Elevating Asheville's High-Growth Startups
 

Looking to launch your venture to the next level? Elevate provides founders an environment to troubleshoot day-to-day hurdles with highly experienced mentors, collaborate with other talented early-stage entrepreneurs, and become one of the program's 50 high-growth ventures building Asheville's startup community.

Founders gain valuable insights on how to tackle big challenges and lead companies as CEOs during peer-to-peer advising session through Vistage International, a component of Elevate. It's a forum for founders to learn from peers "who are having the same challenges you're experiencing, whether that’s finding capital, building their business, or hiring new people.” Membership includes high-caliber guest speakers and access to a global network of 20,000 CEOs, a value of thousands of dollars offered at no cost to participants in Elevate.

Read about Venture Asheville's entrepreneurship program in the Mountain Xpress.
Apply for Elevate by 6/3.

Past winner of WNC's InnovateHer Challenge, Pro(TECH)T recently earned a spot among the nation's top three entrepreneurs in the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA) competition, which is headed to Thailand this month. Pro(TECH)T developed a wearable technology to prevent sexual assault on campuses across the country.

Pro(TECH)T CEO Madison Eddings, a UNC-Asheville student, recently spoke with Entrepreneur magazine how she crafts compelling stories, finds mentors, and overcame a huge technical learning curve in understanding GPS location tracking technology in wearables. Chalk this up as another cool innovation within the IoTs.

Keep reading about Pro(TECH)T in Entrepreneur.

ScaleUp WNC continues to ramp up and help small companies reach their growth potential. Its 4th cohort this summer includes ADORAtherapy, Big Boom Design, Blue Ridge Solutions, JB Media Institute, and Wishbone Tiny Homes.

Thanks to Mountain BizWorks' record amounts in lending, and a string of recent announcements by The Support Center, small businesses across WNC can tap into millions of dollars more to finance their business expansions.

Check out the selected ScaleUP WNC companies.

Only 10 days left – Santosha Chocolate is aiming to double production of its locally made, raw, organic, and superfood chocolate products. Treat yourself to some of their cacao goodness by backing their Kickstarter campaign and help Santosha keep up with demand for their distribution to 42 U.S. states.

Funded! – Motorcycle enthusiasts on Kickstarter have spoken. Congrats to Helmet Halo on reaching its moderate goal in the final hours last week, which enables it to expand production of its bike helmet stands in a variety of colors that will ship this July.

Few things are as difficult and devastating as trying to live a normal life after a paralyzing accident. Outrider USA proves once again it understands how to craft a masterful story by giving paralyzed individuals a voice. Through their personal stories, we learn how Horizon Electric Adventure Vehicles restore people's mobility and ability to move freely in the great outdoors—a life changing gift to those whose lives have been tragically upended. Take a lesson from their playbook for your next media pitch.
(photo: John Ryan Photography)

Read about two local women's road to recovery in the Mountain Xpress.