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Atlanta Startup Awards Comes to Clark Atlanta University

01/08/2020

ATLANTA, GA – January 9, 2019 -- Clark Atlanta University (CAU) today announced that more than 200 startup businesses and entrepreneurs will be on campus for this year’s prestigious Atlanta Startup Awards. The annual event, which is organized by community non-profit, Startup Atlanta, will take place 6PM Thursday, January 23 at the university’s Bishop Cornelius L. Henderson Student Center.

The Atlanta Startup Awards event celebrates the city’s most successful rising tech companies, startup pioneers and disruptive innovators.  The selection of CAU as a venue, which comes as a collaboration made possible by the CAU School of Business Administration and the Russell Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (RCIE), marks the first time that the Atlanta Startup Awards will take place in Southwest Atlanta. 

The Atlanta Startup Awards celebrates the city’s most successful rising tech companies, startup pioneers and disruptive innovators. This year Startup Atlanta will recognize two Lifetime Honorees at the event. Bernie Dixon and Charlie Paparelli will be recognized with lifetime achievement awards for their long-term contributions and measurable impact on the community they call home. 

Bernie Dixon was the first woman to simultaneously become Chairman and CEO of Atlanta Technology Angels (ATA) and is the founder of the women-focused accelerator LaunchPad2x. Named one of Atlanta Magazine’s 500 Most Powerful People, Dixon has helped build and develop programs that have resulted in attracting $988 million into the Atlanta startup ecosystem.

Charlie Paparelli has been a startup investor for nearly 25 years with five successful exits under his belt. Charlie is an angel in residence at the ATDC and a mentor at ATV. He also leads an angel organization called Angel Lounge whose mission is to encourage angel investing by becoming a more competent investor in early-stage companies and also serves as President of the High Tech Ministries.

In addition to the Lifetime Honorees, Startup Atlanta will also recognize startups in eight categories:

  • Scrappiest Startup Award
  • Best B2C Startup
  • Best Growth Stage Startup
  • Community Influencer
  • Equity Champion
  • Best B2B Startup
  • Best Social Impact Startup
  • The Art of the Pivot

The annual event is organized by Startup Atlanta, which is a community non-profit with a mission to connect, promote, and expand Atlanta’s vibrant startup ecosystem to bolster the creation of jobs, companies and wealth.

For additional information on the Atlanta Startup Awards, contact Kylan Kester at kylan@startupatlanta.com. 

About Startup Atlanta

Startup Atlanta is a community non-profit with a mission to connect, promote, and expand Atlanta’s vibrant startup ecosystem to bolster the creation of jobs, companies and wealth. Startup Atlanta achieves this by producing and publishing the annual Startup Atlanta Ecosystem Guide, a co-created community resource featuring a comprehensive list of entrepreneur support organizations in the greater Atlanta region. Startup Atlanta leads with strategic programming and partnerships: co-facilitating the quarterly Community Partners Lunch, the annual Startup Awards, and Atlanta Startup Week.  For more information, visit www.startupatlanta.com. 

About the Russell Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship

Currently in the development stages, RCIE will house a 40,000-square-foot, world-class, entrepreneurial innovation and leadership center located in Atlanta's Historic Castleberry Hill industrial neighborhood. The mission of RCIE is to empower entrepreneurs and innovators to create, invent and learn while being engaged and motivated to develop game-changing new ideas to promote economic empowerment. RCIE will be a collaborative, co-working ecosystem for both aspiring and experienced entrepreneurs, connecting a customized curriculum with corporate experience. RCIE will help foster and grow relationships between venture capitalists and Atlanta's top entrepreneurial talent while honoring the legacy of Herman J. Russell by revitalizing the area with a hub of innovation, imagination and opportunity for Atlanta's entrepreneurs. For more information, visit http://rcie.org/. 

About Clark Atlanta University

Clark Atlanta University (CAU) is a private, research-intensive, liberal arts institution, offering 38 areas of study at bachelor’s, master’s, specialists, and doctoral levels. Established in 1988 by the historic consolidation of Atlanta University (1865) and Clark College (1869), CAU continues a 150-year legacy rooted in the African-American tradition and focused on the future. Through global innovation, transformative educational experiences, and high-value engagement, CAU cultivates lifted lives that transform the world. 

The CAU School of Business Administration, provides programs in business management education with a unique, entrepreneurial focus on innovation, ethical decision-making, and real-world problem-solving. Accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), the school is comprised of six academic departments, the Center of innovation and Entrepreneurial Development (CIED).  For more than 70 years, the School has flourished as America’s top producers of African-American business professionals with students from over 40 states and 30 countries. 

To learn more about Clark Atlanta University, visit www.cau.edu .