The Wharton Investment Resource Exchange (WIRE) angel investing and start-up network at the WCNY is proud to host a series of short webinars in which Wharton-alumni founders of startup companies share their innovative new businesses.

This webinar series gives Wharton alumni founders the opportunity to showcase their companies among the WCNY community, take questions from alumni, and strengthen the network to facilitate potential leads for hires, advisors or investors.

On Tuesday, March 30th at 12pm EST, the upcoming WCNY startup series talk will feature Alexander Piutti, Founder & CEO of SPRK.global. Alexander will be interviewed by Jerrod Hill, who is a team member of Amazon Web Service's Venture Capital Business Development group. Questions from the audience are encouraged via the group chat on Zoom throughout the webinar.

About SPRK.global & Alexander Piutti
SPRK’s mission is to make the global food supply chain food waste free by turning millions of tons of food oversupply into a sustainable impact venture using AI to understand and anticipate patterns, enabling a rapid redistribution of oversupply - reducing waste disposal and CO2 while making more food available in cities. The company is a technology-enabled distribution platform that considers NGOs and local processing options to connect food over-supply with demand partners.

In July 2020, SPRK was selected out of 2,400 international applicants as a finalist in the Extreme Tech Challenge (XTC) – the largest "Tech For Good" competition for sustainable start-ups. With its impact-driven, innovative technology platform, SPRK went on to take first place in XTC’s “Smart Cities” category. SPRK just got nominated for the federal digitalization award of German Government ‘Ministry of Food and Agriculture’.

Alexander Piutti is a serial entrepreneur, angel investor, and innovation coach, who is deeply committed to social impact.

Alex loves two things: innovation and working with ambitious and creative minds. This led him to build multiple entrepreneurial ventures, including Global Venture Partners, Overture (sold to Yahoo! for $1.6 bn), GameGenetics, Bjooli, SirPlus, Rehago, and, most recently, SPRK.global.

After a cancer misdiagnosis in 2014, Alex chose to apply his entrepreneurial prowess to more meaningful work in the social impact sector. Since then, he has channelled his energy into for-profit ventures that address the world’s most pressing challenges.

Alex actively collaborates with other founders and out-of-the-box innovators to build economic social enterprises. He has partnered with Samsung, Volkswagen, DHL, Daimler, Alba, and Deutsche Bahn, as well as the City of Berlin and the United Nations to help them fulfill their initiatives.

Alex grew up in Meerbusch, Germany and Hong Kong. He holds a Bachelor in Electrical Engineering (Automation) from the University of Applied Sciences in Düsseldorf, an MBA from the Wharton School of Business, and an MA in International Studies from the University of Pennsylvania’s Lauder Institute. Alex lives in Berlin, Germany with his wife and two small children.

About Jerrod Hill
Jerrod Hill (WG'15), is a member of the Amazon Web Services Venture Capital Business Development team based in NYC where he focuses on funds across the United States. Prior to AWS, Jerrod worked in startup investing, management consulting, and education. He also worked at two accelerators, including DreamIt Philadelphia and Techstars NYC as well as worked at two investment funds, including Bowery Capital and Wharton Impact Investing Partners. During this period, Jerrod also worked in management consulting at the Boston Consulting Group in NYC, where he focused on strategy and people and organization projects for financial institutions.

Jerrod started his career as a science teacher with Teach for America, where he taught chemistry, physics, and physical science in Atlanta Public Schools. He has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from The Ohio State University, a M.A. in Secondary Teaching from Georgia State University, and a MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

When:
Tuesday, March 30th, 2021
12:00 PM ET - 12:45 PM ET

Cost:
WCNY Supporting Members - $10 (WCNY supporting membership costs $95/yr at Join/Renew Membership)
Other Wharton Alumni & Alumni Guests - $20
Gold & Benefactor Members - $0

Meeting Access Information:
A link, accessible by personal computer, tablet or smartphone, will be emailed to all registered guests 24-48 hours prior to the event to the "Primary Email" address listed in your profile.  Please login to update your profile and confirm that the email address listed is correct.  We will attempt to provide the ability to ask questions at the end of the presentation and time permitting.

Register:
Click here to register. Please register early as events can and do sell out quickly.

Registering from another Wharton alumni club? Click here for assistance.
 
Pre-registration is required.  Registration is subject to availability and will close on Tuesday, March 30th at 9:00am.

Cancellations must be made at least 48-hours (business day) prior to the event date by sending an email to Gabriela Sanchez. Refunds or credits for future events are not available for any no-shows or late cancellations.  Click here for full details.