High Stakes Pitch Night firms close funding

At least three of the five companies that presented at the High Stakes Pitch Night held at L’auberge Casino & Hotel in November have since closed on some business funding, says SeNSE board member Sean Simone—but not necessarily from the Pitch Night investors. VoiceHIT has raised $200,000 from the Angels of Southwest Louisiana, Simone says. The Outdoor Shopper has raised $150,000, and is in talks with Todd Graves, who made a tentative $25,000 offer at Pitch Night. Graves also intends to do a deal with Bioceptive, another company that gave a pitch at the event. Graves didn’t mention a specific number in a recent interview, but his tentative Pitch Night offer to Bioceptive was $25,000, with the possibility of going higher. The $200,000 deal discussed with Whipsy—representing the biggest number tossed out at Pitch Night—appears to be dead, at least for now. “We tried to move forward with [Whipsy], and have been unable to do so,” says Kevin Couhig of Source Capital, who was one of the Pitch Night “sharks,” or judges, along with Graves, developer Mike Wampold and Cajun Industries President/CEO Ken Jacob. Couhig says he still may work with one of the five companies, without naming which one; during Pitch Night, he expressed interest in VoiceHIT. Jacob made a tentative $50,000 offer to the fifth company, LaCell, at the event; Jacob and LaCell founder Dr. Jeffrey Kimble could not immediately be reached for an update. —David Jacobs