EarthGrid™ wins the Seattle Angel Conference (SAC) investment competition
Seattle Angel Conference (SAC), a production of Mossy Ventures, announces the SAC 22 winners who have participated in a progressive elimination program that started with 80+ early stage startups. On November 16, six finalists gave their final pitch, followed by six due diligence teams asking probing questions. The investors, all participating in this learn-by-doing program, then went off to vote and select the winner.
SAC 22 Organizer Alex Alviar reports “We believe that the quality of the companies that entered this program were strong. Some have pitched successfully elsewhere winning awards and startup funds.” Alex announced the overall winners. “It was a long discussion with articulate and impassioned investors advocating for different company attributes – such as, better exit opportunity, demonstrated traction, opportunity to make a social difference, confidence in founder”. It was a tie between two environmental climate change entrepreneurs: Jane Melia of Harvest Thermal, and, EarthGrid led by Troy Helming.” Harvest Thermal brings clean, comfortable and affordable heating and hot water to as many homes as possible making a difference for our homes and our planet. Jane Melia of Harvest Thermal “We’re so honored to win #SAC22 Demo Day competition and share the spotlight with EarthGrid.io. The due diligence was thorough & thoughtful resulting in investments that dramatically improve our world. As a first-mover in the building decarbonization space, we are deeply grateful for this recognition.”
EarthGrid is revolutionizing the way to a National Super-Grid using patented tunnel boring robots (TBRs) to lower costs by up to 98%. “The Earth Grid team is humbled and honored to have won the SAC investment competition this year, and we’re proud to be sharing it with Harvest Thermal. The award validates the hard work of our amazing team to achieve significant traction with limited resources, the common story of challenges for all startups! Many thanks to the SAC due diligence team for helping us to sharpen our axe, the investors, the judges, and especially to the other wonderful companies and founders in our cohort.” shared Troy Helming.
Master of Ceremonies Bob Crimmins of StartupHaven announced the winner of the audience choice award to Tiya Gordon from Itselectric. Itselectric is curbside EV charging for millions of drivers who park their cars on the street. Increased access to affordable public charging not only encourages the adoption of EVs, but leads to cleaner air and healthier communities. Tiya Gordon writes “itselectric is incredibly honored to have received the Audience Choice Award. It means a great deal to us especially considering the audience that SAC captures and the relationship we have built with your investors these past few months. With 90% of all EV charging in cities needing to be public Level 2; SAC’s support of itselectric’s solution of using energy from buildings to power public curbside chargers could not have come at a better time as we continue to get the word out to cities looking for innovative ways to meet their EV charging targets.” Bob also added a thanks to the audience members and companies who chatted through the investor deliberation waiting period where we kept everyone on the edge of their seats!
The three other competing finalists are Aprimus Diagnostics (California and Florida), Nano PharmaSolutions(California), and ProMedix Inc (Portland, Oregon). We become bonded to these dedicated founders and wish them the best.
Himalaya Rao was the event keynote speaker. Himalaya is the Managing Director of The BFM Fund and has a passion for expanding the accessibility of entrepreneurship to BIPOC and rural communities as a pathway for economic development and generational wealth building. During her talk, she offered examples of ways that attendees can be more inclusive. She discussed some structural barriers to investment accessibility including the need for building more on-ramps to entrepreneurship. Himalaya also mentioned applying an ROI (return on investment) focus to the value of networking and building long-term relationships.
The Angel Conference program is a combination of investor accelerator and startup pitch competition. Over three-months the startups progress through several rounds of pitching and discussion, whilst angels follow a structured evaluation and investment decision process based on tools and methodology. Since 2012, the organization has enabled over 600 angels across North America and Europe to invest in 40+ companies.
There is a huge gap between the number of new companies seeking funding, and the amount of finance available. While everyone comments that there is “dry powder”, a vc term inferring extra money, it often isn’t available for startups that have not quite completed their prototypes or have customer Letters Of Intent but not sales. And oftentimes when there is money, its value is enhanced by the quality of the advice that comes with it. Leveraging industry experts who are interested in sharing their knowledge, connections and finances with startups is the real bonus. “Our mission is to provide the tools and methodology for angels and startups alike to navigate the investment process with confidence. It’s a pleasure to watch their growth throughout the program, and we continue to follow their progress” says John Sechrest, the program founder. “We are thankful for our sponsors Karr Tuttle Campbell, Symphysis Marketing, InnovareAi, and Zccounting and the work they do supporting us, and our companies and investors.”
Seattle Angel Conference runs two times a year. SAC 23 deadline is February 21. For interest in participating, please contact Tessie Decker tessiedecker@gmail.com