Portland, Oregon February 6, 2014 – A select group of innovative social venture startups from the Portland area will be competing for seed stage investment in the final round of the Portland Fast Pitch competition on Tuesday, February 18, 2014.
Fast Pitch Portland – a project of the Portland-based Social Venture Society, an initiative of the NorthWest Social Venture Fund – is the city’s first investment competition for a new breed of startups that set out to generate high profit returns while also creating substantial and positive social impact in their global and local communities.
The inaugural Fast Pitch Portland competition also marks the debut of the NW Social Venture Fund, a highly anticipated impact investment fund curated by Carolynn Duncan, founder of the high-growth business accelerator TenX.
Over the past months, the competing startup teams have received intensive, hands-on coaching through workshops and mentoring from Portland’s accomplished social enterprise professionals.
The Fast Pitch finalists competing in the February 18th event are:
- Supportland
- Community Sourced Capital
- Lite Sprite
- InStove
- Safi Water Works
- Trovi
- Mobius Microfarms
- Snohomish Soap Company
- SummerSkin, LLC
“It has been exhilarating to see these bold, big-thinking founders share their visions, form alliances, and sharpen their strategies as they honed their pitches.” says Social Venture Society founder and NW SVFund Managing Partner Carolynn Duncan. “This group is a great real-world examples of the convergence of business and social good that we want to promote at the Social Venture Society, and we stand by these teams.”
Due diligence screening is being performed in collaboration with impact professionals and business students from local organizations and universities, including the University of Oregon, Mercy Corps, and the Non-Profit Finance Fund.
The finals on February 18 provide an opportunity to meet – and cheer on – the rising stars of Portland’s social venture community, and for the general community to learn more about impact investing.
Tickets are now on sale here.
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Pam Abrahamsson
503.298.9749
pabrahamsson@stephensongroup.com
