Venture Atlanta, one of the largest venture capital conferences in the nation that supports the Southeast's most promising tech companies, has announced a new format for founders competing in the pre-seed and seed pitch competition on September 27-28, 2023. Venture Atlanta Startup Showcase Live will partner with the Southeast's most active venture capital firms – Catalyst by Wellstar, Florida Funders, Knoll Ventures, and Panoramic Ventures to host one of the largest pitch competitions to date.

To apply to the Venture Atlanta Showcase Live competition, submit your application here. The deadline for applications is July 28, 2023.

"Each year, the Startup Showcase attracts some of the most innovative pre-seed and seed companies in the Southeast and we feel this will be an incredible platform for those companies to have the opportunity to win the $500,000 investment. At Venture Atlanta, our mission has always been to connect companies with capital and this certainly meets that objective," said Allyson Eman, CEO of Venture Atlanta. "We're thrilled to strengthen our 2023 Showcase by partnering with some of the most respected venture capital firms in the region."

Founders will have a chance to pitch well-known investors on stage in front of a live audience and win a $500,000 investment from Catalyst by Wellstar, Florida Funders, Knoll Ventures, and Panoramic Ventures.

"We're excited to bring this new format to Venture Atlanta to give founders exposure to over 450 investors representing more than 250 funds nationwide," said Mark Flickinger, Venture Atlanta Chairman of the Board. "This partnership speaks to the ongoing collaboration across the ecosystem to support extraordinary founders building category-leading companies across the Southeast."

Venture Atlanta Startup Showcase Live will select 40 of the best seed stage startups in the Southeast through a competitive application process. The selected startups will participate in virtual mentoring days, and from there, 10 semifinalists will be selected during a kickoff event at the Atlanta Tech Village on September 13. The semifinalists will then go on to present on stage at Venture Atlanta. Through audience voting and investor judges, four finalists will be chosen to take the stage to compete for the ultimate prize in the grand finale pitch competition.

The competition will occur during Venture Atlanta, scheduled for September 27-28, 2023, in Atlanta at The Woodruff Arts Center and Atlanta Symphony Hall. The conference is set to sell-out again this year, building on the momentum from 2022, which recorded the largest audience ever in attendance. Venture Atlanta welcomes leading venture capitalists, startup founders, corporate enterprises, government officials, media outlets, and guest judges.

To-date, more than 760 technology companies have pitched at Venture Atlanta since the conference's 2008 inception, of which companies have raised an aggregate of more than $7.5 billion in venture capital funding.