Launch: Startup Pitch Competition
Presented by Silicon Valley Bank + Synapse
Florida Startups Compete for the chance to win $150,000
Early-stage Florida technology companies are invited to compete for a chance to win a $150,000 investment on Center Stage at the annual Synapse Summit in Tampa, Florida on Tuesday, February 14th.
The competition named “Launch” will provide participating founders with three educational sessions followed by a two-stage pitch competition. Both founders and community members can take advantage of 3 educational sessions that take founders through the essentials of fundraising: storytelling, pitch decks and data rooms, and capital raise fundamentals.
Following the educational sessions top founders will be selected to pitch in front of investors, founders, and ecosystem participants, with the top three companies taking the main stage at Synapse Summit to compete for $150,000.
Application ends Tuesday, February 7th!
Who can apply?
-
- Florida-based early-stage companies
- Technology company requiring venture capital funding
- Minimum Viable Product in place
- Are actively selling product or service (or are very close to launch)
- Under $2.0M of funding
- Less than 3 years old
- Finalists must be able to join in person at Synapse Summit on Tuesday, February 14th in Tampa to pitch
Learn from the experts about the best practices to perfect your pitch:
The events below are free and open to the community – join us live in person or virtually
Miami – Wednesday, February 1st. 6-8:30pm @ Base Miami
Telling Your Story, featuring Robbie Crabtree, Performative Speaking
Orlando – Friday, February 3rd, 4-6:30pm @ Orlando Economic Partnership
Perfecting Your Pitch Deck, featuring Ken Hall, Deepwork Capital & Dawn Haynes, StarterStudio
Tampa – Monday, February 6th, 6-8:30pm @ Embarc Collective
Capital Raise Fundamentals, featuring Richard Munassi, Tampa Bay Wave & Derek Barnett, Silicon Valley Bank
Tampa – Monday, February 13, 3-5pm @ Embarc Collective
RSVP Here! (EXCLUSIVE FOR SYNAPSE SUMMIT TICKET HOLDERS)
PITCH DAY – Tuesday, February 14th, 4-5pm @ Synapse Summit, Amalie Arena
Thank you to our capital providers:

About DeepWork Capital
DeepWork Capital, an early-stage venture capital firm based in Central Florida investing in innovative technology and life sciences companies founded in underserved markets.

About Las Olas Ventures
LOVC is an early-stage venture capital fund based in Florida that invests exclusively in B2B software companies. Founded in 2016 by former entrepreneurs, LOVC is now investing out of its $50M Fund II and typically leads $3-5M seed rounds with $1.5-2.5M initial checks. Beyond providing capital, the firm makes all of its resources available to help guide founders through sales strategy, business development, fundraising, and the other key functions of scaling product-market fit.

About Tesseract Ventures Fund
Tesseract Ventures Fund (TVFund.us) invests in and enables next generation United States companies who shape the future of defense and critical infrastructure capabilities through the creation and application of advanced technology. Our aligned focus areas include defense, energy, manufacturing, transportation, construction, agriculture, and cyber security.
Details and Rules
Structure of investment:
- Structure/Terms: Capped SAFE
- Cap terms based on revenue
- $0-$250k Annual Revenue – $5M Cap
- Above $250k Annual Revenue – Each additional $50k of revenue provides an additional $500k on cap (e.g. $300k revenue -$5.5M Cap