Steve Case jams on a guitar during his “startup crawl” in Atlanta in May 2015. (photo courtesy/Rise of the Rest)
I reported in early August that Steve Case, AOL’s co-founder and now a well-known investor, would visit Portland on Oct. 2 as part of his Rise of the Rest tour to highlight the city’s startup community and to hand one lucky startup a check for $100,000.
But the details of that visit — the businesses he’d tour and where the big pitch competition and gala event would be held — were unknown until now.
According to Herbie Ziskend, a member of Case’s team organizing the tour, Case’s “startup crawl” will include stops at Think Tank, the co-working space on Congress Street that houses several startups; Certify, a Portland-based tech company that provides cloud-based software to streamline a business’ expense-report-filing process; and Cape Seafood in Saco, the supply operation for Luke’s Lobster, the restaurant chain started by Cape Elizabeth native Luke Holden in 2009 that now has 13 locations nationwide. U.S. Sen. Angus King is expected to join Case for part of the tour.
The pitch competition, which will end with a Maine startup receiving a $100,000 investment from Case, will be held at the Port City Music Hall at 4 p.m. The party will ensue immediately after the competition and starts at 6 p.m. Both events are free, but people need to RSPV here.
Startups interested in applying to pitch their business plans can learn more from my previous post on the subject, or go straight to the Rise of the Rest website to apply.
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