With the kickoff for the second Rise of the Rest Road Trip less than a week away, the finalists with a chance at $100,000 have been announced in each of the tour’s five cities.
As part of the Rise of the Rest tour with Revolution CEO Steve Case, five pitch competitions will be held across the region—Madison, Wis.; Minneapolis; Des Moines; Kansas City and St. Louis—to help “celebrate and accelerate” the progress being made in the heartland’s entrepreneurial communities.
In each city, finalists will pitch to Case and guest judges, including Honest Tea co-founder Seth Goldman, Build-a-Bear co-founder Maxine Clark, Square co-founder Jim McKelvey and Sporting Club CEO Robb Heineman.
The selected companies also will compete for a chance to attend the 2015 SXSW Startup Village for another Rise of the Rest pitch competition to compete for additional funding. The road trip kicks off Monday, Oct. 6 in Madison, traveling to Des Moines and Kansas City later in the week.
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Des Moines (Oct. 8)
On the Rise of the Rest’s stop in Des Moines, Case and the Revolution team will make stops at area startup hubs like Gravitate before heading to a fireside chat at the Science Center of Iowa at noon, followed at 2 p.m. by the pitch competition. Then they’ll close out the day with Rise DSM, a happy hour and community celebration, at 4 p.m. at the Des Moines Social Club. RSVP online for any of the day’s events.
The finalists that will pitch for the chance at $100,000 during the stop in Des Moines are:
Kansas City (Oct. 9)
Big Kansas City will partner with the Rise of the Rest tour during its KC stop, sharing a venue in the Airline History Museum’s Hangar 9. Attend a fireside chat with Steve Case at 2:30 p.m. followed by the pitch at 3:30 p.m. End the day with a happy hour including several performances from local, a startup community celebration, at The Guild. RSVP online for any of the day’s events.
The finalists who will pitch for the chance at $100,000 during the Rise of the Rest tour’s stop in Kansas City are:
- Briefcase
- DayReel
- FitBark
- Keyzio
- Leap.it
- PayIt
- ShotTracker
- Sink Cycle
- VeriQuik
- Venture360
