HVCA recognizes Startup Paradise champions at annual awards gala

The air was thick with anticipation and enthusiasm at the 18th annual Hawaii Venture Capital Association Entrepreneur & Deal of the Year awards gala this past spring. The ballroom of the Waialae Country Club was packed with a record number of entrepreneurs, innovators, politicians and supporters of the individuals and companies driving our innovation economy forward.

The event also marked the 30th anniversary of HVCA, with opening remarks on the state of Hawai‘i’s entrepreneurial landscape coming from several fixtures in Startup Paradise, including HVCA President Meli James; Robbie Melton, executive director and CEO of the Hawaii Technology Development Corporation; and Senator Will Espero. “Hawai‘i is more than military and tourism,” Espero says. “We need to invest in entrepreneurism to ensure our future is bright.”

Melton’s picks for the top five events in the land of innovation this year? Hawai‘i native and notable Silicon Valley venture capitalist Guy Kawasaki—a former Apple employee involved in marketing the first Macintosh computer in 1984—came home to Hawai‘i to serve as keynote speaker for Blue Startups Demo Day in July 2017. This year also saw the launch of Hawai‘i’s first ag-tech hackathon, a multiday event bringing together computer programmers and entrepreneurs to develop software addressing invasive species and other hurtles in the ag-tech space in Hawai‘i. In what Melton calls a victory of brains over brawn, Impact Hub Honolulu took over Gold’s Gym in Kaka‘ako, unveiling its expansive new collaborative workspace in late January. Smart Yields arrived in Rome in August 2017 to participate in the Laudato Si’ Startup Challenge, the Vatican’s first tech accelerator program. The Honolulu-based startup presented in a demo day in Vatican City in December and was awarded $100,000 in funding to continue its progress building efficiencies in farming on a global scale. Finally, co-founders Meli James, Britney Heyd and Michael Cheski launched Hawai‘i-made product accelerator Mana Up to help grow the next generation of million-dollar companies in Hawai‘i.

Former HVCA president Bill Spencer reminisced about his 15-year tenure with the association and shared with the crowd his personal breakdown of HVCA’s four guiding pillars. “H” for history, now that the association has spent the last 30 years laying the foundation for Startup Paradise alongside HTDC; “V” for the vision to educate and show venture capitalists that they can invest in their own backyard while bringing entrepreneurial opportunities to the community; “C” for community, because a thriving network is vital to growing the ecosystem fueling Hawai‘i’s innovation economy; and, lastly, “A” for action. Our work, Spencer says, is far from done. We need to continue to ramp up support for the entrepreneurs and investors paving the way for the next generation of innovators in Startup Paradise.