Five entrepreneurs get free plane tickets to pitch for $100,000 in seed funding from Austin’s top angel investors
Every week we meet incredible entrepreneurs from all over the country and all over the world who would move to Austin if they only had some funding. This April, one startup is going to get their chance! We’ll fly five of them to Austin for an epic pitch-off resulting in one of them receiving $100,000 in seed funding and a year of free access to Capital Factory’s coworking facility and mentor network.
Capital Factory has moved more than a dozen startups to Austin in one way or another over the past few years — starting with the first company we ever invested in — SpareFoot. Fresh off the excitement of SXSW, Capital Factory is thrilled to announce that this April we’re moving another startup to Austin — this time with a $100,000 investment waiting for them.
Whether you were around to experience the convergence of thousands of talented entrepreneurs and venture capitalists to the city first hand or have heard about the buzz of SXSW and the startup scene in Austin, we want to invite you to participate in this competition.
It’s not like it’s hard to get people to move here — we’re the fastest growing city in the country. Austin has it’s own draw and it has “emerged as one of the hottest startup hubs in the country” according to Hugh Forrest, Chief Programming Officer for SXSW (and one of the angel investor backing this competition).
In addition to the $100,000 investment, you get free coworking at Capital Factory, free server hosting, and a lot bunch of other perks and discounts to make the cash last as long as possible.
What will it take to win? We are looking for companies that have built a compelling MVP and have started to gain early customers, but most of all we want to see great people who we believe in and have demonstrated that they can be resourceful and learn from their mistakes.
Any tech or consumer startup can apply on AngelList by April 14th to be selected to pitch at Funding Day on Friday, April 28. Five finalists will receive $500 toward airfare and the opportunity to pitch in front of top Austin investors and the Capital Factory mentors, which are some of the most successful entrepreneurs in Texas on Monday, May 1.
Some Austin Facts:
- Hotbed of tech talent — there is steady pipeline of talent from UT Austin, one of the largest universities in the country. UT Austin has the largest graduating class of CS students of any department ranked in the top 10 in the US. Talent in Austin’s isn’t just more affordable, it’s easier to retain talent because they are less likely to get poached by the hot startup in Silicon Valley. Indeed.com said that Austin is the best place for a software engineer to get a job where his paycheck goes the farthest compared to the cost of living.
- Top entrepreneurial city — The Kauffman Foundation ranked Austin the number 1 startup metro in the U.S. for the second year in a row. CNBC said Austin is the best city in the U.S. to start a new business. U.S. News & World Report just ranked Austin the number one city in the U.S. to live in.
- Access to capital — Austin has almost a dozen venture capital firms and a dozen more in the fundraising stages. More and more investors from the east, west and middle coasts have their eyes on Austin and are making investments here. The Central Texas Angel Network is one of the most active angel groups in North America. It’s easy to raise seed funding and it’s not harder than anywhere else outside of Silicon Valley to raise a Series A (and much easier than most places).
- Business Friendly Regulation — Texas has no state income tax, meaning more of your salary expense goes directly to your employees and has been consistently ranked as one of the best states for small businesses.
- Retail and logistics center — Austin is home to Whole Food Headquarters and Dell Technologies and is a large centrally located logistics hub for many businesses making access to large companies’ management teams highly accessible for partnerships. Apple’s largest headquarters is in Austin (more employees than Cupertino!) and we also have large offices for Google and Facebook.
Competition details:
- $100,000 cash investment on a SAFE or Convertible Note. We will make you detailed offer before you decide to participate in the final round of the competition.
- Special access to an A-List of Austin’s top entrepreneurs who add value far beyond the money you received
- 1 year of unlimited co-working at Capital Factory
- Access to the Capital Factory Mentor network
- Hundreds of thousands of dollars in free hosting credits from Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, IBM Softlayer, Microsoft & Rackspace plus many other cloud services you use.
Here is a partial list of the Capital Factory Partners who are backing this investment. They are all on your team and you are guaranteed to get a first meeting with them (you have to earn a second one):
p.s. it would great to have more women and people of color on this list. There are still a few spots left.
