Volta Has $25,000 For Risk-Takers With ‘Bold Ideas’
HALIFAX – Big money will be up for grabs in Halifax May 13 when Volta holds the latest round of its Volta Cohort pitch competition.
The competition is a chance for early-stage startup companies to snag a spot in Volta’s Cohort program, which gives new founders a team of mentors, office space, and $25,000 of funding,
All burgeoning startups need to do to reap those rewards is dazzle a panel of judges with a pitch for their business on the night of the competition.
As Volta CEO Jesse Rodgers explains, the pitch competition is about giving budding entrepreneurs the opportunity to get up on stage and tell the world how they plan to change it.
“We want to see those bold ideas, and we want to see people taking chances,” Rodgers says.
Volta Cohort was first launched in 2017 as a way to inject more money into Nova Scotia’s startup economy.
Since then, it’s awarded more than $625,000 to 26 different companies, including well-known success stories like Trip Ninja.
“We end up seeing a lot of really good companies come through,” Rodgers says. “And we’ve been really impressed with how the founders have done.”
He pointed to the first intake of the cohort program, which together was awarded $475,000, and has gone on to secure more than $5 million of investment.
“That’s a big amplification of a small investment in a short period of time,” he says.
Rodgers adds that the pitch competition welcomes founders who are in all stages of development, even—maybe even especially—those that don’t feel like they’re quite ready.
“We really encourage people who really don’t feel that they’re ready to still put in the application and be a part of it because you just never know,” he says. “A lot of people really underestimate their own ability.”
Volta is already accepting applications for this latest round of the pitch competition. The deadline to apply is April 1, 2020. Anyone interested can apply here.