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Friday, October 9 • 4:00pm - 6:00pm
Pitch Competition: Inventors and Investors


Sponsored by San Diego startup accelerator LogicBoost Labs

During San Diego Startup Month in October 2020, leading organizations will come together to host a new virtual pitch competition, “Inventors & Investors,” exposing innovative science-based startups to angel investors and VCs. The competition will be organized by Tech Coast Angels - San Diego (TCA), CONNECT and the San Diego Innovation Council (SDIC) with support from other corporate and nonprofit groups as a way to celebrate the startup spirit and resilience during challenging economic times.

For the prior 13 years, TCA has partnered with organizations such as the John G Watson Foundation, CONNECT and Cox Business to host the annual Quick Pitch competition at Qualcomm attracting more than 500 attendees each year. Although Quick Pitch is postponed for 2020 due to the ongoing pandemic, TCA and friends will be bringing much of the enthusiasm and resources to Startup Month with the same ultimate goal of Quick Pitch; investing in the best startups. Tech Coast Angels has invested over $4M into Quick Pitch finalists over the past 4 years alone including Echo Labs, Trust & Will, NeuraLace Medical, Lynx Bio, Eyedaptic and AgTools.

Since its inception in 2016, the SDIC has organized an annual Innovation Showcase, featuring high quality, investment ready, academic research-based startups from Southern California. The annual Innovation Showcase attracts 500 attendees from Southern California, Boston, the Bay area and abroad, including investors, large corporations, corporate and intellectual property attorneys. During the Showcase, the attendees and members of the SDIC, including TCA, local incubators, founders and others help the presenting startups advance their funding, collaboration and partnership goals. Similar to TCA and many other organizations, the unprecedented challenges posed by the pandemic has caused SDIC to postpone its traditional Innovation Showcase for 2020.

In recognition of our common goals and concerns, SDIC, CONNECT and TCA are pleased to announce that they are collaborating with each other to provide the community with this new landmark event as part of San Diego Startup Month that celebrates San Diego, our unique ecosystem for startup formation, support and success, and highlights the important role of research discoveries made by our San Diego academic institutions. It is with great pride that we present Inventors & Investors.

Date: Friday, October 9 2020
4 - 6 pm PST

Competition: 10 companies will be selected as finalists from a pool of startups curated by the SDIC. Each finalist will be assigned TCA coaches to help refine their elevator pitches that will be conducted before a panel of investor judges at the culminating event during Startup Month.

Prize: The 1st place winner selected by the judge panel will receive an automatic slot to pitch at one of TCA’s screening meetings in consideration for TCA funding. TCA invested over $12M into startups in 2019.

Speakers
avatar for Dr. Anindya Bagchi

Dr. Anindya Bagchi

CEO & Co-founder, Styx Biotechnologies
Styx is co-founded by four passionate scientists who truly believes in the power of basic research. With pertinent human health problems in mind, our mission is to craft innovative technologies that empower the immune system to deliver lasting cures.At Styx, we have developed technologies... Read More →
avatar for Shawn Gahr

Shawn Gahr

CEO & Co-founder, Novoron Bioscience
avatar for Andrew Sharabi

Andrew Sharabi

CEO & Co-Founder, Toragen
Dr. Andrew Sharabi is a Board Certified Radiation Oncologist and Assistant Professor at UC San Diego, and physician-scientist with a Ph.D. in Immunology who specializes in treating Head and Neck Cancer.An internationally recognized expert on Radiation and ImmunotherapyPrinciple investigator... Read More →
avatar for Anita Busquets

Anita Busquets

CEO & Co-founder, Toragen, Inc.
avatar for Travis Stiles

Travis Stiles

Founder and CEO, Novoron Bioscience
Co-Founder and CEO Novoron Bioscience. Inventor of novel approaches to repairing damage or disease of the brain and spinal cord. Public speaker passionate about overcoming barriers to innovation and embracing the complexity of human disease towards improving the human condition.
avatar for Venu Gutlapalli

Venu Gutlapalli

CEO, Tag-N-Trac Inc.
I worked 20yrs at wireless leader Qualcomm Inc, Atheros Inc. commercializing WiFi, Bluetooth, and Location technologies from cradle to commercial launch and scaled multiple products to billions of volume. I built and managed global teams working with the world’s leading mobile and... Read More →
avatar for Bonn Macy

Bonn Macy

CEO, Phyteau
As a management consultant and business strategist Bonn Macy has helped some of the largest and some of the smallest companies around the world develop and implement strategies, assess markets and competitors, evaluate new technologies, and develop new businesses. Bonn has been a... Read More →
avatar for Tosh Dutt

Tosh Dutt

CEO, ChargeNet Stations
Tosh is the CEO of ChargeNet. His subject matter expertise in Distributed Energy Resources and EV Charging derives from his work as a consulting engineer and his senior management background in the Cleantech space over the past 12 years.ChargeNet Stations partners with QSR franchisees... Read More →
avatar for Shu Xiang

Shu Xiang

CEO, Softsonics
Shu Xiang leverages her materials science background to solve problems in biomedical device engineering. Her passion started when witnessing countless technologies that originated from academic labs fail to scale even before going to the market. After helping academic labs, startups... Read More →
avatar for Jamison Langguth

