The Colorado Venture Summit was started with two simple goals… create an event that will attract out of state Venture Capitalists to get on an airplane and come to Colorado and provide a day for tech Founders/CEOs to network with those VCs and each other without being overwhelmed by service providers. It seems the Summit has pulled this off. Last year’s summit attracted 44 Venture Capital Firms representing over $10 billion in capital and 50 venture backed tech CEOs that had collectively raised over $1.6B in capital to the exclusive Main Event and another 350+ earlier stage tech Founders/CEOs to the Evening Party. While no official record book is kept, it seems the Summit represents the single largest gathering of venture firms and tech Founders/CEOs that occurs in Colorado.
What makes the Summit different is that attendance is curated. Attendance at the exclusive main event is limited to VCs and tech Founders/CEOs that have raised at least $1.5M in capital including a VC investor or $3.0M without a VC. The only service providers who can attend are the sponsors. At the Evening Party, tech Founders/CEOs from companies of all stages and angel investors are invited to meet and mingle with the Main Event attendees and with each other.
Based on feedback from attendees, the Summit has created over 80 new relationships between CEOs of Colorado venture-backed companies and venture funds that remain interested in their company for future investment. And while it can take some time for relationships to spawn funding events, Digabit met Questmark Capital for the first time at the Summit and completed an $8M investment from the firm. The expectation is that this is just the beginning of future funding events assisted by the Summit’s ability to attract VCs from out of state.
This year’s Summit will be on June 8 with the Main Event occurring at Mile High Stadium followed by the Evening Party at the Kitchen Next Door at Union Sation. For full information and to qualify to register visit www.coloradoventuresumit.com
