Mayor Greg Stanton will join investor and tech pioneer Steve Case on a bus tour to local startup companies and tech hotspots on from 7:15 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday, October 7 at locations in Tempe, Scottsdale and throughout downtown Phoenix.
Immediately following the tour, Case will host a fireside chat and pitch competition between local startups — where he will invest $100,000 in the winner– from 3 to 6 p.m. at The Duce in downtown Phoenix.
Case – best known as co-founder, former CEO and Chairman of AOL – announced Phoenix as one of five cities selected for the tour earlier this summer. The Rise of the Rest bus tour was launched by Case and venture capital firm, Revolution, to unite local entrepreneurs, investors, innovators, and local government and business leaders, and to shine a national spotlight on emerging startup communities.
Last year, 75 percent of venture capital went to just three states: California, New York and Massachusetts. The tour highlights entrepreneurial talent outside of Silicon Valley and New York – and shows that high-growth companies can start and scale in the rest of our country’s startup cities, too.
Phoenix was chosen from hundreds of crowdsourced nominations. Case received more than 80 nominations for cities and chose five western metros that are leading the charge in the new era of technological revitalization: Omaha/Lincoln, Denver, Salt Lake City/Provo, Albuquerque and Phoenix.
