Steve Case, chairman and CEO of Revolution and co-founder of AOL, plans to invest 100,000 in four female founded startups following a pitch competition last week.
Sara Rodell with Loop and Tie, based in Austin, received a check. So did the founders of Mati Energy in Durham, NC, InRentive in Chicago, Il. and Seamless Planet in Montreal, Quebec.
The four startups participated in the Google for Entrepreneurs Demo Day which featured 12 selected startups. They pitched their companies to an audience of investors. The judges included Case, Ann Winblad from Hummer Winblad Venture Partners and Blake Byers from Google Ventures.
“These are impressive companies with amazing potential and are exactly the types of companies that I am excited to invest in,” Case said in a news release.
The companies pitching, represented “The Rise of the Rest,” which is Case’s mission to foster startup communities outside of Silicon Valley.
Loop & Tie is an online gifting service that lets companies send unique gifts to customers. Silicon Hills News did this profile of the company last year. The startup is part of Capital Factory’s accelerator program and has raised $625,000 previously. In 2012, Rodell and Jeffrey Schwartz founded Next One’s On Me, which later evolved to Loop & Tie.
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