PROVIDENCE – As RIHub prepares to kick off its fourth annual Startup Week on Sept. 20, an abundance of in-person events, including a celebratory "Week Night" party held at the end of the first day, stands in stark contrast to the week's earliest days.
“The week started out during COVID, and mostly everything was virtual,” said Annette Tonti, managing director of RIHub. “Now, hardly anything is virtual, so more and more events are happening in-person during the week.”
For instance, the week's popular "Calamari Tank" pitch contest, based on the Shark Tank TV show, will this year take place entirely in-person for the first time.
But a surge of in-person programming isn't the only upgrade to this year's programming, Tonti said: Startup Week will also dedicate an entire day to artificial intelligence, and its final days will coincide with the first Newport Investor Summit, which will take place Sept. 26-27.
Earlier in the week, Sept. 24 will feature a range of events centered on the rapidly evolving area of technology, including a "Demystifying AI" panel discussion led by IBM partner Stephen Piper, and a networking luncheon hosted by Chris Parisi, vice chair of the state's AI Task Force.
“When we did [Startup Week] last year, we recognized that the general public is very concerned about AI and what it’s going to do for us, [and] to us,” Tonti said of the decision to establish an AI-themed day of programming.
Last year, Startup Week hosted about 1,900 attendees across events.
While leveraging or managing AI has sprung to the forefront for many business owners in recent years, another new program responds to a longer-held issue in Rhode Island: Helping innovators secure investors and venture capital.
While not formally included in Startup Week, the RIHub-organize Newport Investor Summit will take place on the last two days of the week-long event, and complement Startup Week's efforts to help businesses establish themselves and grow in the Ocean State, Tonti says. The programming will focus on startups pursuing series A funding.
“It’s a pretty small area, so we want to make sure we do everything we can, every minute of the day to help startups be here and stay here,” Tonti said.
The Newport Investor Summit will include programming in Newport, Middletown and Providence on Thursday, but its main event will take place the next day at The Beach House in Middletown.
The summit will kick off at 7:30 a.m. with a breakfast and networking reception and continue with pitch presentations, keynote speakers, a panel discussion on investor trends and before concluding at 4:30 p.m. after a cocktail reception.
The chosen venue can host about 150 attendees, Tonti said, and as of earlier this month, RIHub had already heard from about 50 investors planning to attend.
“It’s a pretty small, concentrated group,” Tonti said, and “we’re hoping to get almost half-and-half" in the split between startups and investors at the summit.
Investors planning to attend include local and regional firms like Rogue Venture Partners, The Slater Technology Fund, Cherrystone Angel Group and RevUp Capital, as well as national and internationally-based groups such as Irish Angels and Pfizer Ventures. Likewise, Tonti said, RIHub is also inviting entrepreneurs from outside of Rhode Island.
RIHub envisioned the summit as “an active-engagement type of event, where real deals can be gotten from these intersections,” Tonti said.
“We’re creating an environment where it will be great for entrepreneurs to meet these investors, and also for investors to meet entrepreneurs they wouldn’t see otherwise,” she added.
RIHub plans to make the Newport Investor Summit an annual occurrence.
Full agendas for Startup Week and the Newport Investor Summit are available at
ristartupweek.com and
newportinvestorsummit.com.
Jacquelyn Voghel is a PBN staff writer. You may reach her at Voghel@PBN.com.
