Capital One and Next Gen Join Forces to Support Young Founders

The Fortune 500 Financial Corporation Is Backing a Startup Community and Competition for Student Entrepreneurs!

Philadelphia, PA – Today, Capital One and Next Gen Summit announce their corporate partnership to host a startup competition and event aimed at empowering a community of collegiate-aged founders in the Philadelphia area and beyond. The two organizations deeply believe in the positive social impact of young entrepreneurs and are taking action to support the growing demographic. Students from more than 20 schools in the Philadelphia area will engage with the partnership, bolstered by Next Gen community members and ambassadors at the University of Pennsylvania, Villanova, the University of Delaware, and dozens more. Founders from Jamaica, Germany, and South Korea are registered to participate as well.

“We are proud to support Next Gen and the young entrepreneurs participating in the start-up competition,” said Joe Westcott, Delaware Market President at Capital One. “These entrepreneurs and start-ups are the future of our economy, and it’s critical to offer our support and guidance. Our investment in Next Gen is part of Future Edge – Capital One’s $150 million, five-year commitment to empower more Americans to succeed in the 21st century economy.”


Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/embed/NxL_RPAWxCk

Next Gen is a global community of over 3,000 community members spread across 6 continents. The community is comprised of talented young entrepreneurs, many of whom have appeared on Shark Tank, been named Forbes 30U30, Time 30U30, Inc. 30U30, & Thiel 20U20, and won Google Science Fair, ISEF, & I-SWEEEP.

Young people are exhibiting more entrepreneurial behaviors and tendencies than ever, but they’re not starting businesses. According to a nationwide study by Ernst & Young, 62% of millennials have considered starting a business and 55% believe millennials are more entrepreneurial than older generations. A lack of resources prohibits this group from starting up, with 42% of millennials citing financial obstacles.

Announcing the partnership, Next Gen Co-founders Justin Lafazan and Dylan Gambardella wrote: “It is truly remarkable an organization like Capital One is standing up and supporting young founders worldwide. We could not be more excited to work together with Capital One to empower the next generation of startup leaders.”

The partnership will support founders both digitally as well as through a live conference in October. Online, Capital One and Next Gen will create content to educate founders on key business practices and work to mentor startups applying for the competition with relevant feedback. The finalists will be invited to pitch their startups during Next Gen Summit @ Philadelphia, powered by Capital One. Team members from both organizations will help mentor the young entrepreneurs attending the October event.

Speaking to the news of the partnership, Next Gen Community Member Fiore Ceniccola was excited by the opportunity. “When you’re starting a business at 21, too often you don’t know what you don’t know. That’s why I’m grateful Next Gen is facilitating an opportunity for me to learn from the team at Capital One. That mentorship and feedback is crucial for my growth.”

To learn more about the event, visit Next Gen’s website at NGSummit.com/CapitalOne.

About Next Gen:

Next Gen Summit is the premier community and conference for young entrepreneurs, as well as a global network of the brightest millennials. With a direct reach to 5,000+ founders, hundreds of college campuses, and millions of online viewers/followers, Next Gen curates this talented group and brings them together to connect, collaborate and inspire each other. Next Gen aims to connect this community with the resources necessary for entrepreneurial success, including funding, mentorship, educational opportunities, and more. The 2018 Next Gen Summit featured 760 participants selected from thousands of applications, and over 150 speakers and mentors including the founders of Rotten Tomatoes, Priceline, Modell’s Sporting Goods, and more.

About Capital One:

Capital One Financial Corporation, headquartered in McLean, Virginia, is a Fortune 500 company with branch locations primarily in New York, New Jersey, Texas, Louisiana, Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. Its subsidiaries, Capital One, N.A. and Capital One Bank (USA), N. A., offer a broad spectrum of financial products and services to consumers, small businesses and commercial clients. We apply the same principles of innovation, collaboration and empowerment in our commitment to our communities across the country that we do in our business. We recognize that helping to build strong and healthy communities – good places to work, good places to do business and good places to raise families – benefits us all and we are proud to support this and other community initiatives.

For more information, visit: www.capitaloneinvestingforgood.com

Media Contact
Company Name: Next Gen Summit
Contact Person: Haley Smith
Email: Send Email
Phone: 5163400041
Country: United States
Website: https://www.ngsummit.com/