investor pitches and opportunities for group and one-to-one networking.
Venture NY is taking place in conjunction with Upstate Capital’s Annual Awards Celebration, which highlights Upstate NY’s most exciting activity in private equity and mergers and acquisition, along with Venture + Growth investments in 2020. The organization also honors a person who has made a significant impact in the Upstate NY investment community over the course of their career with a lifetime achievement award.
The partnership with multiple accelerators and competitions is the first collaboration of its kind in New York. “Attracting venture capital from outside the region has been part of Upstate Capital’s mission since 2003 when the organization was founded. This is an amazing opportunity to collaborate with several pillars of the broader regional entrepreneurial ecosystem and highlight how far Upstate NY has come in developing entrepreneurship and high-growth businesses here,” said Noa Simons, the Executive Director of Upstate Capital.
Each of the following organizations will invite their top startups:
Luminate: Luminate is the world’s largest business accelerator for optics, photonics, and imaging (OPI) startups. Based in Rochester, NY, the accelerator brings entrepreneurs from around the world together with OPI pioneers and qualified investors to speed innovation and time to market and help early-stage startups gain clear competitive advantages.
43North: 43North is an accelerator program that hosts an annual startup competition, investing $5 million per year to attract and cultivate high-growth companies in Buffalo, NY. 43North operates through the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo, Empire State Development, the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation, and several other sponsors.
GENIUS NY: The world’s largest $3M business accelerator competition in Central New York focused on unmanned systems, IoT, and big data startups. The accelerator is funded by Empire State Development and housed at CenterState CEO’s Tech Garden incubator in downtown Syracuse, NY.
76West: 76West is an unparalleled competition focused on growing entrepreneurs and attracting resources from the U.S. and around the world to build clean energy businesses and jobs in New York State’s Southern Tier region.
Grow-NY: Grow-NY is a business competition focused on growing an enduring food and agriculture innovation cluster in the Grow-NY region. The competition attracts innovative, high-growth food and agriculture startups from across the globe and engages them in the region’s rapidly-growing startup ecosystem.
This event will be held in conjunction with Upstate Capital’s Annual Awards Celebration. Each year, Upstate Capital highlights PE + M&A and venture capital investments from the year.
For more information visit ventureny.org.