Judges announced for 2nd Beta City pitch contest

Here come the judges!

Betamore and Sagamore Ventures, co-sponsors of an upcoming Beta City event showcasing emerging Maryland companies and celebrating the state’s culture of entrepreneurship, have announced who will judge the second annual pitch competition at City Garage on Sept. 29.

At the inaugural Beta City event last year, a group of startups competed for…well, bragging rights, mostly. But this year, there’s $75,000 in prize money at stake.

To get it, this year’s as-yet-unidentified contestants will have to charm and impress 16 investors and venture capitalists from around the region, including representatives from the Baltimore Angels, Plank Industries and Camden Partners.

Betamore CEO Jen Meyer said in a statement that it was a privilege to be hosting such influential investors. The support the competition has received is a testament to Baltimore’s growth as a top city for entrepreneurship, she said.

Those tapped to be this year’s panel judges include:

David Wise of the Abell Foundation

John Cammack of the Baltimore Angels

Jacob Hodes of Brown Advisory

Jason Tagler of Camden Partners

Jeff Cherry of Conscious Venture Labs

Rich Kohr of Evergreen Advisors

Deric Emry of Greenspring Associates

Paul Palmieri of Grit Capital

Chuck Cullen, Grotech Ventures

Christy Wyskiel of Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures

Pat Kerins of New Enterprise Associates

John Bassett of NextGen Angels

Demian Costa of Plank Industries

Anthony Raley of Silicon Valley Bank

John Wasilisin of the Maryland Technology Development Corp. (TEDCO)

Tom Kuegler of Wasabi Ventures.

City Garage is the former bus repair facility in Port Covington that Sagamore has revamped to serve as a hub of entrepreneurship and light manufacturing.

Local companies Citelighter — makers of a digital platform to help students improve their research and writing skills — and Yet Analytics — which has a data analysis platform to help large organizations judge their performance, were honored by judges last year.

Since then, Citelighter has moved out of Betamore’s co-working space and into new office space at The Foundry on Fort Avenue in Baltimore.