80 Emerging Venture Capitalists Gather in Downtown St. Louis for Leadership Summit

Over the last two days, almost 80 individuals from 27 venture funds from around the US gathered at the T-REX Innovation Center Downtown for the Emerging Venture Leaders Summit (EVLS).

With sessions covering topics like “The Path to Founding a Venture Fund,” “Valuations: Fresh Thinking,” “Competitiveness and Governance” and “The Promise of Blockchain,” the event brought together associates and analysts to learn from established VCs. Local VCs Peter Reinecke of Arsenal Capital, Mary Jo Gorman of Prosper and Atul Kamra of SixThirty spoke during sessions.

Through “Lighting Talks,” emerging venture leaders had the chance to present to their peers for five minutes each. Matt Plummer of The Yield Lab covered “Drones and Data in Ag,” while Greg Beaufait of Dundee Venture Capital in Omaha presented on “Learning My Value as a New VC.”

Taking place over two days, the event had, of course, a social component, taking the group to the National Blues Museum blocks away from T-REX.

The event was sponsored by Cultivation Capital, BioGenerator, Polsinelli, Missouri Technology Corporation, SixThirty, Village Capital, RiverVest Venture Partners, T-REX and Active Capital, and corporate sponsors were RGA, Monsanto and Gainsight.