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Startup Row Launches With Events in Chicago and London

Startup Row provides free booth space in PyCon’s expo hall to early-stage startups building products and services with Python. In our first year, Solomon Hykes—founder of Docker—joined. Famous Pythonistas previously featured on Startup Row include Wes McKinney, Andrew Godwin, Audrey Roy Greenfeld, and Danny Roy Greenfeld.

This year, Startup Row launches our road show with pitch events in both Chicago and London. On November 13th, Braintree hosts PyCon Startup Row at their Chicago headquarters. Joining as special guests are Naomi Ceder, chair of the Python Software Foundation, and Ewa Jodlowska, the PSF’s Director of Operations and an Officer Director of the PSF Board.

For Chicago, we are featuring the following companies:
  • 4Degrees – A data-driven, contextually-aware discovery and management platform for professional relationships.
  • Monument – A secure, connected hard drive for personal photo storage and backups, with AI-powered tagging and search.
  • NextHealthChoice – Reducing waste and overhead in health insurance pre-authorization processes for medical providers through automation.
  • Valqari – Makers of the RCVR-PAD, a patented, smart, and secure mailbox for drone deliveries.
Joining Naomi Ceder on the judging panel are:
  • Momei Qu is a Vice President on Baird’s venture capital team in Chicago, where she focuses on the firm’s healthcare investments. Baird Venture Capital has invested in Chicago-based startups like Hireology.
  • Samara Mejia Hernandez is a Principal at MATH Venture Partners, an early-stage venture fund that holds positions in great Chicago startups like SpotHero. Samara is an advocate for diversity in tech startups and venture capital, and she sits on the boards of nonprofits like Women Tech Founders, CIS of Chicago, and VentureUp.
RSVP on Eventbrite and use thePSF for free registration at https://psfstartups.eventbrite.com?discount=thepsf

Following Chicago, Bloomberg hosts us in their London office for our first ever international Startup Row roadshow event. Startup Row staff Jason D. Rowley and Don Sheu will be curating the best UK-based startups that use Python to build their software to pitch on November 27th.

Startup Row 2017 alumnus and Anvil founder, Meredydd Luff, will share with our attendees what it feels like to go from exhibiting in PyCon’s expo hall to being at the top of Hacker News for two days.

To join us, RSVP on Eventbrite and use BloombergStartupRow for a free registration at  https://londonsr.eventbrite.com?discount=BloombergStartupRow

Founders, join us on Startup Row!

There are two paths to choose here. You can either win a spot on Startup Row by being selected as the best startup to present at one of our live pitch events, or by having your online application—submitted via our form—picked by the Startup Row selection committee.

This year, Startup Row is hosting live pitch events in a number of locations:
  • Chicago, IL at Braintree HQ on November 13, 2017 (Get tickets)
  • London, UK at Bloomberg LP on November 29, 2017 (Get tickets)
  • Indianapolis, IN at The Speakeasy on January 9, 2018 (Get tickets)
  • New York, NY – January 2018
  • Seattle, WA – date TBD
  • San Francisco, CA – date TBD
If you want to pitch at a Startup Row event, please apply online no later than two weeks before the event and select “Yes” for the corresponding event in the application form.

Don’t worry if you can’t pitch at one of our local pitch events, or if your company wasn’t selected as a winner at a local pitch event. Your company can join the general applicant pool and will be reviewed by Startup Row’s selection committee. (For more information about Startup Row in a more Q&A-style format, check out our announcement from last year. But be sure to apply for 2018’s season from the links in this post.)

Written by Jason D. Rowley
Edited by Brian Curtin

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