Category: News Articles

There were three big winners at the University of Delaware Horn Program’s annual Hen Hatch pitch competition, thanks to a tie that put both WilmInvest and D15o Fueling in First Place in the student track. Alumnus Lee Beauchamp, of the College of Engineering’s Class of 2005, led his startup, O-P-S, LLC, into first place in the Alumni/Faculty/Staff track.

The finals were held at The Queen in Wilmington, where a full house watched the seven finalists give seven-minute pitches, followed by a five-minute Q&A from a panel of judges made up of top business leaders based in Delaware.

Sitting on the conjoined staircase that leads to the porches outside of two abandoned homes on E. 17th Street in Wilmington, Joel Amin Jr., Bryce Fender and Demetrius Thorn shared their big dream.

The 20-year-olds chose this area to highlight the growing problem facing the city as vacant properties bring wooden boards to blocks throughout Wilmington.

This specific block had five vacancies, a small fraction of the 1,700 or so houses in Wilmington that remain without residents.

WILMINGTON, Del. – A bio-based materials company, a maker of wearable medical sensors, and a bakery-café were among the 10 Delaware small businesses recognized Thursday as awardees of the second round of EDGE Grants from the state Division of Small Business.

Governor John Carney, Secretary of State Jeff Bullock, and Division of Small Business Director Damian DeStefano announced the companies at an event Thursday at the Carvel State Office Building in Wilmington.

Swim with the Sharks, the New Castle County Emerging Enterprise Center’s annual pitch competition, selected the social venture WilmInvest as its 2019 winner at its Nov. 1 final round at Harry’s Savoy Grill in Wilmington.

WilmInvest impressed the judges — Keith Ellison of the Urban League of Philadelphia Entrepreneurship Center, Holly Flanagan of Gabriel Investments, Mark Olazagasti of Info Solutions and Dr. Sumedh Surwade of SAS Nanotechnologies —with a pitch that included a successful pilot application of the model. The venture acquires vacant and renovates vacant properties, then helps place houseless families in the homes under WilmInvest management.

We – Bryce Fender, Demetrius Thorn and myself – envision a future where families experiencing homelessness are provided with stable housing and intensive social services to support them on their path toward home ownership.

We’re now college seniors at the University of Delaware and Penn, but the three of us met in middle school at Conrad Schools of Science and have brought together our talents to do what we call “social impact real estate investing.” After multiple pivots, we launched Wilminvest in January 2017.

The tenants in the newly renovated homes in Northeast Wilmington, Delaware, promise on their leases “to commit to nonviolence, to be health-conscious, to be environmentally conscious, to have emotional intelligence, to live with social responsibility and to commit toward growth and change.” Their landlords will prosper by improving their tenants’ lives while rebuilding troubled neighborhoods.