Unpitch TECH 2022: A Successful Return to Convening In-Person
On March 15th, the New England Venture Capital Association (NEVCA) hosted its 10th annual Unpitch — in person, after a two-year hiatus due to pandemic-prompted shifts to virtual formats.
Over the past decade, Unpitch has become an established pillar of the New England VC and startup ecosystem, and it continues to offer meaningful relationships, create valuable opportunities, and open new doors for founders, investors, and sponsors alike.
After trimming the pool to 70 finalists, 26 founders came together with 14 investors for our first in-person Unpitch event since 2019 — hosted this year by Northeastern University’s Office of Alumni Relations, in their new innovation center at Horticultural Hall in Boston. The investors participating represented 14 leading venture firms in the local area.
The founders selected for Unpitch TECH are helping to change the tech landscape, across many industries — from HR to cybersecurity to consumer product waste to community building. Over two-thirds of this year’s TECH founders are first-time founders.
- Eleanor Mitch | 14bis Supply Tracking
- Raymond Fu | AINNOVATION LABS, INC.
- Jungah Lee | Aura Intelligent Systems, Inc.
- Denis Hurley | BeSync
- Amir Khaleghi | Curbhub, Inc.
- Oliver Sanchez | Extrasense Technologies Co
- Jose Torres | Finch
- Mike Eldridge | Findi
- Mikhail Kibhkin | Garnish
- Karen Lee | Glou Beauty
- Karthy Chandra | Goalden Hour
- David Rose | Home Outside
- Sawyer Cutler | Lilius, Inc.
- Roydon Jeffrey | ListedB
- Brandon Kindred | Look-see North America Inc
- Umit Sami | Memcus Corporation
- Rishi Palriwala | Nuhom
- Gretchen Wilson | Physis Investment
- Melissa Powell | Pocmi, Inc.
- Allison Byers | Scroobious
- Basia Kubicka | SliceUp, Inc.
- Melissa Mullen | Smile Dating App
- Zeeshan Sheikh | Taco Labs
- Kunal Bhatia | Take 1 Design
- Raj Malhotra | VERYVERSE
- David Wieselmann | Where to Wheel
After NEVCA Executive Director Ari Glantz kicked off the day, founders cycled through two rounds of breakouts, in which entrereneurs met in pairs with an investor for personal, tailored, and authentic advice and feedback — without the pressure of slide decks or investment decisions. Founders also had the chance to meet with an AWS team member to discuss scalability and AWS resources for startups.
We were so pleased to hear how much this year’s founders and investors valued their Unpitch experience, and loved getting to experience an in-person event again. Check out what people were posting from the day.
Huge thanks to everyone who helped to amplify the Unpitch application, applied, and/or joined us — and especially to our sponsor, AWS, and host, Northeastern University Alumni Relations, who made the event possible.
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Check out the event in photos:
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Missed out on Unpitch TECH? Good news: 2022 has two more Unpitch events to come — Unpitch HEALTH in June, Unpitch BIO + MED in September. We’d love to see you there! Stay tuned to our social media for application launch announcements. For more info in the meantime, visit www.unpitch.org.
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Unpitch connects early-stage entrepreneurs and seasoned investors for friendly, pressure-free conversations — no pitch decks, just curated meetings where entrepreneurs can access advice and feedback from industry experts. The investors buy lunch for the entrepreneurs… because each of them acknowledges that without great founders, there are no successful investors.
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