For its commitment to building young companies and fueling the Wisconsin economy, Milwaukee-based gene8tor LLC has been named the 2016 BizTimes Regional Spirit Award winner.
The award, which recognizes a person or organization that promotes and advances southeastern Wisconsin as a place to live, work and play, will be presented to gener8tor on Wednesday, May 18, at the 2016 BizTimes Bravo! Entrepreneur and I.Q. (Innovation Quotient) Awards Luncheon.
Gener8tor, which also operates in Madison, provides first-stage startups with seed capital, applies lean principles to startup development, creates an environment for entrepreneurs to collaborate and establishes access to later-stage capital, according to Joe Kirgues, who co-founded the accelerator with Troy Vosseller, Dan Armbrust, Jon Eckhardt and Joel Abraham.
But a startup accelerator founded in Milwaukee in 2012 is working to change that—and even earned a national ranking that has put this city’s entrepreneurial community on the map.
Since its founding in 2012, gener8tor’s 38 portfolio startups have raised more than $75 million in follow-on capital and have created more than 400 jobs. And the reputable Seed Accelerator Rankings Project pegged gener8tor last year as No. 14 in its ranking of the top accelerators in the country.
Kirgues will participate in a panel discussion among young and successful Milwaukee entrepreneurs at the Bravo/I.Q. luncheon. Dominic Anzalone, founder and chief executive officer of RentCollegePads.com; Joe Scanlin, co-founder and CEO of Scanalyticsl; and Richard Yau, CEO and co-founder of Bright Cellars, will also share their tales of entrepreneurial ambition and tenacity.
The Bravo/I.Q. Awards luncheon will be held May 18 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Potawatomi Hotel & Casino in Milwaukee. The awards are part of BizTimes Media’s annual BizExpo. For more information or to register, visit www.biztimes.com/bizexpo.
