AOL Founder Gives Drexel Grad $100,000
Left: Steve Case talking to a group of entrepreneurs in Detroit during a previous Rise of the Rest tour (photo courtesy of Revolution). | Right, Christopher Gray, via LinkedIn
During AOL founder Steve Case‘s visit to Philadelphia, he gave Drexel University alumnus Christopher Gray $100,000, Technical.ly Philly reports.
As part of his ‘Rise of the Rest’ tour, Case has been hearing pitches from entrepreneurs from across the East Coast. Gray’s pitch: an app he has been working on that aggregates scholarship applications called Scholly.
Gray during his appearance on Shark Tank.
Gray’s pitch to the AOL co-founder-turned-angel-investor touched on his upbringing from a poor family and the risk involved in taking out thousands of dollars in student loans, the Philadelphia Business Journal reports.
After Gray appeared on the ABC show Shark Tank earlier this year, the app skyrocketed to the most popular slot among all iPhone paid apps.
Case also awarded $10,000 Fever Smart, a patch thermometer system launched by four Penn Students, through the Student Speed Pitch:
And the winner is @FeverSmart for the $10k @Blackstone Student Speed Pitch at #riseofrest! pic.twitter.com/RXDIpAogbw
— Blackstone LaunchPad (@BXLaunchPad) September 30, 2015
“Last year, 75 percent of all venture capital funding went to three states – California, New York and Massachusetts,” Case told Philly Mag in an interview in August. “The other 47 states were fighting over the last 25 percent. That will change over next decade.”
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