A new European investment fund is turning to social media to find the next batch of undiscovered entrepreneurs.
Based in Paris, OneRagtime is run by a combination of millennial partners and experienced investors. The firm has created a platform to connect startups, investors, partners, and advisors and assists startups through a combination of direct investment via a fund and help with crowdsourced fundraising.
After launching in 2016, the firm conducted a Startup Hunt competition via Snapchat. This year, OneRagtime is running round 2 via Instagram. (Feel free to draw your own meta conclusions about what that says about the competition between Snapchat and Instagram.)
The "InstaPitch" contest works like this:
The OneRagtime crew is planning to visit 17 cities in Europe and Israel and kicked the tour off Monday in Tel Aviv. In advance of each stop, entrepreneurs can post a one-minute pitch video to Instagram with the name of their town and the tag @oneragtime and #StartupHunt2017.
At each stop, five startups will be chosen to pitch in front of the OneRagtime team, partners, and friends. Eventually, 16 finalists will be chosen for a championship round held in Paris on November 15. The winners are then invited to join OneRagtime's platform for further development, and perhaps funding down the road.
