“Rise of the Rest” tour with Steve Case comes to Richmond on May 4

Richmond will kick off Steve Case’s “Rise of the Rest” tour this spring when it makes its first trek through the Southern U.S.  When the road trip stops in the River City May 4, one startup will have the chance to win $100,000 from the AOL founder during a pitch competition.

Case, who heads Revolution, a Washington, D.C.-based venture capital firm, will invest a total of $500,000 in local startups during the five-city, weeklong tour. It also will stop in Raleigh-Durham, Charleston, Atlanta and New Orleans.

Since founding America Online, Case has served as co-founder, chair and CEO of Revolution, an investment firm with more than $1.4 billion in assets that has invested in Zipcar, Bigcommerce, Sweetgreen and other companies. During previous “Rise of the Rest” bus tours, Case has invested in nine local startups.

In each city the Revolution team and partners also will visit local startups, accelerators and incubators; hold public events to discuss the local startup ecosystem and celebrate at a party and networking event for local leaders in each startup community.

Revolution is partnering with Google for Entrepreneurs, UP Global, Salesforce for Startups, Engine, Seed Here Studio, Tech Cocktail, Startup Grind and Village Capital for the tour.