Startups and investors from around the country descended on Little Rock last week for a two-day conference put on by Onward FX, a founder-funder exchange organized by the Northwest Arkansas Council.
The event started as a regional effort to connect northwest Arkansas startups with investors and venture capitalists, but once it saw success, the NWA council wanted to expand it statewide. It partnered with the Arkansas Economic Development Commission to bring the event, formerly known as VC Immersions, to Little Rock.
The summit drew applications from more than 800 startups across the country. Around 100 were selected by investors for approximately 200 one-on-one meetings with 50 investment firms. About 20% of the participating startups were Arkansas-based.
“To the 80% that are not Arkansas, we want to convince you, if you get financing, come back to the state and build a business here,” Hugh McDonald, Arkansas’ secretary of commerce, said during the event’s opening remarks.
Since launching last year, 25% of founders who have participated in the program since its launch have received term sheets, according to Nelson Peacock, president of the NWA Council.
“Those that didn’t get a term sheet certainly learned some valuable lessons and made really strong connections that they can utilize when they are ready to raise capital,” Peacock said.
The Little Rock summit featured an opening session and luncheon with a panel featuring Miles Stephens and Bill Dillard III at the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts. Then startup founders and investors were matched up for one-on-one meetings. Some startups only had meetings with one investor, while others could meet with 10. The summit concluded with a happy hour, salon dinner and after party.
Some of the Arkansas-based startups that were chosen for the event are:
- NowDiagnostics of Little Rock, represented by Kevin Clark
- Bastazo of Bentonville, represented by Philip Huff
- Servato of Little Rock, represented by Chris Mangum
- Ordinal of Bentonville, represented by Jacob Herrington
Many other startups were also present, including Innovator Health of Little Rock and Upkept Repair of Bentonville.
“We want to make sure that if you are Sam Walton, Don Tyson, J.B. Hunt, Jack Stephens, and you’re in the state right now, you have everything that you need to grow and scale your company right here, just as those leaders did a generation ago,” Peacock said.
Arkansas Ecosystem
A major goal of the Onward FX event is encouraging companies to relocate or start up in Arkansas, something the event has achieved with Ali Jabry, co-founder and CEO of Kwema, a workplace safety technology company. Kwema is currently based in St. Louis, but after visiting northwest Arkansas, Jabry is relocating both his physical location and company headquarters to Bentonville.
“This event for me is more about leveraging the connections I’ve been making since last year,” he said in a quick interview with Arkansas Business before his investor meetings. “I’m not necessarily here for the first meetup. I’m here for the third, fourth meetup.”
Jabry said the event also makes the “world smaller” for founders not from Arkansas.
Robin Atkinson, co-founder of Upkept, an online apparel repair and alterations company, attended the summit to build name recognition and establish connections ahead of future fundraising.
The company launched 20 weeks ago and has been revenue positive since launching its current platform four weeks ago.
“In Arkansas, we don’t have the same density of startup ecosystem as there is in New York or San Francisco,” Atkinson said. “Bringing people together for something like this gives us a head start. It puts us in a room where it saves us from having to do a ton of cold opens, it helps us build a relational network, it gets the word out.”
McDonald said Arkansas offers a strong environment for building businesses, citing tax cuts, reducing red tape and education reform.
“The Natural State is for builders, from entrepreneurs launching new ideas to investors helping them grow,” Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a video message to summit attendees. “Together, we’re proving the next big idea doesn’t have to start in Silicon Valley. It can start right here.”
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