Fourth annual StartUp Lehigh Valley to be held in October

StartUp Lehigh Valley, a pitch competition for entrepreneurs developed and hosted by Factory LLC, is back for a fourth year. 

This year’s competition will be held at Factory’s headquarters in South Bethlehem on Oct. 26,  from 6:30-8:00 p.m.    

In a Shark Tank-style event designed to showcase startup companies in the Lehigh Valley community and throughout Pennsylvania, 10 finalists will pitch their products and businesses to a panel of judges in front of a live and virtual audience. More than thirty thousand dollars in prize money is up for grabs, along with essential resources for startup businesses. 

 “The StartUp Lehigh Valley pitch competition is designed to help grow and showcase the entrepreneurship that’s already happening in the Valley from Easton to Allentown and getting the communities excited about supporting these local startups,” said Richard Thompson, managing partner at Factory. “We are thrilled to be partnering with WFMZ this year to broadcast the event live and reach more people than ever before. We also want to applaud Penn State Lehigh Valley LaunchBox for working with us to help pull off this competition, and for providing vital resources to our local entrepreneurs year-round, but to be clear all college and university students are welcome to participate.” 

Thompson said Factory considered dozens of cities across the U.S. before building its innovation and scaleup facility, and they found exactly they we were looking for here in the Lehigh Valley.  

“The Lehigh Valley has easy access to major airports and cities, a competitive talent pool, top-tier universities, and an exploding logistics industry,” he said. “It’s perfectly poised to become a hotbed for innovation, and this competition is all about building that entrepreneurial community. This event is helping to create a startup ecosystem right here in the Lehigh Valley.” 

The grand prize winner will take home $20,000, with two runners up earning $3,000 and $2,000 respectively. The live and virtual audience will also vote for the winner of a $1,000 Audience Choice award. Entrepreneurs have until Oct. 7 to apply and can find all the details at startuplehighvalley.com.  

For the first time this year, the Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania will present a Ben Franklin Technology Partners award to the top early-stage technology-based firm. This winner, which may be the grand prize winner or another competitor, will receive a $5,000 Ben Franklin Business and Technical Assistance grant for a specific project that is crucial to the company’s development.  

 The prize money is presented by Lehigh Valley LaunchBox. The PSU-LV LaunchBox innovation hub is located in Center Valley and provides comprehensive startup resources ranging from free legal services to access to expert business advisors. LV LaunchBox is powered by Penn State’s expansive innovation network of 21 hubs across Pennsylvania. All participants will have the opportunity to network at the event and are invited to take advantage of the full range of LaunchBox’s services.