The Piece by Piece investor summit is a one-day event for current and aspiring investors. The goal is lowering barriers to entry and encouraging growth in Omaha’s investment community. The free event is scheduled for May 1 at the Catalyst. Programming will center on investors sharing their experiences, answering questions and encouraging collaboration.

The UNeTech Institute, an entrepreneurial support and technology transfer organization housed jointly under the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) and the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO).  

UNeTech Associate Director Joe Runge said the spark for the summit came from the 2022 Capital Challenge grant funding UNMC and UNeTech received through the U.S. Economic Development Association (EDA). Called the Omaha Medical Technology Development Alliance, the funded project aimed to identify, organize, educate and grow investor groups in the Greater-Omaha and Council Bluffs area to support MedTech startups and university-affiliated companies. 

“We ended up using it to build a community of investors,” said Runge.

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Runge said Piece by Piece is the culmination of those efforts and is currently a one-time opportunity due to the expiration of the EDA funding. 

“A lot of the people that will be coming to the event are some of the investors we’ve met along the way and telling some of the stories of the projects that we’ve worked on,” said Runge. “It’s sort of a big show-and-tell event, but the attendance list is really focused on expanding the pool of investors.”

Runge said the event will consist of local investors and investors from outside of the state to provide a diverse range of perspectives. He said the organization strategically scheduled the event near the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Stakeholders Meeting to hopefully attract more participants. 

“We don’t want to be university eggheads telling investors how to spend their money,” said Runge. “What we really want to do is give a platform to investors to talk to other investors.”
Runge said UNeTech is currently holding registration open for 100 people until seats fill. You can register and learn more about the summit by going to the Piece by Piece web page.