Tech Demo Day in Greenwood set for Thursday

Build In Tulsa’s Techstars will host its third Demo Day event on Greenwood Avenue at Vista 21 from 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday.

Demo Day will feature 12 tech-enabled start-up founders, pitching their companies’ successes and projections in the company of potential investors and Tulsa community leaders.

The event, lead by Tré Baker, managing director of Build In Tulsa’s Techstars, will also feature guests John Hill, evangelist at Techstars, and Miles Dotson, partner at Devland.

Techstars is a global startup network.

This event will also be supported by Tulsa community organizations such as the George Kaiser Family Foundation, Build In Tulsa, Atento Capital, Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies, and the Oklahoma Center of the Advancement of Science and Technology.

“The spirit that once made Black Wall Street great is alive and well in Tulsa. It is one of entrepreneurship, community, and cooperation,” Baker said in a news release.

The event is free, but does require registration and has limited capacity. The event will begin with a networking happy hour, followed by 12 pitches by the accelerator companies.

Vesta Capital, a real estate investment firm that specializes in the acquisition, renovation and ongoing management of multifamily communities, announced it sold Waterford, a 344-unit multifamily property in Tulsa.

The Waterford property, 5181 S. Harvard Ave., was initially acquired for $23,564,000 ($67,500 per unit) at the end of 2018.

The divestment, now at $32,336,000 ($94,000 per unit), results in a total project return of 21.8% for investors and a project equity multiple of 1.92x, a Vesta news release said.

“This transaction highlights Vesta’s adept financial management and reinforces its position as a prominent player in the real estate investment sector,” the company said in the release.

“Over the past 5 years, we’ve achieved remarkable success at the Waterford community, delivering not only for our valued investors but also for the residents who call Waterford home. We take immense pride in what we’ve accomplished,” said Marc Kulick, founder and CEO of Vesta Capital.

“Now, as we navigate these uncertain economic times, I am equally proud and excited to secure a win for our investors and provide stellar returns. The sale of Waterford is not just a transaction; it’s a testament to our commitment to excellence in the real estate industry.”

Vesta Capital’s current portfolio consists of 10,000-plus units across Class A, B, and C+ assets in Arkansas, Kansas, and Oklahoma.

Applications for Oklahoma Farm Bureau’s 2024 Oklahoma Grassroots Rural & Ag Business Accelerators program year are now open until March 1 for rural Oklahoma and agricultural innovators looking to develop their enterprises and deepen their business understanding.

The Activate Oklahoma rural innovation pipeline provides resources and assistance for innovative rural Oklahoma businesses that have an innovation or product that will bring economic opportunities to rural Oklahoma.

The newly revamped AgCelerate Oklahoma agricultural innovation pipeline is for innovators who have innovations and technologies with an on-farm or production agriculture application that will help diversify opportunities for farmers. The AgCelerate pipeline prepares innovators to apply for the national AgLaunch365 agricultural business accelerator or participate in Activate Oklahoma.

Each innovation pipeline provides innovators with multiple training sessions that begin in April and May and run through September.

The trainings include pipeline-specific boot camps that connect entrepreneurs with Oklahoma-focused business resources and curriculum to grow and expand their businesses. Additional training will follow the initial boot camps to provide a well-rounded experience for innovators.

Graduates of both Activate Oklahoma and AgCelerate Oklahoma will have the opportunity to pitch their ideas for an opportunity to receive equity investment from the program’s partnering organizations. Both pipelines also prepare innovators for additional funding opportunities such as grants, loans and creative funding mechanisms.

Applications for both the Activate and AgCelerate pipelines are available on the Oklahoma Farm Bureau website at okfarmbureau.org/AcceleratorApp.

There is no cost to participate in either innovation pipeline, and successful candidates must attend all provided training sessions.

Successful applicants must have significant business operations in Oklahoma and be located in a community with a population of 50,000 or less.