by Dennis R. Pape
Founder, Florida Venture Sourcing
Florida Venture Sourcing Press Release
Orlando, FL – May 30, 2012 –
Zentila (www.zentila.com), a Winter Garden startup developing an online booking engine for meetings and conventions, was awarded both the Judge’s Award and the Audience Award on Tuesday, May 22, 2012 at the inaugural VenturePitch Orlando event. The event was attended by a sold-out crowd of over 150 members of the Central Florida technology venture community including investors, founders, and service providers. Hosted by Florida Venture Sourcing (www.floridaventuresourcing.com), an online resource connecting Florida’s technology venture community, VenturePitch Orlando showcased 6 promising early-stage companies who were selected to pitch their business plans to the event’s technology investor judges from nearly 40 applying companies. The pitching competition was preceded by a keynote address from Philip Holt, CEO and Chairman of Orlando’s Row Sham Bow, a venture-backed leader in the social networking games industry, and remarks on The City of Orlando’s plans supporting entrepreneurship from District 4 Orlando City Commissioner Patty Sheehan. The event’s judges were Jason Rottenberg, Managing Director of Arsenal VenturePartners; Steve Miller, Founder and CEO of Highwinds Network Group; Richard Licursi, CEO and Founder of Gazelle Lab Orlando; and Albert Prast, CTO of Exchange Solutions at Optum.
“Zentila is very proud to win the inaugural VenturePitch Orlando Judge’s and Audience Award”, said Zentila’s Founder and CEO, Mike Mason. “The audience was impressive and the attendance by investors is something we have not seen at events like this in the past in this area. We met a venture capitalist from Atlanta at the event who was an early investor in in a successful tech firm in our industry and now we’re meeting with him next week. We’re also now teed up with five other VCs and angel groups. This is really exciting for Zentila. The keynote address by PhilipHolt was one of the best I’ve heard in a long time. Really inspiring.”
“I’m happy to say that the response to VenturePitch from the Central Florida technology venture community has been overwhelming,” says Dennis R. Pape, host of VenturePitch Orlando and founder of Florida Venture Sourcing. “Our approach of having technology investor judges provide helpful, actionable feedback to the pitching companies combined with providing an opportunity for the Central Florida technology venture community to see and connect with the newest startups in Central Florida, learn how investors evaluate pitches, and network with their peers and colleagues appears to be the key to our successful event. We are particularly happy at the support we have received from two prominent Central Florida service provider firms – the accounting firm Cross, Fernandez, and Riley and the law firm Greenberg Traurig. We look forward to hosting these VenturePitch events on a quarterly basis in Orlando to give even more startups an opportunity to showcase their technology and company.
In addition to Mike Mason of Zentila, the five other presenting speakers and companies included: Aidan Augustin of Feathr (Gainesville), Gregg Pollack of Code School (Orlando), Kerriann Greenhalgh of KeriCure (Wesley Chapel), Lance Vick of Tawlk (Orlando), and Tony Gallippi of Bit-Pay (Orlando).
On behalf of VenturePitch’s judges, Richard Licursi presented Mike Mason of Zentila with thejudge’s award, a trophy and an audience with three angel/venture capital funds: IDEA Fund Partners, Arsenal Venture Partners, and Tamiami Angel Fund. The Audience Award, pro bono services from the accounting firm of Cross, Fernandez, and Riley, was presented by Jennifer Johnson of CFR.
