[November 29, 2012]

10 Entrepreneurs to Present Business Plans to Venture Capitalists and Angel Investors During Third Annual Entrepreneurs Showcase Dec. 6 in Sacramento

Looking for the next KlickNation, Serious Magic or MaxPreps Those Sacramento / Northern California companies turned a clever idea and hard work into multimillion-dollar businesses - and hefty paydays for their founders and investors when they were sold.

Similar to the "Demo Day" events run by TechStars and Ycombinator, 10 entrepreneurs will detail their business plans in hopes of connecting with angel and venture-capital dollars during the finale of the third annual Entrepreneurs Showcase. The event is scheduled from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Dec. 6 at the Lecture Hall at the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento. The showcase is hosted by Velocity Venture Capital and is free, but seating is limited. For more information and to RSVP, see http://www.velocityvc.com/zmail/showcase/showcase-2012.html and email [email protected].

The event allows venture capitalists, corporate venture groups and angel investors to hear pitches and learn more about the most-promising tech companies in Sacramento/Northern California. Leading up to this final event, national guest speakers and a panel of top-tier investors have highlighted the seven-month program to help advise startups and connect them with much-needed capital to grow their businesses.

The keynote speaker for the December event is Robert Wiltbank, Ph.D., who is widely regarded as a global expert on angel investing performance and entrepreneurial strategy. Wiltbank is a professor at the Atkinson Graduate School of Management at Willamette University in Salem, Ore., where he teaches courses on New Venture Creation, Strategic Management and Industry Analysis. He is a Batten Institute Research Fellow with the Darden School at the University of Virginia, serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Business Venturing and the board of directors of the Angel Resurce Institute.

"Our efforts with the Entrepreneurs Showcase are focused on inspiring, educating and capitalizing entrepreneurs with bold ideas to create big businesses," said Jack Crawford Jr., General Partner of Velocity Venture Capital in Folsom. "By sharing our experiences and connecting these entrepreneurs to capital sources, we hope to accelerate their path from idea to product to company to ticker symbol."

Dell (News - Alert), Oracle, Samsung, Silicon Valley Bank and Bank of America are supporting partners of the showcase. The National Venture Capital Association and the Kauffman Fellows Program - a nonprofit dedicated to fostering entrepreneurship and training leaders from the venture capital industry in capital formation - are also collaborating with Velocity Venture Capital on the Entrepreneurs Showcase, along with the University of the Pacific.

"The growing amount of investment and entrepreneurial activity in the Sacramento area offers a tremendous amount of economic promise for the region and we look forward to watching the progress east of Silicon Valley," said Mark Heesen, President of the National Venture Capital Association. "Velocity Venture Capital has been an active member of the NVCA from a market and policy perspective, and we applaud its efforts to put the Sacramento / Northern California region on the map with venture capital firms and entrepreneurs alike."

Here is a list of the presenting companies:

Emtrain - A software company that brings together the best of training delivery technology along with tremendous instructional design and training experience to create highly effective content, delivered on a state-of-the-art, powerful enterprise training system.

innerVid - A fully customizable, embeddable, shareable online video player that can be spread through the website of an organization, email, blogs, social media and online ad buys.

Locable -- A nationwide network of local community websites working with affiliates (local magazine publishers) to create a "Main Street for the 21st Century."

MOVL - A software company driving innovation in the social television application revolution by creating connectivity between smartphones and smart TVs.

Pondera Solutions -- Combines Google's (News - Alert) massive computing power and advanced predictive analytics to help solve the problem of fraud, waste and abuse in government benefits programs.

Postcards Anywhere -- Puts the touch back in "keeping in touch" by allowing users to easily send traditional printed postcards from smartphones.

Snippet -- A mobile publishing platform powered by short form content to transform the way people share short stories and ideas.

Proximity Solutions -- An end-to-end B2C mobile marketing solution for restaurants, bars and entertainment venues to promote their daily specials.

SO:KNO - Leverages the Internet to provide efficient access to the best people and best knowledge on any topic. "Knowledge Simplified."

Wijit -- A unique lever driving and braking system that simply makes the manual wheelchair better. The Wijit allows users to travel further with less effort by amplifying the user's pushing power by over 45%.

"Silicon Valley is expanding north into San Francisco and east into Sacramento," said Mr. Crawford. "The Sacramento / Northern California region continues to produce a steady flow of interesting new companies that have ready access to some of the best technical talent, management and capital sources in the world."

In addition to working with the NVCA, Kauffman Fellow Program and others at the national level, Velocity Venture Capital has partnered at the local level with the City and County of Sacramento, the Entrepreneurs' Organization, the Sacramento Area Commerce and Trade Organization, Hacker Lab and the Sacramento Area Regional Technology Alliance.

About Velocity Venture Capital

Velocity Venture Capital is a seed and early-stage venture capital firm that invests in information technology companies as they converge with key market sectors such as Security, Medical, Energy and Education. Velocity works to identify and partner with smart, persistent and bold entrepreneurs to build world-class companies in the U.S. with special attention to companies located in Sacramento / Northern California. The firm is headquartered in the Sacramento region, just east of Silicon Valley. For more information, please visit www.velocityvc.com.

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