Attend

Connect, Learn, Celebrate

Embark on a transformative 2-day journey at Seed The South by learning and connecting with hundreds of industry leaders in the Southeast.

Location: The Casey by Beau Monde
1837 N Tryon St #102, Charlotte, NC 28206

An Unparalleled Experience

Seed The South is a one-of-a-kind capital summit designed to empower you to elevate your business, refine your skills, and emerge as a more effective leader. Immerse yourself in Charlotte’s thriving startup ecosystem by meeting impact-driven founders, regional investors, and local business partners all under one roof. Seize the opportunity to expand your professional circle and amplify your own impact through several networking opportunities structured to forge meaningful connections.

What to Expect

Whether you’re looking to scale your startup, support promising ventures, or connect with local entrepreneurs, this is the place to be.

Over 2 action-packed days, you will:

Attend various pitch segments, including the Big Pitch, to watch innovative startups present their ideas to influential investors, showcasing the region's thriving entrepreneurial scene.

The Agenda: Pitch competition, early stage pitches, Startup Alley.

Learn from subject matter experts to level up your business, expand your skill set, and become a better leader.

The Agenda: Founder and investor panels, educational sessions, sponsor highlights.

Connect meaningfully and strategically expand your network with over 300 industry leaders.

The Agenda: Fireside chats, networking sessions, interactive lunch and break sessions.

Celebrate innovation with impact-driven entrepreneurs at electrifying events – done Southern style.

The Agenda: Welcome and wrap-up parties, award show, lively networking sessions.

Agenda

Day 1
Day 2
9:00 AM

Mindful Pitching – A Guided Meditation for Founders Pitching

Brooke Daniels, Founder & CEO, Holistic Hustler

9:15 AM

Doors Open // Startup Alley

10:00 AM

Summit Kickoff & Opening Remarks

Emcee: David Hunt, Founder, Framewrk
Juan Garzón, Managing Director, Innovate Charlotte
Sam Smith, Chief Revenue Officer, Virtual StrongBox

10:30 AM

Funding The South: 2024 Outlook

Moderator: Liz Brigham, Director, Hurt Hub @Davidson
Mark Flickinger, COO, BIP Ventures
Brandon Shelton, Founder & Managing Partner, TFX Capital
Matt Dunbar, Cofounder and Managing Director, VentureSouth

11:15 AM

Showcase Pitches

  • Vectra Automation Inc
  • Caboodle Home Solutions
  • BILDIT
  • Greens Health
  • Flux Hybrids
  • Tax Titans
11:45 AM

Lunch & Startup Alley

1:15 PM

Standups & Startups

Robert E. Daniel, Founder & Chief Comedy Officer, Standups & Startups

1:30 PM

Showcase Pitches

  • MRGN
  • Candlelit Care
  • Momtech Inc.
  • Vectari
  • Rehicle
2:00 PM

Show Her The Money Movie - Trailer

2:10 PM

From Seed To Scale: Founder Insights on Scaling Success

Moderated by: Rob Cummings, Advisor, Investor, Exited Founder
Joe Giordano, CEO and Cofounder, Payzer
Justin Adams, CEO, Aiwyn
Christine Nicodemus, CEO, Wayhaven

2:50 PM

Networking // Coffee Break // Startup Alley

3:20 PM

Showcase Pitches

  • Fashivly
  • Asterion AI
  • BuilderComs
  • Outsyde
  • She Raises Capital
3:50 PM

Keynote Address

Karl Rectanus, Educator | Advisor | Operator | Optimist

4:30 PM

Founders & Funders Welcome Party

8:30 AM

Investor Breakfast (Investor Badges Only)

Ben Hicks, Attorney, Wagner Hicks PLLC

9:00 AM

Mindful Pitching – A Guided Meditation for Founders Pitching

9:15 AM

Doors Open // Startup Alley

10:00 AM

Day 2 Opening Remarks

Emcee: David Hunt, Founder, Framewrk
Juan Garzón, Managing Director, Innovate Charlotte

