GoCoach Receives $120,000 Investment Prize as Winner of July Startup Showdown Pitch Competition
Panoramic Ventures today announced that GoCoach is the winner of its second Startup Showdown, the monthly pitch competition for everyone designed to showcase and fund early-stage technology companies. GoCoach, a B2B SaaS talent development upskilling platform, received a $120,000 investment from Panoramic and gained access to its Founder Success Program.
Other companies that reached the Startup Showdown finalist round this month included:
- AMP Beauty, an online retailer that aims to revolutionize the shopping experience for Black women and women of color
- Volv, a news app for the new generation—the hustlers, explorers, and culture-shifters
- Macondo Vision, which assesses labor-force effectiveness and interaction with machines, products, and each other
- The Snapback, which forges an inclusive, informative, and supportive community designed to help mothers and babies thrive
- Datalogz, which helps teams find, understand, and document data simply
GoCoach Offers Personalized Career Coaching
GoCoach offers personalized career coaching and learning at scale so that companies can educate, empower, and retain the people they hire. The B2B SaaS platform offers self-guided coach selection, no minimum enrollment number, and also gives managers and employees clear views into their progress.
“I was tired of seeing organizations lose talent instead of investing in them, which is why our mission is to make it easier for people to grow in their careers, unlock their true potential, and achieve greater satisfaction at work,” said GoCoach Founder and CEO Kristy McCann Flynn, a former corporate HR executive. “The feedback and mentoring I received through Startup Showdown was exceptional, and I encourage other startup founders to take part. We plan to use the investment prize to continue to evolve and refine GoCoach’s technology.”
The Startup Showdown series is hosted by Panoramic Ventures, the venture capital investing team of BIP Capital, one of the most active VC firms in the Southeast. Panoramic is led by highly successful entrepreneurs and investors Paul Judge and Mark Buffington.
“Our second Startup Showdown was highly competitive, but GoCoach ultimately won due to the emphasis it places on career acceleration through coaching and learning,” said Panoramic Managing Partner Paul Judge. “Kristy and her diverse team of women leaders are focused on the premise of investing in existing talent to increase employee retention and upward mobility while also enriching the employee’s value to the organization overall.”
Startup Showdown is hosted monthly, with six open application periods each year. Every application submitted for Startup Showdown is reviewed by the Panoramic investment team, which narrows the applicant pool to 25 semifinalists for each event. Those semifinalists are invited to Mentor Day, where 100 mentor sessions are held each month.
Ultimately, five Startup Showdown finalists are selected for each event to pitch in front of a panel of guest judges with $120,000 on the line.
The application period for entrepreneurs to pitch in the August and September events is open now.
About Startup Showdown
Hosted by Panoramic Ventures, Startup Showdown is a monthly pitch competition open to early-stage software and tech-enabled service businesses. For each competition, participants will be narrowed to 25 semifinalists who benefit from a Mentor Day with industry leaders. Ultimately, five finalists in each competition pitch their innovation to a panel of guest judges with a $120,000 investment on the line. For more information, visit startupshowdown.vc or follow Startup Showdown on Instagram or Twitter @showdownvc.
About Panoramic Ventures
BIP Capital (d/b/a Panoramic Ventures) is a venture capital firm based in Atlanta that takes a “wider-view” approach to investing by targeting the Southeast and Midwest and placing a focus on diverse founders and university startups. Panoramic opens new doors for overlooked founders, giving more entrepreneurs access to capital to build leading tech companies. For more information, visit www.panoramic.vc or follow Panoramic Ventures on LinkedIn, Instagram, or Twitter @panoramicvc.
Media Contact:
Kathy Berardi
678.644.4122
