Over the past few months, Acuity has been working with some of the greatest venture stage CEOs in the southeast. As the leader of the coaching component on the Venture Atlanta, we had the opportunity to pair and coordinate 70 coaches with the 29 CEOs at three different venues over three different practice rounds. These presenting companies have undergone a grueling (and hopefully rewarding) process to perfect their pitch.

We think the hard work paid off.

Overall, we were really impressed with the roster this year and can’t wait to see what’s to come for these promising companies. The only thing cooler than walking into the wall of helmets at the College Football Hall of Fame (a new venue for the conference this year) was the energy and the enthusiasm of the 29 presenters. Here’s our official recap of this year’s pitches and the stand-outs.

Presenting Companies of Venture Atlanta 2016:

Elevator Pitch: Making the internet more efficient for esports.

Raising: $0.5 MM

Fun Fact: The company, which has raised $2.7 million so far, is backed by Hallett Capital, TechSquare Ventures and BLH Venture Partners. After their rock star opening, voted most likely to have a cult following.

Elevator Pitch: Online high school sports programming.

Raising: $5+ MM

Fun Fact: Comprised of six operating divisions: the NFHS Network, PlayOn Sports Properties, PlayOn Sports Technology, PlayOn Sports Productions, School Broadcast Program, and Digital Scout.

Elevator Pitch: Converts coax networks to fiber optics.

Raising: $5+ MM

Fun Fact: Literally blowing fiber through existing pipes to make the internet faster. My grandfather who grows bluebonnets still at age 96 will be happy that you can run fiber to the home without digging up his flowers.

Elevator Pitch: Meal delivery with business focus – lunch as a perk.

Raising: $1-3 MM

Fun Fact: Within two months of their Atlanta expansion, they doubled their business. They also hit $1 million in ARR (annual recurring revenue) in under 13 months since launching the business.

Elevator Pitch: Decentralized blockchain platform where anyone can sell their extra hard drive space.

Raising: $3-5 MM

Fun Fact: Recently launched the Storj.io platform and partnered with the Microsoft Azure blockchain-as-service ecosystem.

Elevator Pitch: Platform connects property owners with managers to sell all rental weeks in one transaction.

Raising: $3-5 MM

Fun Fact: Recently partnered with Very.Us to increase bookings for vacation properties in the sharing economy.

Elevator Pitch: Real estate crowdfunding platform.

Raising: $5+

Fun Fact: Recently doubled the states they lend to. There are no fees for investing and Groundfloor is one of three SEC approved crowdfunding platforms.

Elevator Pitch: Cloud-based finance system for B2B subscription management.

Raising: $3-5

Fun Fact: SaaSOptics serves nearly 300 customers worldwide and manages over $1.6B in revenue and invoices.

Elevator Pitch: Quickbooks alternative – go to market through community banks.

Raising: $5+

Fun Fact: Recently expanded to a larger office space in Atlanta’s Cobb Galleria, across the street from the new Braves stadium, Suntrust Park.

Elevator Pitch: Helps banks and credit unions grow by providing digital customer acquisition solutions.

Raising: $3-5

Fun Fact: Recently joined the Symitar Vendor Integration Program (VIP), which provides Gro Solutions access to Symitar’s technical resources to integrate its products within the Episys core platform.

Elevator Pitch: Biometric patient identity management and data integrity solution.

Raising: $3-5 MM

Fun Fact: Finalist at 23rd annual MAX Awards, presented by the Atlanta Business Chronicle.

Elevator Pitch: Automated chronic care management solution facilitates CCM payments.

Raising: $1-3 MM

Fun Fact: Recently partnered with MedAxiom to bring first automated chronic care system to cardiovascular care providers.

Elevator Pitch: Platform to navigate to the right healthcare outcome.

Raising: $3-5 MM

Fun Fact: Presenter, Geoff, is a Georgia State Representative and once played professional baseball for the Marlins.

Elevator Pitch: Online self-scheduling & virtual queuing for waiting rooms.

