The Doyenne Group, a Madison-based nonprofit organization that supports women- and minority-owned startups, is hosting its spring showcase Thursday night.
Eight startups, which have completed Doyenne’s accelerator program, will be pitching their businesses to an audience of service providers, tech leaders, entrepreneurs and investors, said Doyenne’s Co-founder and Executive Director Heather Wentler. The event takes place at Boardman & Clark (1 S. Pinckney St., Suite 410) from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Walk-ins are welcome.
Doyenne’s year-long program helps startups define and refine their business strategies so by the end of it, they have a clear direction of where to take their company and are more attractive to investors. While in the program, startups have access to coaching, workshop-based retreats and exposure to the tech community at large. Tonight’s pitch event serves as the startups’ graduation from the accelerator program.
“It’s a way [for startups] to engage with potential customers, clients and investors, who want to learn more about the companies,” Wentler said.
The companies pitching at the event include:
- Classmunity: A fundraising management system for the education sector that tracks everything from when a teacher decides to run a fundraiser to when the last dollar is deposited into their school’s designated bank account.
- Build It Fab: A startup that simplifies construction product distributing.
- Prof2Prof: A cloud-based information sharing platform geared specifically toward the academic community.
- Apron Era: A startup making a better apron.
- Ugly Apple: A Madison eatery focusing on eliminating food waste.
- UnderBelly: A startup developing an app to showcase locally-owned businesses and organizations that can't easily be found on Yelp and Google reviews.
- My A Game: A customized, interactive playbook that offers sports coaches the ability to organize, teach and validate their game plan.
- Acme Nerd Games: A B2B video game maker.
Each of the startups in Doyenne’s accelerator program have received funding through the group’s Evergreen Fund, which has been raised by Doyenne from state and city government, community organizations, foundations and private donors, Wentler said.
The Fund requires startups to be based in Wisconsin and be 51 percent women and/or minority owned. Startups also have to have fewer than 100 employees and have raised less than $10 million in funding.
Generally, the Evergreen Fund either gives early-stage startups grants worth $5,000, or equity investments for $25,000 or $50,000, according to Wentler. Applications for the Evergreen Fund open quarterly and startups can join the accelerator program throughout the year.
Doyenne, which has offices in StartingBlock Madison, hosts about three events a month, ranging from startup showcases like tonight’s to business coaching seminars. This year, it expanded its program to Milwaukee and now has 40 members in the area, Wentler said.
“This is a place where we’re highlighting women and people of color starting businesses,” she said. “When we look at these companies, they’re not your typical types of startups.”
