Renaissance UnDemo Day® is a semi-annual event that connects Midwest startups with venture capital investors from around the U.S. The spring event is virtual, and the fall event is in person in Detroit. The goal for all UnDemo Day® events is to foster useful connections that ideally lead to investment in historically underrepresented geographies and founders.

Renaissance Venture Capital is based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, so in support of the entrepreneurial community in which we live, Fall UnDemo Day® is open to all Michigan-based startups. Spring UnDemo Day® was created to give historically underrepresented and undercapitalized founders an additional opportunity for exposure to investors. Spring UnDemo Day® is open to all Midwest-based startups led by a founder or CEO from an underrepresented community (Arab American, Black, Hispanic/Latine, Native American, LGBTQ+, Veteran, and/or Woman).

– Qualifying startups apply to participate in UnDemo Day®, sharing basic information about their company. The application takes about 20 minutes to complete, and includes an option to upload a pitch deck.

– This information is compiled and organized by Renaissance, then made available to all venture capital investors (VCs) interested in participating in UnDemo Day®.

– VCs, as part of the registration process for the event, will decide which founders they’d like to meet. They’ll submit their preferences to Renaissance.

– Renaissance will curate 1:1 meeting schedules for startups and investors, based on these investor preferences.1:1 virtual meetings are in 15-minute increments. There will be up to seven 1:1 meeting time slots.

Investors can register at undemoday.com. After you register, you’ll receive a link to the startup database as well as a link to a form where you can indicate which startups you’d like to meet.

Startups interested in venture capital investor meetings are invited to complete an application at undemoapp.com. Please read the information on the application form carefully to make sure you qualify. Participating startups should be venture-ready: incorporate cutting-edge technology; potential for ultra-fast growth and revenue generation; likely to be an attractive acquisition or IPO within 5-8 years; prepared to give up equity.

2024 Spring DEI UnDemo Day® is April 17 from 11:30am-4pm Eastern Time. It’s a virtual event. For those who are local, there will be an in-person Wind Down event in Detroit following UnDemo Day®. 2024 Fall UnDemo Day® is October 2 in Detroit. More details will be available in summer 2024.

2024 Spring DEI UnDemo Day® is a virtual event on April 17. The agenda is below; all times are in Eastern Time:

11:30am: Welcome and Startup Education Sessions (topics include Startup Board Management and Building a Capital Stack)

12:45pm: Instructions for the afternoon session

1:00pm: Live Pitches

2:00pm: Break

2:15pm: 1:1 Meetings between Startups and Investors (custom schedules)

4:00pm: Spring DEI UnDemo Day Concludes

5:00pm: Wind Down (in-person gathering in Detroit for those who are local)

The virtual platform we are using for Spring UnDemo Day® is ConnectSpace. We strongly encourage you to spend a few minutes familiarizing yourself with  ConnectSpace in advance of the event on April 17.

All participants who pre-register for Spring DEI UnDemo Day will receive a “magic link” to a unique login for ConnectSpace, which will take you directly to the virtual event lobby. The link will be emailed to you, and sent to you via a calendar invitation. Use this link to verify your access to the platform and to navigate the virtual space. Remember: all links are unique to you. If you have a colleague who wishes to participate, they must register for the event. For specific instructions on how to navigate ConnectSpace, please review the FAQ Document.