10:15 AM

Investor Panel: Decoding VC Investment Criteria

Moderated by: Ben Hicks, Attorney, Wagner Hicks PLLC
David Jones, General Partner, Bull City Venture Partners
Zakiya Alta Lee, Senior Associate, IDEA Fund Partners
Trevor Kienzle, Managing Director, Correlation Ventures

11:00 AM

Inside The Board Room - Fireside Chat

Ashley Gautreaux, Partner, CreativeCo Capital
Tyler Traudt, Cofounder & CEO, DebtBook

11:45 AM

Lunch & Startup Alley

1:15 PM

How We Seed The South As A Region

Moderated by: Allyson Eman, CEO, Venture Atlanta Sam Davidson, CEO, Nashville Entrepreneur Center
Kelly Rowell, CEO, CED
Matt Bell, Director, SC Launch at SCRA
Blake Patton, Founder and Managing Partner, Tech Square Ventures

2:00 PM

Big Pitch

  • Leantime
  • Storybutton
  • Salus CM
  • Stork Exchange
  • mPATH Health
2:45 PM

Standups & Startups #2

3:00 PM

Big Pitch

  • Spot
  • Gilly AI
  • ServeScape
  • HANK.ai
  • Wildcard
3:45 PM

Big Pitch Deliberation and Selection

Emcee: Tami McQueen, CMO, BIP Ventures
Mark McDowell, Managing Partner, Charlotte Fund
Stephanie Alger, Head of Strategy, Risk, and Analytics - Vista Credit Partners
Ashley Gautreaux, Partner, CreativeCo Capital
David Stunja, COO, PetScreening
Andrew Ashur, CEO & Founder at Lucid
Christine Nicodemus, CEO, Wayhaven

4:00 PM

Closing Thoughts

Juan Garzón, Managing Director, Innovate Charlotte

Purchase Tickets

Seed The South offers different ticket types for Startups and Investors participating in the conference, and General Admission tickets for any locals looking for a good time.

Presale

(February 12 - March 12)

Regular

(March 12 – April 30)

Last Minute

(April 30 - May 15)

Startups

Founders or on the leadership team of a scalable venture. Pitching companies will receive 1 complimentary registration.

$125

$175

$225

Investors

Angel investors, fund administrators, and venture capitalists.

$275

$325

$475

Community

Support organizations, community leaders, vendors, or anyone else.

$200

$250

$300

Join Our Email List

Whether you’re looking to scale your startup, support promising ventures, or connect with local entrepreneurs, this is the place to be. Join our email list to stay updated with info on the summit.

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What Our Past Attendees Said

Register Now

One of the best venture events in the Southeast. Seed the South is a great spotlight of the many exceptional founders in North Carolina. It’s one of the best events in the Southeast connecting investors and founders.

Ashley Gautreaux
Partner, Creative Co. Capital

Seed the South was an amazing experience! Seed the South was an amazing experience for me as a founder. I got to meet fantastic investors, connect with fellow founders, and learn so much from the quality content. It’s definitely one of the standout events in the Southeast.

Christine Nicodemus
Founder & CEO, Wayhaven

Seed The South is designed for companies who want to positively impact Charlotte-area entrepreneurs. NC IDEA has been a proud supporter of Innovate Charlotte's efforts to build an equitable entrepreneurial ecosystem for many years. If you're interested in positively impacting Charlotte-area entrepreneurs, you should strongly consider supporting the upcoming Seed the South Capital Summit.

Ben Redding
CFO, NC IDEA

An atmosphere that breathes community, growth & validation. This summit is incredible for Founders, Speakers, Investors and like-minded peers to connect in an atmosphere that breathes community, growth, and validation in the local startup ecosystem.

Justin Witz
Founder & CEO, Catapult

The energy, the buzz, and the dynamic crowd make this summit an unforgettable experience. Being a speaker at the summit was nothing short of amazing! These events are the heartbeat of our ecosystem, where ideas collide, collaborations ignite, and innovation takes center stage. If you're not here, you're missing out on being part of something truly extraordinary!

Desmond Wiggan
Founder & CEO, BatteryXchange