Jamison Langguth

CEO & Co-founder, Aero Therapeutics
Jamison has 2 years of biotech business development and 8 years of operational experience in the clinical setting including working with children that have craniofacial abnormalities, healthy adult patients in space and sleep medicine, adult patients addicted to marijuana and/or tobacco... Read More →
avatar for Ashima Shukla

Ashima Shukla

Co-Founder & CSO, Styx Biotechnologies
Styx is co-founded by four passionate scientists who truly believes in the power of basic research. With pertinent human health problems in mind, our mission is to craft innovative technologies that empower the immune system to deliver lasting cures.At Styx, we have developed technologies... Read More →
avatar for Bryan Lee

Bryan Lee

CEO & Co-founder, Candelytics
Bryan is a California native and West Point graduate, currently pursuing his MBA at Harvard Business School. Prior to this, he served as an active duty Army aviation officer and Black Hawk helicopter pilot. His private sector experience includes work in private equity, technology... Read More →
avatar for Sudabeh Moein, MD

Sudabeh Moein, MD

CEO, Moein Health
Moein Health, LLC. was founded in 2013 by Dr. Sudabeh Moein, an OB/GYN with over 20 years of experience in the field of women’s health, and specifically the early detection of cervical cancer screening, in the United States, India, and Mexico. Dr. Moein started with the honorable... Read More →
avatar for Clark Yuan

Clark Yuan

CEO & Co-founder, Candelytics
Clark is a former Army intelligence officer now pursuing dual MPP/MBA degrees from the Harvard Kennedy School and MIT Sloan. He has worked as a Goldman Sachs investment banker and also has experience in venture debt. He continues to serve as an innovation officer with Army Futures... Read More →
avatar for James Parker

James Parker

CEO & Co-founder, Candelytics
James is an electrical engineer and BYU alum. He is a dual-degree student at Harvard Business School and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. HIs previous work experience includes designing wireless technology for the intelligence community as well as co-founding a proptech... Read More →
avatar for Rubén Flores-Saaib

Rubén Flores-Saaib

President, San Diego Innovation Council
What inspires you? openness, achievements, respect, serenity, inclusion. Rubén is the Associate Director of Licensing at the University of Southern California, one of the premier private research institutions in the United States. Rubén is an energetic worldwide innovation agent... Read More →
avatar for Tari Suprapto

Tari Suprapto

Senior Advisor, External Innovation, Elanco Animal Health
Tari Suprapto, Ph.D., RTTP is a seasoned technology commercialization professional in the life sciences and Vice President of the Board of the San Diego Innovation Council (SDIC).  She has served as Program Chair in the SDIC’s Innovation Showcase and helped steer the growth of... Read More →
avatar for Connect

Connect

Connect
Helping Entrepreneurs Build Great Companies
avatar for Jared Criscuolo

Jared Criscuolo

CEO / founder, Upcycle and Company
I have a rich history of connecting people to the land. My work is all about interacting with the earth around us in more meaningful, unique, sustainable and engaging ways.
avatar for Victoria Lakers

Victoria Lakers

Board, Tech Coast Angels
Victoria is a Partner at The Lancer Group, a private equity advisory and executive search firm that connects PE firms and their portfolio companies in software with high impact leaders. Via her consulting company, Victoria has served in numerous executive roles for clients in the... Read More →
avatar for Thomas Kluz

Thomas Kluz

Senior Investment Manager, Qualcomm Ventures
Thomas is the head of health care investing at Qualcomm Ventures where he focuses on digital health care companies. Thomas is also a General Partner at dRx Capital, which is a joint venture investment company launched by Novartis and Qualcomm with a capital commitment up to $100M... Read More →
avatar for Andy White

Andy White

Startup Operations, Keshif Ventures, LLC
Strengths include leading and motivating, establishing the teams focus and reaching consensus or making the hard decisions as needed.Specialties: • Motivating and inspiring staff based on strong vision and innovative incentive programs.• Building strong teams that understand collaboration... Read More →
avatar for Mike Pellini

Mike Pellini

Managing Partner, Section 32
avatar for Kristen Leute

Kristen Leute

Partner | University Relations, OSAGE University Partners
At OUP, Kirsten is responsible for the relationships with the more than 100 academic institutions that are partnered with the fund, engaging potential new partner institutions, and enhancing and creating value-add programs for the partnered academic institutions.Kirsten is an experienced... Read More →
avatar for Denise Longley

Denise Longley

Managing Partner, Longley Capital
Denise Longley founded Longley Capital with the objective to invest in meaningful companies at the forefront of emerging technologies. Denise has extensive experience helping companies scale and mitigate risk, both as an investor and operator in the private and public markets.Prior... Read More →
avatar for San Diego Innovation Council

San Diego Innovation Council

San Diego Innovation Council
The Council convenes the region’s premier research institutions to promote a shared vision for growth through innovation, entrepreneurial activities, and education. Members are committed to supporting commercialization, investment, and new company formation. Through biannual meetings... Read More →
avatar for Tech Coast Angels

Tech Coast Angels

Tech Coast Angels
Tech Coast Angels (TCA), the largest angel investor group in the U.S., has been fueling the growth of innovative companies and entrepreneurs in Southern California since 1997. TCA identifies, mentors and funds early stage companies to help get their ideas to market, and where TCA... Read More →


Friday October 9, 2020 4:00pm - 6:00pm PDT
Virtual