Venku is one of four startups awarded a $50,000 equity-free infusion of cash as the 1ST50K competition expanded its ‘winners circle’ this year. CEO Murielle Gaither tells the 4thEst8 that the cash will largely go to software development for the platform as the startup drives up customer count and revenue.
This years winners are:
- Venku – billed as ‘the Airbnb of outdoor experience’
- SportsTrace – athletic analysis software to enhance performance and prevent injury
- Swipesum – a service to help small businesses and payment processors connect
- Upswot – a white label for banks that connects to small businesses’ applications
“We typically award one or two teams,” Codefi Co-Founder Chris Carnell said in a statement. Codefi administers the competition in partnership with the Missouri Technology Corporation. “This year is unprecedented. We’re going to award all four teams $50,000 and they’re all going to locate here in Cape Girardeau for the next year. There’s going to be millions of dollars invested in our community and high wage jobs created.”
In addition to the $50K, startups receive membership in the Codefi co-working space and technology incubator, business coaching, mentorship, and introduction to venture capital and angel investment networks. All four finalists will have to relocate to Cape Girardeau as part of the 1ST50K program, but Venku (formerly Outside – 360 ) CEO Murielle Gaither says that’s not a problem for her year-old three person startup.
“We are currently headquartered in Cape Girardeau, with an office in St. Louis at T-Rex,” she said. The company is also one of the 2019 fall cohort at Capital Innovators. “We launched last year and moved an office up to St. Louis, commuting two or three times a week, to get access to technology development talent. But then Covid hit. We looked around and realized we were working totally remotely and things were fine – We were given permission to be anywhere and do our business from anywhere and still have access to talent. Around that time the 1ST50K applications opened. We didn’t know much about all the resources here (in Cape), but we were really excited to find the level of talent in tech development that we did. We discovered we have everything we need to move our business forward right here.”
Venku launched about a year ago. The company is an online marketplace connecting people seeking outdoor experiences with venues that offer them. Gaither tells the 4thEst8 that the Covid lock-down helped her business.
“When everyone was in lock-down we were bringing hosts onto the platform,” she said, adding that the other two full-time employees are engaged with host support. “For us, it was an opportunity to build out inventory on our site, so we experienced phenomenal growth.”
1ST50K is a partnership of Codefi with the Missouri Technology Corporation. In the Spring of 2020, MTC selected 1ST50K as an award recipient for their highly competitive grant competition, Missouri Building Entrepreneurial Capacity. The award is matched dollar for dollar by local, private donations to support the project, and the award provides a regional focus to 1ST50K as well as support to launch 1ST5K in partnership with Southeast Missouri State University.
