• Startups, Entrepreneurs, Investors and Innovators

    Inclusive Ecosystem Builders

  • WHAT WE DO

    Venture Catalysts is a 501c3 non-profit that builds inclusive ecosystems through the development and strategic support for large-scale ecosystem partnerships, entrepreneurship events, funding, and growth programs.  We create ecosystem-as-a-service (EaaS) to help founders gain acceleration, investment, or revenue growth. We help entrepreneurs and corporate/org partners find optimized, custom ecosystem paths.

  • WHAT WE'VE ALREADY DONE

  •  

    CREATING IMPACT

    45,000

    Attendees / Participants

    69%

    Diverse Founders

    Largest Inaugural

    Startup Week in the Country

     

    40+

    Founded Companies

    Most Diverse

    Startup Week in the Country

    $10M+

    Company Funding Raised

  • ACCESS & GROWTH

    Attract Talent to Enter or Scale Within The Ecosystem

    Detroit Startup Week

    5-Day Celebration of Detroit Entrepreneurship

    Tentative: June 21 - 25, 2021

    Detroit Startup Weekend

    3-Day Business Hackathon

  • ACCELERATION

    Cohort Programs Accelerating Early-Stage Growth

    Startup Boost Global Pre-Accelerator

    Startup Boost Detroit

    6-Week Pre-Accelerator

    April 5, 2021 - May 10, 2021; Demo Day: June 9

    App Deadline: March 22, 2021

     

    Backstage Capital Accelerator

    Backstage Detroit Accelerator

    3-Month Early Stage Accelerator

    TBD

     

  • INVESTMENT & DEALFLOW

    Second-Stage Acceleration, Partnerships + Founder Support

    Catalyst Fund & Venture Scout Programs

    Ecosystem Focused, Founder-Contributed Fund

  • ECOSYSTEM DEVELOPMENT

    Strategic Support for Founders, Mentors and Peers

    Founders Dinners

    Bi-monthly Invite Only Dinners For Founders

    Venture Catalysts Fellows

    Ecosystem Builders Partners & Mentorship Program

    Design Challenges | Product Sprints

    Solution-oriented Product / Strategy Labs For Founders & Corporate Innovation

    Diversity & Inclusion - Events & Programs

    Example: AfroTech Detroit (2018) 2-Day conference experience dedicated to highlighting Detroit as a technological hub for inclusive innovation and entrepreneurship.

  • PROGRAM PARTNERS & SPONSORS

  • STARTUP CAPITAL PARTNERS

  • Venture Catalysts Ecosystem Builders

    Monica Wheat

    Monica Wheat

    Executive Director / Co-Founder / Partner

    Amanda Lewan

    Amanda Lewan

    Co-Founder / Partner

    Kelly LaPierre

    Kelly LaPierre

    Co-Founder / Partner

    Katrina Turnbow

    Katrina Turnbow

    Partner

    Kyle Bazzy

    Kyle Bazzy

    Co-Founder

    Tapan Kataria

    Tapan Kataria

    Venture Partner

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