TechCrunch Live is thrilled to shine the spotlight on Columbus, Ohio. On June 1, our crew is virtually heading to Columbus to explore the region’s growing startup ecosystem. We have a speaker lineup that represents a broad swath of the community, including the CEO of Olive and a Drive Capital founding partner. There’s a panel on raising startup capital, followed by a panel on startup jobs in Columbus. Finally, we have a pitch competition and a live recording of the Found podcast featuring the CEO of Aunt Flow.
Register for the virtual event here, and apply for the pitch-off here.
Why Columbus? Because it’s quickly becoming a major startup scene in the Midwest, especially in the areas of healthcare and insurance. More than $3 billion has been injected into the city over the past 20 years, according to Crunchbase data. Investment into the city startups started picking up around 2017 and really peaked in 2021. That’s when investment essentially doubled, going from $583 million in 2020 to just over $1 billion, with half of those dollars going into two companies: healthcare technology company Olive and autonomous robotics company Path Robotics. So far in 2022, $110 million has gone into Columbus startups.
Olive is now valued at over $4 billion and is among other Columbus success stories like CoverMyMeds, a healthcare software company that was acquired by McKesson Corp. in 2017 for $1.4 billion, which represents Central Ohio’s first $1 billion exit. Root Insurance, which has raised over $800 million since 2015, went public in 2020. Other notable raises include Forge Biologics’ $120 million Series B round, which was thought to be Ohio’s largest Series B to date. Forge plans to add 200 new jobs by 2023.
We hope you can attend this event! Like every TechCrunch Live event, it’s free to participate and attend. And like every TechCrunch Live event, it kicks off at 2:30 pm EDT/11:30 am PDT, and this one happens on June 1, 2022.
Apply for the pitch-off! To qualify you need to:
- Be based in the greater Columbus, Ohio area
- Have an MVP
- Be pre-Series A
TechCrunch Live in Columbus!
Columbus Unicorns with Olive and Drive Capital (3:00 pm EDT)
Olive is a homegrown Columbus unicorn; hear from the CEO and lead investor how the company was built and raised $856 million since its founding in 2012.
- Sean Lane, CEO Olive
- Chris Olsen, Drive Capital Founding Partner
Raising startup capital (3:30 pm EDT)
Ohio isn’t Silicon Valley, and yet there are numerous venture capital funds eager to write checks to early-stage founders. Join this session and hear from two investors on which industries are thriving in Columbus, and which sort of founders fit best in this scene.
- Janine Sickmeyer, Overlooked Ventures
- Wolf Starr, CEO Atlas Partners
Work for a startup in Columbus (4:00 pm EDT)
Columbus, like many major American cities, is home to industry giants with hundreds of workers toiling away in cubicles. But startups are hiring! Hear from two local leaders on who’s hiring, and what startups look for in new employees.
- Erika Pryor, Denison University
- Alex “Fro” Frommeyer, CEO Beam Dental
- Ryan Landau, CEO Purpose Jobs
Pitch Competition (4:20 pm EDT)
Apply here!
Judges
- Anna Mason, Managing Partner, Rise of the Rest Seed Fund at Revolution
- Alda Leu Dennis, General Partner, Initialized Capital
Found Live with Claire Coder, CEO of Aunt Flow (5:00 pm EDT)
Aunt Flow is an innovative startup from Columbus, Ohio that supplies 23,000 bathrooms with essential feminine products. The company’s clients include Apple, Meta and more. Hear from the company’s CEO Claire Coder about the pains of raising capital in Ohio, and scaling her company to 40 employees during this special Found Live podcast recording.
- Claire Coder, CEO and Founder of Aunt Flow
- Darrell and Jordan
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