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BENTONVILLE, Ark. – A summit that connects startup founders and venture capital investors hosted by Oklahoma City-based Cortado Ventures highlights achievements in the central U.S. and provides opportunities to make connections and learn from business leaders.
The early-stage venture capital firm kicked off the second annual Midcontinent VC Summit in northwest Arkansas Tuesday, and multiple panel discussions with industry leaders are scheduled for the main event Thursday at Ledger, a six-floor co-working space in downtown Bentonville.
Cortado partnered with the Foundation for Unleashing the Startup Ecosystem, Runway Group and Visit Bentonville to put on the event, which aims to boost the startup industry in the central U.S.
Close to 340 people from 28 different states registered for this year’s summit. Cortado Ventures Managing Partner Nathaniel Harding said about half of those registered are entrepreneurs and the others are investors that represent a total of about $1.5 trillion. Harding said nearly every hotel room in Bentonville is booked for the event.
“It’s grown 100-fold since last year’s (summit in Oklahoma City),” Harding said.
Attendees use a platform that allows startup founders and investors to seek each other out based on certain criteria. From there, direct connections can be established.
Harding said it’s about connecting capital with opportunity, right here in the central U.S., more than 1,000 miles from the coasts, which dominate the nation’s VC scene. Additionally, the summit brings in multiple speakers to educate and inspire entrepreneurs. Speakers for the 2024 summit include Steuart Walton, co-founder of Runway Group, Katie Koch, CEO of TCW, and Jack Selby, managing director of Thiel Capital.
“TCW is a $220 billion asset management firm,” Harding said. “Koch is often on MSNBC, CNBC and Bloomberg because people want to know what she thinks, and so we get to hear her insights on the market, both the challenges and the opportunities.”
Selby was an original PayPal Mafia member. Walton’s Runway Group invests in real estate and other businesses. He also co-founded Game Composites, LLC., a small composite aircraft manufacturer.
Rich Roll, an endurance athlete, podcast personality and entrepreneur will deliver the keynote speech Thursday. Harding said Roll is transparent about his battle with addiction and often uses analogies to draw similarities to the challenges entrepreneurs experience.
After last year’s inaugural event at the First National Center in downtown Oklahoma City, Harding said Cortado received positive feedback from both founders and investors about the networking component. He expects that to continue with increased participation for the 2024 iteration this week.
Harding said the event helps to keep talent in the area, and the more opportunities for founders that exist, the stronger the region’s VC scene gets. And the coasts are becoming aware of the movement.
“I was at the annual gala for the National Venture Capital Association last week in San Francisco, and I met several people that I’ve never met before who saw my Cortado nametag, and they’re like, ‘oh, Mid-Continent Summit,’” Harding said. “People in the Bay Area, in San Francisco, the mecca of venture capital, are aware of and talking about what’s happening in (the region).”
Another Oklahoman participating in the summit is Anita Ly, managing director for Gener8tor Oklahoma City, a venture capital firm and business accelerator. Ly will be part of a Thursday panel to speak on how to raise capital and the qualifications firms look for in startups as potential investment opportunities.
Ly said the panel will help founders learn what firms identify as red and green flags, as well as how to speak with investors. She said there are different strategies founders should use when seeking out funding on the coast, which is “highly competitive.”
“Then we’re really wanting to open up the floor to all the founders in the room to ask us questions, and really have it being more interactive and engaging,” Ly said.
The majority of investors and limited partners at the summit are from the mid-continent, Ly said, which provides an edge for founders based in the area.
“I think the advantage of being in the mid-continent is there’s capital that people want to invest back into their own homes or their own states and their own talent pool,” Ly said.