Another local startup will be in the national spotlight this week.
Davidson-based Grocery Shopii is scheduled to appear on internet reality show "Unicorn Hunters," which highlights private companies with a high potential to reach a billion-dollar valuation. During the episode, Grocery Shopii founder Katie Hotze will pitch in front of a panel of investors called The Circle of Money.
The investors include business leaders and policy experts like Steve Wozniak, Lance Bass, John Bercow and Rosie Rios who ask questions designed to inform the audience about the companies. Viewers watching at home also have the opportunity to invest.
"The entire episode is dedicated to us," Hotze said. "With a minimum of $5,000 anyone can come on as an investor, so it’s really democratizing the access to high-potential startups."
Hotze founded Grocery Shopii in 2018 as a meal-planning application that helps grocers get more customers to fill their online carts and purchase online orders. It plugs into a grocer's existing e-commerce platform and creates available recipes for customers to choose from. The idea is to create a more convenient experience for online shoppers by saving them time from adding each individual item they need to prepare a meal.
In May, Grocery Shopii was accepted into the Microsoft for Startups program, which is designed to accelerate high-growth startups by providing access to Microsoft technology and mentors, as well as business support. It was through the Microsoft partnership that Hotze said she was able to link up with "Unicorn Hunters."
Hotze, who spent a week in Los Angeles filming her episode, said she had to throw everything she knew about pitching out the window while preparing for "Unicorn Hunters."
"We had to prepare and refine the pitch so that it appealed to a broader audience. I had to take the essence of what we do and focus on that," she said. "I was no longer pitching to tech investors and had to make it resonate with busy parents who have been stuck at home during the pandemic."
Grocery Shopii closed a $1 million seed round over the summer and is now looking to build its Series A fund. Hotze expects exposure from the show to help get that going.
"I built this company out of a notebook ... To be in Hollywood hanging out with Lance Bass and pitching my idea on a show that’s expected to have 15 million views, it was really wild," she said.
Watch Grocery Shopii at 10 a.m. Dec. 15 on YouTube or the "Unicorn Hunters" website.
