ICYMI, we counted down to the holidays on social media – let’s recap:
In 2023… we added 12 new mentors and 12 new mentees to our Venture Mentor Services program. One of our signature programs, it has been around since 2015 and has almost 50 mentors working alongside 30 companies.
11 startup companies collaborated with university students from Clemson University’s Venture Consulting Class and the Furman Hill Institute Summer Bootcamp. We are grateful for our university partnerships and look forward to growing them in 2024. Thanks to Bricolage Dynamics, Custom Donations, Food Coach, Incora Health, Instaheat, Matty.ai, Myn.Health, TestedHQ, skillsgapp, Surcee, and Vicinity Capital for participating and providing these students with some great work experience!
We executed 10 Founders Forums covering a wide range of topics from Angel Investing to Storytelling! Thanks to all who attended and look for more in 2024.
There were 9 innings in the first game of the #StartupGVL Innovation & Entrepreneurship Night at the Drive. We’re already planning for next year – get ready!
We held our 8th NEXT Venture Summit. The shining star this year was our first-ever Investor Match Day which connected 24 investors with 47 founders followed by an incredible welcome reception. Day 2 was the Summit which highlighted the 10 Most Exciting Startups in the region and hosted 300 guests.
Our signature Launchpad event awarded 7 ventures with service packages ranging from marketing to financial support. Thanks to our partners who provided packages: Elliott Davis, DFS Creative Concepts, Find Great People, SCRA, Slant, and Wych PA provided packages to AR Funding, Avallano, BottleTitan, Builder Rocket, Incora Health, Metatomic Inc, and Stay Modal.
6,000+ of you subscribe to our community newsletter. Not on our the list? You can sign up for our newsletter by going to the footer of this website. It’s full of exciting #StartupGVL news, events, and more!
NEXT presented to 5 different visiting cities from Arizona to Belgium about economic development and the startup ecosystem!
NEXT couldn’t do ALL it does without the Fab 4 – our team. And, thanks to everyone from our sponsors, mentors, and ecosystem partners who help us.
We have 3 amazing organizational sponsors. We could not do our work without the support of the City of Greenville, Greenville County, and the Greenville Chamber of Commerce.
2 cohorts, equaling 18 companies, graduated from our Accelerator program. Congrats again to Bottle Titan, Bricolage Dynamics, Carbon Cents, Custom Donations, Digital Site Box, Incora Health, Performance Enhanced Delivery, Mapsheet, MyUI.ai, Pixlmob, RAAMP, Rebel Rabbit, Ruffian Software, skillsgapp, Susu Lend, TestedHQ, Vicinity, and WAVS Custom.
We finally counted down to celebrate 1 kick@ss #StartupGVL Ecosystem! Let’s continue to grow and build and scale businesses in this city we love.