The Shift: Northwest Arkansas' spring startup season begins
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Two events taking place in Bentonville Wednesday are designed to provide an opportunity to connect startups with venture capital.
The big picture: Capital investment gives startups resources to help them grow into mature, profitable businesses.
- Northwest Arkansas companies closed on more than nearly $54 million in investments through the first three quarters of 2024, according to PitchBook data shared with Axios.
VC Immersions
Hosted by Startup NWA, the VC Immersions series kicked off last year with programming and networking that eventually convened 28 meetings between startups and venture capital firms.
This year's event promises to be electric, a spokesperson for the Northwest Arkansas Council told me.
- Aside from networking, there will be three lightning round panels that run from about 11:30am-12:30pm (see full agenda).
- And there are about 200 meetings between startups and VC scheduled this year, a huge jump from less than 30 in 2024.
What to know: The event is open to the public, but registration is required. It starts at 10:45am at the Ledger Building in Bentonville.
The concluding panel includes:
- Charles Hudson, managing partner at Precursor Ventures
- Phil Libin, founder & CEO of All Turtles and Airtime
- Tammy Sun, founder & CEO of Carrot
Fuel Accelerator Demo Day
Along with networking opportunities, eight healthtech startups will pitch their ideas at this event following their 10-week stint in the Fuel Accelerator, which focuses on entrepreneurs in health technology and AI/machine learning industries.
- This is the tenth cohort from Fuel since 2019. Of the previous cohorts, at least nine relocated to Northwest Arkansas and 24 opened local offices.
What to know: The event runs from 5-9pm Wednesday and is open to the public with registration. It will be at the Heartland Whole Health Institute in Bentonville.
What we're watching: We'll be looking to hear of any deals that get struck or of any companies who feel they should be growing their companies in NWA.
📆The Shift is a regular feature to catch up quick on what's happening in Arkansas' economy and entrepreneurial ecosystem.