Out-of-state investors drive growth at Cleveland's VC Fest

JumpStart Inc. will bring VC Fest back to the Huntington Convention Center in downtown Cleveland on Sept. 29 and 30, drawing close to 1,000 entrepreneurs, investors, corporate leaders and policymakers for two days of pitches, curated meetings and programming.

Now in its fourth year, the event has become JumpStart's flagship gathering and one of the larger innovation events in the Midwest. Burton D. Morgan Foundation is supporting this year's edition at the premier level.

"VC Fest is JumpStart's mission in action at scale," said JumpStart Inc. CEO Lorne Novick. "Connecting Vision to Venture is more than a theme. It is the charge behind our work: to open doors for entrepreneurs who are ready to build, compete and lead. By concentrating so much activity in one place, VC Fest gives high-potential founders and investors looking for their next high-growth investment the kind of focused environment that can turn conversations into real movement."

The 2025 event drew more than 800 participants, including 298 founders and 110 investors representing 38 states and 10 countries. Organizers facilitated over 550 curated one-on-one meetings across the two days.

Those meetings remain the centerpiece of the agenda. Along with founder-to-investor conversations, JumpStart is scheduling corporate partner meetings and investor-to-venture capitalist introductions aimed at surfacing co-investment opportunities.

Registration is running ahead of the same point last year, with the largest increase among investors, according to JumpStart. Roughly 35% of investors came from outside Ohio in 2025. That figure is tracking closer to 45% this year, which organizers attribute to growing national interest in Midwest startups. Venture firms, accelerator leaders and ecosystem organizations have partnered with JumpStart to bring founders and investors from other states and from outside the country to Cleveland.

JumpStart surveyed attendees, investors, founders and partners after last year's event and reworked parts of the format based on that feedback. One-on-one meetings have been extended from 12 minutes to 20, with additional meeting blocks added to the schedule. The organization has also opened its matchmaking platform to corporate innovation teams and large enterprises, letting founders pursue pilots, strategic partnerships and customer relationships along with investment. Programming will run out of the convention center atrium rather than spreading across separate spaces.

The pairings run on a proprietary tool that scores compatibility between founders, investors and corporate partners using registration details including industry, company stage, investment focus, traction, geography and areas of interest. The process is double opt-in. Investors and corporate partners review founder profiles and request the companies they want to meet, founders review those requests and select from them, and the platform builds meeting calendars across both days. JumpStart said it is working toward better meetings rather than more of them.

Programming runs across both days. Startup showcases and pitches take place from noon to 1:30 p.m. each day, featuring software and healthtech companies from JumpStart's Trailblazer Accelerator on Sept. 29, followed by 10 regional startups on Sept. 30. A demo zone will give 20 early and growth-stage companies floor space to show their products to investors and potential partners. Founders apply for the demo zone and the Day 2 showcase through a single registration form and can indicate which they want to be considered for. Applications remain open through Sept. 7, though space is limited.

Keynote speakers are scheduled for 11 a.m. on Sept. 29 and 3:30 p.m. on Sept. 30, with expert-led panels on technology, capital and economic growth spread across the two days. A networking reception follows the first day of programming from 5 to 6:30 p.m., with an offsite investor happy hour running from 6 to 7:30 p.m. the same evening. A Women in Tech Breakfast opens the second day at 8:30 a.m.

The format is built to save founders months of scattered outreach and travel, and to give investors a look at Midwest deal flow without visiting one city at a time.

"Entrepreneurial potential is realized when bold ideas are met with the relationships, guidance and capital required to move them forward," said Daniel Hampu, President and CEO of Burton D. Morgan Foundation. "VC Fest creates that kind of environment at a regional scale, bringing founders, investors, corporations and civic leaders together around a shared ambition for Northeast Ohio's economy. We invite leaders from across the region and beyond to experience firsthand the caliber of the companies, talent and ideas emerging here, and to consider the role they can play in helping that momentum grow."

JumpStart said the funding market has grown more disciplined over the past several years, while capital continues to reach startups with customer traction and efficient growth. Founders are also looking for strategic customers and corporate partnerships in addition to funding, which factored into the decision to bring more corporate innovators into this year's event.

While the event is hosted in Cleveland, organizers said it draws startups and entrepreneurial service providers from across Ohio, along with investors from throughout the Midwest and beyond.

Keynote speakers and panel themes will be announced in the coming weeks. Registration is open, with tickets at $199 for founders and general attendees and $399 for investors and corporate attendees. Founder and investor tickets include access to curated matchmaking. 

Registration is available at OhioVCFest.com.