Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF)
This month’s newsletter starts with our Builder Highlight featuring Techlahoma. We announce a new innovative portfolio company: Watkins Conti Products. Oklahoma City is abuzz with several events this month: Oklahoma Venture Forum hosts their Member Kickoff event today the 19th; The Innovation District is putting on a “Get Funded” panel with Susan Moring as one of the panelists; OKC Pitch++ is hosting a Summer Party with startup pitches on August 25th at Cortado’s building in Bricktown. We share how our due diligence can add significant value to our portfolio companies and their long-term success. To close this month, gBETA applications are open for their Oklahoma City Fall 2021 cohort.
What Lies Ahead:
- Builder Highlight: Techlahoma
- Announcing New Portfolio Company: Watkins Conti Products
- Oklahoma Venture Forum Member Kickoff Event
- Innovation District “Get Funded” Panel
- OKC Pitch++ Event
- Adding Value Through Due Diligence
- Applications Open For gBETA Oklahoma City Fall 2021
Builders Highlight: Techlahoma
This month, Techlahoma was selected as our Builder Highlight, as their work is instrumental to building the tech community in Oklahoma. Techlahoma is a professional network of more than 4,000 information technology workers, hobbyists, students, teachers, and future technologists. Techlahoma volunteers have created 32 free user groups and 4 conferences that train on the latest skills needed to obtain employment and succeed in today’s increasingly tech-focused workforce. They teach and discuss topics ranging from design, coding, data science, hardware, mobile apps, and much more.
Learn more about Techlahoma here and join them on Slack for your daily dose of tech talk!
Announcing New Portfolio Company: Watkins Conti Products
We’re thrilled to announce our most recent investment. Edmond based Watkins Conti Products is a healthcare company that develops and commercializes products to address women’s health issues. The company has developed its first product, the Yoni Fit, to address both the causes and the symptoms of stress urinary incontinence (SUI) or involuntary urine leakage in women. The Yoni Fit is a nonsurgical, intravaginal device made of medical grade silicone for women suffering from SUI. The market for biotech addressing women’s health issues is booming, and CEO Allison Conti is a battle tested business leader and thought leader. We are fortunate to lead this round.
Oklahoma Venture Forum Member Kickoff Event
Oklahoma Venture Forum invites you to the 2021-2022 OVF Member Kickoff Event today, Thursday, August 19th at 5:30pm. Please feel free to bring a guest. The Member Kickoff event is a perfect opportunity to learn about the value of OVF membership for investors, colleges, incubators, founders, and service professionals. Don’t miss this opportunity to meet and talk with OVF members one on one and to find out why OVF is important to your business. Membership in the OVF is essential for any business, organization, group, or individual involved in economic development on a local, state, or national level.
More information and register here.
Innovation District “Get Funded” Panel
The Oklahoma City Innovation District is putting on a “Get Funded” panel for entrepreneurs. Topics discussed will include how to gauge the appropriate amount of funding for your startup, relevant types of funding, and what materials are needed to meet funders. The panel will be hosted by District President & CEO, Katy Boren. The panelists include Tom Wavering from the OU Innovation Hub, Susan Moring from Cortado Ventures, Josh Merrill from Echo Investment Capital, and Stacey Brandhorst from i2E. The panel will discuss venture capital funding, angel investments and government funding in detail.
The panel will take place on August 24th at 5:30 PM. Register for the event here.
OKC Pitch++ Event
The team that organizes OKC Tech++ is back, this time with a startup-focused event highlighting 15+ entrepreneurs doing rapid-fire pitches, followed by food, drinks, and networking. We are excited to host at Skyline Event Center, just one floor above Cortado’s offices in Bricktown.
Tickets can be purchased here.
Adding Value Through Due Diligence
It may not sound like a superpower, but we see it differently: due diligence can add significant value. Not only in our investment round, but for the long-term success of our portfolio companies. Cortado helps our companies in many ways. One of them is to get these companies ready for large institutional Series A investment rounds. We work with best-in-class partners to conduct this diligence and make recommendations to improve a company’s processes, and to bring fractional services which can cost-effectively help on an enduring basis. One such partner is HoganTaylor, an accounting firm with tremendous resources for companies from the earliest stage and through the corporate life cycle. We welcome Aaron Ackerman from HoganTaylor who has contributed their insights into this process.
Read more here.
Applications Open For gBETA Oklahoma City Fall 2021
gBETA is a program of nationally ranked startup accelerator gener8tor. The program is a free, seven-week accelerator for early-stage companies with local roots. The Oklahoma City program will run from September 30th, 2021 to November 19th, 2021. As part of the program, participating companies receive individualized coaching, One-on-one meetings with 25+ mentors, and network-building opportunities.
Applications are open until September 6th. Apply here.