Entrepreneurs and angel investors will gather at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Lexington this Friday to discuss opportunities and challenges for new enterprises and startup investment in the Bluegrass.
The SPARK Angel Investor Summit is an annual meeting organized through a partnership of Commerce Lexington Inc. and the Lexington Innovation Office of the University of Kentucky’s
Von Allmen Center for Entrepreneurship, a part of the Gatton College of Business and Economics. The event, which takes place this year on Friday, September 28, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., draws investors, entrepreneurs, service providers and government officials from across the region to participate in panel discussions and presentations related to entrepreneurship, startups and angel investing. The last day to sign up to attend the event is Tuesday, September 25.
This year’s keynote address, to be delivered by the leader and fund manager of Lexington’s Bluegrass Angels investor group, David Goodnight, who will discuss the impact of angel investing on the Kentucky economy. Goodnight is also a former Lexmark executive and UK Adjunct Professor in Entrepreneurship, as well as serving as the lead instructor for the “Entrepreneur & Business Startups” class in the Gatton College’s MBA program.
“My address will follow the story of Smart Farm Systems, one of Central Kentucky’s most exciting startups,” Goodnight said in a release announcing the summit. “Their story was made possible by the growth of the Kentucky startup ecosystem in recent years to support an early stage, high-risk venture like Smart Farm. Additionally, with Smart Farm and other startup stories in Kentucky, the value of angel investors as active board members, advisors and mentors, in addition to financial backers, is apparent. Kentucky startups are inventing the future, and they are creating employment opportunities, tax revenue and new wealth for Kentucky.”
In addition, Awesome Inc. CEO Brian Raney will moderate a panel discussion titled "Filling the Pipeline," which will review recent developments in startup best practices and the role that accelerator programs, such as the Awesome Fellowship, and university-based entrepreneurship programs play in helping startup entrepreneurs move from the idea stage to an investment-ready startup. Eric Castlen, associate director/technology commercialization and licensing team for UK’s Office of Technology Commercialization, and Warren Nash, executive director of the Von Allmen Center, will serve as panelists.
Additional planned sessions for the event include a mock fund manager session to provide a behind-the-scenes perspective on investors’ decision-making processes, and a panel discussion featuring representatives from investment funds based both inside and outside of Kentucky.
“Having regional investors, startups, entrepreneurs and government officials together in one room — at events like the SPARK Angel Investor Summit — networking and sharing best practices is an essential element of the startup and angel investment ecosystems,” said Eric Hartman, director of the UK Lexington Innovation Office.
Startup entrepreneurs from throughout Kentucky will also be featured in an expo space during the event.
The SPARK Angel Investor Summit costs $100 to attend the full day and is open to the public. Interested participants must register by the deadline of 4 p.m. on Sept. 25. To register, or for more information on the event, including a full agenda, go online to the event’s registration site here.