Start Garden’s Demo Day to award $200K to entrepreneurs

Start Garden’s Demo Day to award $200K to entrepreneurs
Start Garden's 2019 Demo Day. <strong> Courtesy Start Garden </strong>

Start Garden’s open contest for business startups, The 100, will wrap up its fourth season next week with $200,000 in awarded funding.

Demo Day is set to take place from 5-8 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 21, as a tradeshow-style showcase for the 100 finalists selected in July. The event will culminate with the announcement of 10 winners who each will receive $20,000 to help fund their idea.

In addition, a People’s Choice award will feature a $2,500 prize, and a $5,000 award will go to a winning high school participant.

“We are excited for The 100 this year, as we know it will create opportunities not only for entrepreneurs, but for all organizations that want to support entrepreneurship,” said Laurie Supinski, co-director of Start Garden.

Since its inception in 2012, the accelerator platform has helped ventures like Payload CMS and Wimage move to the next level of business growth. The 100 serves as a communitywide effort to get 100 entrepreneurs off the ground each year.

“We see it each year we do The 100,” said co-director Jorge Gonzalez. “Relationships are formed, new ventures launched, and new wealth created as a result of this experience.”

The Demo Day event will kick off the inaugural Tech Week GR and is free and open to the public.