An upcoming summer webinar series sponsored by SC Competes, a division of the South Carolina Council on Competitiveness will show tech firms where to find financing.
The CAP Carolina-2024 webinar series provides financing opportunities across a wide range of needs ranging from private to government funds.
Jamie DeMent, Director of Technology and Cybersecurity Initiatives for SC Competes, told ABD the webinar series is the outgrowth of meetings with tech companies of all sizes across the Palmetto State.
“One of the feedbacks that we were hearing was, as an entrepreneur, you have your head down, and you are kind of focusing on creating your product, and sometimes, it’s hard to know what exactly is out and about for opportunities when it comes to everything from early stage private financing to federal funds, to venture capital funds to even just small business resources,” she explained. “After hearing that feedback, we thought that we could, being a statewide connector and convener, that we could put together a webinar series that would really do just a quick touch on all of these.”
The South Carolina Research Authority (SCRA) will participate in each of the three webinars, along with speakers from the public and private sectors.
“We are lucky enough to have SCRA speaking in all three because they do have such a large breadth of resources that we wanted to give them a chance to kind of spotlight the different things they’re doing,” DeMent said. “Then, we tried to make sure each had some sort of funding, each had some sort of entrepreneurial ecosystem provider in the state, and each one also had some sort of resource. So, they all do have the diversity of options and opportunities.”
The first of the three webinars will be on July 10 from 9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. It will include guest speakers, Ron Conner with Apex Accelerator, Cliff Holekamp with Cultivation Capital, and Will Cruz representing InvestSC.
“We did try to kind of specialize in tech, because that’s where our lane is, technology and cyber security. But really, any company in an innovative sector, I think, would benefit from attending,” said DeMent. “Because if they’re not aware of all the different small business resources, loan information, capital resources, federal funds, etc., in the state, this really gives them a quick resource to be able to do that.”
The second webinar will be on July 23 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Speakers will include Peter Shand of Business Development of South Carolina, Grady Johnson of Harbour Entrepreneur, and Nancy Conwell with the South Carolina Department of Commerce.
The final webinar in the series will be on August 15 with David Mendez of Good Growth Capital, Charlie Banks with VentureSouth, and Suzanne Dickerson with SC Competes/SC Fraunhofer USA Alliance.
There is no charge to attend the webinars. Each will be recorded and available online on the SC Competes YouTube channel.
Register for the July event at: www.eventbrite.com/e/cap-carolina-webinar-series-part-i-tickets-912651654667?aff=oddtdtcreator
Details on the series are available at: www.sccompetes.org/event/cap-carolinas-summer-webinar-series/ or by emailing DeMent at jdement@sccompete.org
