SoGal Takes Charlotte in the First of Its Regional Pitch Competitions 

On Aug. 28, Camp North End was host to SoGal's Regional Pitch Competition, where 12 local startups pitched in front of a packed crowd. The stakes? A chance to advance to the organization's global pitch event.

SoGal, the entity behind the evening, works to "close the diversity gap in entrepreneurship and venture capital" through community, mentorship and events across the globe (you might remember its Seed the South pitch competition in Charlotte earlier this year).

Its cornerstone event is its aforementioned global pitch competition, one that the organization calls the "largest global startup pitch opportunity for women and diverse entrepreneurs." This year, the road to the final event includes 25 initial regional competitions in cities across five continents — from London to Hong Kong, Chicago to Nairobi — and of course, Charlotte, which kicked off the regional events.

“We are the best city,” Collective Hustle founder and the program's emcee Sam Smith joked. “So, of course, we’re first.”

It was the organization that she helped create, a Charlotte-based group of investors and startup ecosystem members, that partnered with SoGal for the event — in part, because of Collective Hustle and SoGal's shared missions of bolstering entrepreneurial ecosystems. 

“That’s what this is for,” Smith said. "This is to make sure that we know who in our community is actually doing the startup life, and how we, as a community, can support them.” 

Twelve startups from said community pitched to a panel of judges, which included Camille Cunningham, investment operations at Charlotte Angel Fund; Travis Parsons, managing partner at Creative CoCapital; Seda Atam Goff, director of veteran entrepreneurship at PenFed Credit Union; Shante Williams, managing partner at RW Capital Partners; and Emilie McKenna Pandullo, director of the Atrium Strategic Fund at Atrium Health.

Smith said that the panel would judge startup pitches on the strength of the team, the strength of their idea and the potential for traction, ultimately deciding which businesses would advance to the finals.

Between one to three startups would be sent to the global pitch in Silicon Valley, which offers participants a three-day bootcamp, a chance at a pot of "half a million (and counting)" investment dollars, and guaranteed face-time with some of the top venture capitalists in the game. 

Each participating startup was given a strict, 4-minute opportunity to share their concept, followed by a few questions from the judges afterward. 

Of the 12, three were from Charlotte (edtech company SkoolAide, fintech startup FaaStrak and employment organization Hay Trabajo) but all represented an array of missions, backgrounds and industries; we include a list of participants below.

In the end, though, two Atlanta startups received the opportunity to move forward to SoGal's global competition: 18.21 Bitters and EnrichHER.

"This is to make sure that we know who in our community is actually doing the startup life, and how we, as a community, can support them.” 

18.21 Bitters, founded by Missy Koefod and her wife, Kristen, give a new meaning to craft cocktails with their extensive line of unique shrubs, mixers and bitters. It was the result of Missy beating cancer and deciding to lean into her passion, which was making craft cocktails.

When panelist Parsons asked, “What makes your product different?”, Missy simply responded, “Well, have you tried it?” 

Roshawnna Novellus’s company, EnrichHER, facilitates capital acquisition and loans for female-led businesses. 

“The small business lending industry is inhospitable to women,” Novellus said. She said her company is “democratizing the access to capital” for women.

The two winners will head to the Bay Area after all the regional competitions wrap up later this year. 

A Complete List of All Pitch Participants