Steve Case, the prolific name behind both AOL and Revolution, is at it again. At this year's Google Demo Day, Case pledged a total of $1.4 million for the second year in a row to all of the participating entrepreneurs. But it comes with a catch—all of the entrepreneurs need to raised $1 million in the next 100 days for anyone to get their part of the investment.
Case is known for making pledges at Google's Demo Days, so this year's pledge isn't a surprise. He's promising to invest $100,000 in all of the 13 participating startups if they meet the qualifications. It's also the same exact pledge he made at 2016's event.
"I’ve seen firsthand that the next wave of transformative startups can come from anywhere in the U.S.," Case said in a statement. "I am hopeful that my challenge today will shine a spotlight on the great companies in Rise of the Rest cities and further catalyze investment in companies based outside of the coastal tech corridors”
This year's pledge comes right as Case announced an effort to invest at least $13 million into early-stage startups in "Rise of the Rest" regions. All 13 of the startups come from around North America, according to the same release, including a handful of "Rise of the Rest" cities like Atlanta, Detroit, Durham and Nashville.
For those of you not in the know, Case and his VC firm, Revolution, have been in the middle of a nationwide effort to invest in and support entrepreneurs from lesser known, emerging startup ecosystems (so not the Bay Area, New York City or Boston). Launching in 2014, the initiative is called "Rise of the Rest," and the team has visited 26 cities.
In 2014, Case invested $100,000 in each of the Google Demo Day startups. In 2015, he invested $100,000 in the four female-founded companies at the event.
Image courtesy of Revolution
