.png?width=2708&height=560&name=2022%20Render%20Capital%20Red-04%20(4).png "2022 Render Capital Red Logo")
Oct 27, 2021
We were very excited to announce the 2021 winners of the Render Competition a couple of weeks ago. These companies rose to the top from over 300 applicants from all over the globe based on the analysis from our pool of experienced judges. These 100+ individuals, all from diverse backgrounds with unique perspectives, analyzed the applications and advanced the final eight companies from an initial Stage 1 submission, to a more detailed Stage 2 submission, to the final live pitch. The winning teams were selected to each receive $100,000 investments to help them take their companies to the next level. Congratulations again to these deserving startups.
The winning companies were announced and introduced to the Greater Louisville startup community at our first-ever, in-person Pitch Event, held at Lynn Family Stadium. Attendees were able to come together to celebrate the winners, make meaningful connections, and hear from keynote speaker, Brian Brackeen.
This event concluded the second annual cycle of the Render Competition. Year over year, Render Capital believes that by increasing access to risk capital through the Render Competition funds, we will begin to see an increase in vibrancy and momentum in the Greater Louisville startup ecosystem. With each cycle, the Competition invests a collective $800,000 into 8 startups that commit to building their companies in the Greater Louisville ecosystem. This year, we were pleased to fund 5 promising startups that were already locally based. We were also excited to attract and fund 3 startups from outside the region to relocate in order to receive funding and support from our community. One goal of the Render Competition initiative is access to capital for many, therefore, we believe it’s important to both attract and retain startups in our region. Our theory is that a dense pool of properly funded startups will lay the foundation for a strong and resilient startup ecosystem. Over a 5 year period, Render Capital will have funded at least 40 startups through the Competition, each of which have the potential to attract subsequent investments to support their ongoing efforts to scale and thrive as regional businesses.
With that said, access to early-stage capital is not the only appealing aspect of our region. Of course, there are no-brainers like the low costs of living and doing business, but there are also very strategic elements to choosing to build in the Louisville region. Brian Brackeen, General Partner at Lightship Capital, shared some very telling statistics in his keynote speech at our recent Pitch Event. Brackeen shared that the median multiple on invested capital for venture-backed startups exits is 5.17x in the Midwest, compared to 4.29x in the West, 4.35x in the South, and 3.89x in the Northeast. This means that both founders and investors alike have historically achieved greater economic gain when partaking in the ownership of Midwest-based companies.
Beyond this potential for greater returns, startups can also find it strategic to grow in our region if they are aligned with a specific industry of focus. The Louisville region tends to excel in the following areas: healthcare, particularly aging care, advanced manufacturing, food and beverage, logistics and e-commerce, and business services. Because of these strengths, the Render Competition consistently receives applications from companies innovating in these business clusters. Companies want to be in a region where there is a heavy presence of accessible industry leaders, research, and potential customers. Lastly, entrepreneurs have found the startup resources and support in Louisville to be more impactful than in other cities. Alex Plonsker, CEO and founder of 2020 Render Competition winning company, SplitPass, explains it well: “It’s much easier to get peoples’ attention and launch something in a smaller city (like Louisville) than in New York or LA.”
Now that we have another cohort of funded startups, we hope that the broader community is able to wrap its collective arms around each of the winning companies and make sure that they each have the tools they need to succeed. We have an outstanding group of organizations that have joined us to offer their respective resources. The winning companies are diverse across industry, business model, founder experience, etc., and they all need different resources. For this reason, we have forged partnerships with our in-kind service providers, coworking spaces, and sponsors to offer each winning company a broad support package (valued at over $1 million) that can be tailored to their unique needs.
We encourage the greater community to continue to foster the supportive environment that Alex and so many other founders have experienced. From individuals acting as mentors, service providers consulting pro bono, civic organizations connecting and directing to resources, and investors evaluating for potential deals, it truly takes a village. Collaboration will continue to be a main focus for the Render Competition as we seek to contribute to a thriving startup ecosystem.
Render Capital launched the Render Competition initiative in 2020 as a response to a lack of risk capital in Greater Louisville that entrepreneurs needed to start and grow innovative companies. We intentionally built the program to prioritize attraction and retention of high-potential companies in our region, alignment with strategic industries, and collaboration with key partners. Through consistent investments, Render Competition aims to ensure that, over time, the Greater Louisville entrepreneurial ecosystem is solidified as vibrant, dense, and accessible with plentiful capital and support for early-stage startups.
If you are interested in supporting the Render Competition initiative or the companies it funds, please reach out! We are always looking to engage more individuals and organizations to grow our network of support.
