April 28, 2020
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (April 28, 2020) – Last week, Viewtique, a local technology startup committed to supporting locally-owned fashion boutiques, was awarded the Start South Bend Elkhart/Elevate Ventures Grand Prize during the 2020 McCloskey New Venture Competition. Founded by two brothers who share a love for the South Bend – Elkhart region, Viewtique received a $50,000 cash award provided by Startup South Bend – Elkhart (SUSBE) in partnership with Elevate Ventures, a private venture development organization that nurtures and develops emerging and existing high-growth businesses into high-performing, Indiana based-companies.
“The Viewtique team is thrilled to have secured the Startup South Bend – Elkhart/Elevate Ventures Grand Prize,” said Viewtique co-founder, Mike Cali. “We’re putting that money right to work for our boutique partners and for this community by building an online experience that helps local shoppers consider shopping local boutiques first,” said Cali. “We’re so glad SUSBE and Elevate Ventures decided to award their prize to a company dedicated to helping local boutiques thrive.”
Viewtique is one website to discover, shop, and earn rewards across your local fashion boutiques. Viewtique’s mission is to make local boutique shopping as accessible as possible to local shoppers. There are currently eleven boutiques on Viewtique.com with more coming soon. Shopping Viewtique is a great way to shop local, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, as Viewtique has committed to forgo any profits while stay-at-home orders are in place.
“We are delighted to award Viewtique with the Start South Bend Elkhart/Elevate Ventures Grand Prize,” said Susan Ford, Startup South Bend – Elkhart board member and Graham Allen Partners director. “In my mind, Viewtique is creating a double win for the region: a high potential technology startup that also meaningfully supports the continued viability of our local retailers,” said Ford. “This value proposition is compelling in general but is particularly meaningful in our current COVID-19 environment as we all do our best to shop locally.”
On April 24th, 13 area teams were awarded more than $400,000 in cash and in-kind prizes during a livestream ceremony of the 20th McCloskey New Venture Competition. Since the competition began in 2001 with 70 teams and $30,000 in awards, 2,286 teams with 7,000 participants have been awarded more than $1.65 million in prizes, and 2,900 judges and mentors have contributed.
For more information about the McCloskey New Venture Competition and to view a full breakdown of the awardees and their descriptions, click here.
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About Startup South Bend – Elkhart
Startup South Bend – Elkhart (SUSBE), one of the South Bend – Elkhart Regional Partnership’s non-profit initiatives, has been working to promote and foster the regional entrepreneurial ecosystem by stimulating the entrepreneurial spirit and culture in its citizens, identifying and nurturing new business startups and supporting the growth of existing high-potential businesses. For more information, visit StartupSouthBendElkhart.com.
About Elevate Ventures
Elevate Ventures is a private venture development organization that nurtures and develops emerging and existing high-growth businesses into high-performing, Indiana-based companies. Elevate Ventures accomplishes this by providing access to capital, rigorous business analysis and robust advisory services that connect companies with the right mix of resources businesses need to succeed long term. To learn more about Elevate Ventures, visit elevateventures.com.
Media Contacts
Regina Emberton (SUSBE) 574.344.4686 ext.4802 or remberton@southbendelkhart.org
Christopher Cali (Viewtique) 574.406.0776 or chris@shopviewtique.com
