Speed dating is usually a hit or miss phenomenon – either you’re wowed by the endless array of attractive members of the opposite sex vying for your attention or you’re scouting out an open window in the restroom as an escape hatch.

Thankfully, that’s not the case with next Wednesday’s (10/28/09) 2nd Annual Speed Venture Summit™ scheduled for 2-5 p.m. at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Nashua with networking to follow from 5:15-7:30 p.m. This Summit is billed as the event “Where Capital and Business Match in Minutes™.”

Simply put, the Speed Venture Summit™ is the premier speed dating style event for fast growth businesses and investors in New England, hosted by the New Hampshire High Technology Council and the New Hampshire Small Business Development Center, and brought to you by Gold Sponsor Comcast Business Class.

The Speed Venture Summit™ is an opportunity for companies to privately pitch their growth stories in person to suitable investors.

The first annual Speed Venture Summit™ whisked New England’s hottest young companies together with investors for 15-minute “dates,” leading to dozens of follow-up phone calls and e-mails for promising long-term relationships.

Twenty-six different investor groups ranked the most compelling stories from fifty entrepreneurs, who then pitched to a feverish standing-room crowd of 325 tech leaders from throughout the region.

The fan-o-meter awarded the Summit’s top prizes to Animetrics Inc. of Conway, N.H. for its facial recognition software that uses facial templates like a fingerprint to identify people at a checkpoint, and Foneshow Inc. of Truro, Mass. that enables audio and radio clips to be played on a cell phone.

Corporate sponsors for this year’s event include KBW Financial Staffing & Recruiting and the Alexander Technology Group; networking sponsors include Borealis Ventures, Cook, Little, Rosenblatt & Manson, pllc, Dynamic Network Services, Good Leads and Mass High Tech; promotional partners include the New Hampshire Division of Economic Development and the Amoskeag Business Incubator.

To learn more, visit www.speedventuresummit.org. Don’t worry about bringing roses, chocolate or candy – just bring your excellent business ideas and your enthusiasm!