Raising: $3-5 MM

Fun Fact: Raised $1M from Martin Ventures in 2015. Also one of the cofounders was my next door neighbor freshman year in the dorms at Baylor University.

Elevator Pitch: Long-span solar canopies (with 3 patents, 3 pending, 7 provisional)

Raising: $3-5 MM

Fun Fact: Created to commercialize products developed as part of the Georgia Tech Research Institute’s work as part of the United States Department of Energy’s Sunshot program, and you can see their work outside the new Falcon stadium.

Elevator Pitch: High precision industrial digital ceramic and metalic 3-D printing.

Raising: $5+ MM

Fun Fact: Named top 5 finalist for the 2016 Metro Atlanta Export Challenge. Voted best closing picture in the pitch receiving an award from President Obama and the German Chancellor.

Elevator Pitch: Turnkey e-commerce outsourcing solution for brands.

Raising: $5+

Fun Fact: Will be sitting on the panel at this month’s MIT forum for ‘Run it by the Pros’.

Elevator Pitch: Turnkey solution for social influencers to monetize their brands.

Raising: $3-5

Fun Fact: Have been searching for new office space in Bowling Green, KY. Any leads?

Elevator Pitch: Account-based marketing platform.

Raising: $5+ MM

Fun Fact: Terminus recently moved into new office the Terminus Building in Buckhead (nice to have your name on a building I guess).

Elevator Pitch: Hiring platform for restaurant/bar industry – video based Tinder for jobs.

Raising: $5+ MM

Fun Fact: Raised $2M in just two weeks last August.

Elevator Pitch: IT security vs automobile hacking.

Raising: $1-3 MM

Fun Fact: Winner of the 11th annual Biz Launch Competition, receiving $50,000 and a spot at Venture Atlanta.

Elevator Pitch: Creates 3-D images in under 60 seconds with a smart phone.

Raising: $3-5 MM

Fun Fact: Appeared on ABC’s Shark Tank and received an investment from Marc Cuban.

Elevator Pitch: Microlearning solution to increase the engagement, retention, and effectiveness.

Raising: $5+ MM

Fun Fact: Recently relocated headquarters to Atlanta, GA and named a new CEO.

Elevator Pitch: Helps developers write integration tests for the web.

Raising: $1-3 MM

Fun Fact: Recently raised $600,000 in seed funding from Atlanta VCs. Voted biggest Twitter star.

Elevator Pitch: Electronic payment platform for lumper fees to avoid cash and checks.

Raising: $1-3 MM

Fun Fact: After having lunch with Techstars’ Tyler Scriven, Steve Chamberlain provided first round of funding.

Elevator Pitch: Enterprise mobile SaaS solution for logistics and transportation.

Raising: $5+ MM

Fun Fact: Named a TiE Atlanta top entrepreneur company for 2017.

Elevator Pitch: Sensing as a service.

Raising: $1-3

Fun Fact: Recently awarded patent by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Elevator Pitch: Operates asset management programs for IT Hardware manufacturers.

Raising: $5+

Fun Fact: Partnered with Juniper Networks to offer certified pre-owned hardware.

Elevator Pitch: Turns your cell phone into your office badge for key card entry.

Raising: $1-3

Fun Fact: Raised $325K from angel investor this past February in one round. Voted most likely to have pitch fatigue after Techstars Demo Day on Tuesday and closing Venture Atlanta on Thursday.

The main stage wasn’t the only place where magic was in the making. Upstairs on the 3rd floor, 200 companies had the opportunity to connect with investors one-on-one over the 36 hour period.

This concludes our behind-the-scenes look at Venture Atlanta 2016. Acuity is honored to be a part of the conference and serve on the Advisory Board. Once again, Venture Atlanta earned its spot as the best southeast venture conference, hands down.

Matthew May is the co-founder and managing partner at Acuity and the founding venture partner at NexGen Venture Partners.

Images provided by Venture Atlanta (ByteGraph Events) and Acuity.