2023 Innovation Awards honorees - Accelerate Venture Partners

NXTUS’ Accelerate Venture Partners program has seen some amazing growth and change in 2022. Accelerate Venture Partners is not only an angel investment group based in Wichita that mobilizes early stage capital into local and regional startup companies and entrepreneurs, it is also a platform to help educate and grow the number of angel investors and startup companies that want to participate in seeking and deploying financial capital to grow and scale amazing businesses.

In 2022, the team at AVP created a collection of courses intended to educate (1) entrepreneurs on how to appropriately fund their business and be ready for funding, and (2) individuals within the community on how to evaluate investment opportunities from local and regional entrepreneurs. The courses took various forms depending on the needs of the audience: virtual multi-week courses, in-person workshops, and panel discussions.

For early-stage entrepreneurs, a prominent gap is understanding when you need external funding, what type is best suited, and how to be prepared. AVP’s founder-focused course walked local founders through these decisions with their own businesses to assist them in being fully prepared for outside funding.

Wichita and Kansas have a large collection of potential “angel investors” (investors who help and invest in early stage startups) who either don’t know they could be angels or aren’t connected to a community where they can learn and grow to become one. AVP’s investor-focused course helped new angel investors and prospective angel investors on how to evaluate business opportunities and how they can help local and regional startups.

In the first year of launching these programs, the investor-focused sessions brought in more than 225 attendees and more than 160 entrepreneurs from not only Wichita but across Kansas and the Heartland. Initial feedback remained very positive, with AVP looking to grow and expand these programs in 2023.

AVP is excited to continue to grow the number and diversity of investors and entrepreneurs served in the coming years with its innovative content and curriculum that is highly needed in the startup community.