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Austin-based Loop & Tie got a nice surprise at last week's second annual Google for Entrepreneurs Demo Day — a $100,000 investment from AOL co-founder Steve Case.
Case invested $100,000 in four female-founded startups that participated in the pitch competition, notably highlighting them in his ‘Rise of the Rest’ concept – that great startups exist outside of the well-known Silicon Valley and New York areas.
“These are impressive companies with amazing potential and are exactly the types of companies that I am excited to invest in," Case said in a statement. "It is great to find such companies being led by the four women who appeared on-stage at today’s competition. I am mindful of the diversity challenges that still face the startup world, and I am proud to support these women launching their startups.”
This announcement follows a similar one Case made at the first ever Google for Entrepreneurs Demo Day in 2014 when he surprised the ten participating entrepreneurs with a $100,000 in each of their companies.
Taking square aim at corporate gifting practices and hoping to make them a bit more personalized without falling back into the “personalized pen” trope of yore, Loop & Tie offers a gifting system that allows gift-givers to select a dollar amount and a suggested product to give to recipients, allowing them wiggle room to select an alternative gift if the one chosen isn’t to their liking. Loop & Tie’s founders liken it to the experience of having a boss bring an employee into the store and telling them to choose whatever they’d like. With gift levels of $25, $50, $75 and $100, the app offers a wide range of tasteful options, from chocolate to cocktail shakers to LSTN headphones to donations to charity.
The Demo Day featured 12 selected startups to pitch their companies to an audience of investors, and receive feedback from judges, which included Case, Ann Winblad from Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, and Blake Byers from Google Ventures.
