FALL RIVER – The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship hosted Piranha Pond, the Southern New England Entrepreneurs Forum’s semi-annual business-pitch competition, on March 14.
During the “pitch party,” select entrepreneurs were given five minutes to convince a panel of investors to further discuss their ventures. Set up like the show “Shark Tank,” investors provide feedback to the entrepreneurs about their presentations and companies.
The planned investor panel included: David Fogel of Swifton CFOs LLC; Dan Conley of NJAngels; angel investors Jules Fried and Stephen Pytka; Kenneth C. Kirsch of Cherrystone Angel Group; and Glenn Champagne of LaunchPad Venture Group.
According to a SNEEF press release, 75 percent of Piranha Pond participants secure follow-up meetings with an investor. Since 2012, the event has connected 36 companies seeking more than $30 million combined in equity investment with 42 investors.
UMass Dartmouth said each startup company in the recent competition got at least two investors to have further conversations with its founders. They were: William Lyndon of Corsair Innovation; Hugh Wright of TD Collaborative; Frank Catapano of Global Shield Solutions/SD Labs; Daniel McCormack of BluCloud Inc.; Wade Goolishian of De Novo Labs; and Shane Matlock of The Burgundian: Coffee and Waffles.
Susan Shalhoub is a PBN contributing writer.
