Utah's First Shark Tank-ish Event Raised Nearly $5 Million in 2 Days
The goal of the event was to successfully launch new startups or grow existing businesses by providing a support team, funding, marketing, and resources.
With funding from several angels and grants there was more than enough money to go around. What was unique about the event was the marketing muscle and sales distribution channels brought together in one room. Brock Felt was one of the main organizers of the event, titled Startup Elevated. He has launched businesses in health, software, consulting services, data science, risk management, e-commerce, lead generation, product development, real estate, and online acquisition. His holdings have included auto dealerships, event companies, skincare, and education.
The event took place in Sandy Utah, right next to the Rio Tinto stadium. With 100's of entrepreneurs and inventors registered to pitch at the event, there was a lot of speculation as to whether or not everyone would get a chance to do so. As sometimes happens with these types of pitching events, not everyone who registered actually showed up so nearly everyone had their chance to shine.
Below are some of the more notable companies that actually landed handshake deals with Brock and his team of funding, sales, distribution and marketing experts.
Zift is an integrated payment technology providing third party software platforms, online marketplaces, and software integrators a solution for offering Payments as a Service (PaaS) to their downstream customers.
It does this in an omni-channel environment allowing the merchant to accept all payment types through a single point of integration. Founder Nate Hughes shown here with partners at the event.
Vidit Take any image or object and attach your personal virtual content to it. Landmarks, book, photos, products all become places where you can leave a message. Vidit takes images of real life objects and attaches information and content to those images. If you see a picture on a wall or a billboard on the side of the road you no longer have to type in a website or a word to see what it's all about. Simply open the app search the image or object and the content will appear. Founder Rene Rodriguez is a serial entrepreneur with 20 years of business development in various industries.
Shaides Inc. is an innovative eyewear company driven to redefine the purpose of sunglasses. In 2013 they were a Top 20 finalist out of 3,000 applications at Telebrands, the largest As Seen On TV company in the world.
According to Collin Martin, President, "Our flagship product Store 'n Shades® offers the first to market sunglasses with integrated storage chambers within each temple. These sunglasses allow the consumer to store paper currency, pills, or medications within the temples (earpieces). The name is derived from storage inside of sunglasses (shades). Store 'n Shades® has been awarded a United States patent and trademark." This product has received many accolades from top professionals in the eyewear world.
Socialink is proximity based app that allows you to trade contact info and social media profiles with those around you in a quick effortless way. It's similar to wearing a virtual name tag. It allows you to network and entire room in just a few seconds. Users create a profile with relevant information about themselves and this profile can be discovered by other around them (100 ft). Users can also see the profiles of those around them and see if they share things in common. This will get people in meetings talking and connecting with each other.
The purpose is to eliminate social anxiety and barriers and enable people to interact with each other and make new meaningful social connections. Founder Ephraim Tinoco has founded and sold several businesses and isn't yet in his 30's.
OMO+ A portable pod of fun, the OMO+ has an integrated 10,800 mAh battery and waterproof enclosure that keeps the party rocking with lights and sound for over 8 hours. The waterproof exterior can be submerged up to 1 meter for as long as 30 minutes. Using integrated Bluetooth 4.0 technology, the OMO+ boasts 24mbps for high fidelity stereo sound and the ability to link 2 devices to the OMO+. Developed to entertain when and where we like, the OMO+ has over 40 watts of power with 4 integrated speakers and 2 sub woofers
Andreas haase former design director for Alienware started Human Technology Products to release the Omo+. He has a long history of designing products for AT&T, Motorola and whirlpool. He and his team are constantly exploring new product categories to bring to market
