Top 50 Emerging Companies Nationwide to be elected by leading Venture Capital Funds & Angel Investors

NEW YORK, — FundingPost (http://www.fundingpost.com/) proudly announced the start of its second annual Pitching Across America(TM) competition, with WolfBlock as the premier sponsor and PR Newswire as the media sponsor of the event. FundingPost, which has been introducing entrepreneurs to investors for over 4 years, established the competition last year in which 140 Venture Capital Funds and Angel Investors participated as judges, voting on 400 business summaries from emerging companies nationwide. It was the largest Venture Capital competition ever organized. The Pitching Across America competition is significant because it helps Venture Capital and Angel Investors quickly identify worthwhile investment opportunities. In addition, the competition helps provide entrepreneurs with useful feedback about the quality and professionalism of their pitch to investors. FundingPost expects to duplicate its success from last year’s Pitching Across America event again this year.
The emerging companies will be evaluated on a scale of 1 to 10. Judging criteria consisted of several key points including: the professionalism of the written summary, current stage of development (customers, revenue), competitive advantage and need in the marketplace, feasibility for success, and whether the company is "VentureWorthy(TM)."
"We are thrilled to be running Pitching Across America again this year. The response and the level of interest from both the Venture and Angel community and the entrepreneurs who participated in Pitching Across America(TM) last year was tremendous," said Joe Rubin, Director, FundingPost, "Both the investors and entrepreneurs really saw the value in the competition. We expect to find another 50 compelling opportunities this year."
Last year’s national winner of the Pitching Across America competition, Remote Play, Inc., has gone on to have an oversubscribed Series A round from Angel investors. “Being the national winner of Pitching Across America was a terrific boost for Remote Play,” said Gideon Naim, CFO of Remote Play, Inc.. “FundingPost’s competition got us in front of a host of different types of investors, from Angel investors and Venture Capitalists to Investment Bankers. Certainly the publicity we received from Pitching Across America helped us secure our Series A round of financing.”
Pitching Across America also received tremendous accolades from its investors judges last year. "FundingPost's latest Pitching Across America event was stellar," said Bill Funcannon, Partner, OVP Venture Partners. "As a judge representing the top-tier fund in the Pacific Northwest, I was impressed by the 50 companies selected from a list of more than 400 entries. The start-ups chosen for the final round represented real balance of companies between earlier- and later- stage investing. There is a natural mix of winners from industry segments based on market opportunities, and a balance between risk and reward for venture capitalists and entrepreneurs alike."
"The FundingPost competition provided an efficient vehicle in which a busy VC could quickly evaluate many investment opportunities," said Daniel Penberthy, Rand Capital. "Much has been said about entrepreneurs always having their 'elevator speech' ready. Well, this is the 'elevator of today' and entrepreneurs need to be able to summarize their business opportunity in a few paragraphs instead of minutes, if they are to be successful in today's fundraising environment.”
About Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen
Founded in Philadelphia in 1903, Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen LLP, a Pennsylvania Limited Liability Partnership, is an organization of 300 attorneys and other professionals offering legal and law related services throughout the mid-Atlantic states. Legal services in the areas of corporate/securities, emerging growth, venture capital counseling, information technology, intellectual property, international transactions, real estate, structured finance, securitization, litigation, environmental law, health law, employment law, personal planning and consumer law are provided in six Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen offices; WolfBlock Brach Eichler in Roseland, NJ; and Government Relations services in Harrisburg, PA and Washington, DC.
About PR Newswire
Now in its 51st year, PR Newswire Association LLC (www.prnewswire.com) provides electronic distribution, targeting, measurement, translation and broadcast services on behalf of some 40,000 corporate, government, association, labour, non-profit, and other customers worldwide. Using PR Newswire, these organisations reach a variety of critical audiences including the news media, the investment community, government decision-makers, and the general public with their up-to-the-minute, full-text news developments.
Established in 1954, PR Newswire has offices in 11 countries and routinely sends its customers' news to outlets in 135 countries and in 30 languages. Utilising the latest in communications technology, PR Newswire content is considered a mainstay among news reporters, investors and individuals who seek breaking news from the source.
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About FundingPost
For over four years FundingPost has worked with thousands of Angel and Venture Capital Investors and Entrepreneurs. FundingPost has hosted over 5,000 CEOs and 600 Venture Funds at events in 15 cities nationwide, as well as providing a quarterly Dealflow magazine and a deal-exchange Website that has, on average, seen an introduction of an Investor to an Entrepreneur every business day since its inception. FundingPost’s mission to reach investors and entrepreneurs in every medium possible – both online and offline, and it is experiencing strong growth as the venture capital markets continue to improve worldwide. For more information: http://www.fundingpost.com
Note to editors: Please contact us at press@fundingpost.com for additional information or to schedule interviews with FundingPost or any of the participants or judges of the competition.