The Hill Country Venture Fest has confirmed its fourth and newest Gold-tier sponsor, Frontera Healthcare Network, joining Hill Country Telephone Cooperative (HCTC), Central Texas Electric Cooperative (CTEC) and Texas Regional Bank as backers of the festival's October 1, 2026 student pitch night at the Odeon Theater in Mason. Each sponsor contributes at the Gold-tier level, a prestigious $1,000 sponsorship commitment.
The Hill Country Venture Fest — named the 2025 Texas Venture Fest of the Year by the Texas Venture Alliance — is a free, one-evening event where rural Hill Country students pitch real ideas to real judges. Gold-tier sponsors are among the businesses whose backing keeps the event free for students and families to attend and enter.
This year's Gold sponsor slate also reflects the kind of local infrastructure rural students grow up around and rely on: healthcare, telecommunications, electric service, and banking. Frontera Healthcare Network brings a regional healthcare presence to the sponsor wall, while HCTC, CTEC, and Texas Regional Bank represent services that already touch homes, schools, farms, ranches, and small businesses across the Hill Country.
For the festival, that mix matters. Hill Country Venture Fest is not built as a one-night contest alone; it is designed as a public signal that student ideas belong in the same room as local employers, lenders, co-ops, service providers, families, and community leaders. Sponsor backing helps keep the event free, gives students a real stage, and shows young entrepreneurs that the region's established institutions are paying attention.
"When a bank, a co-op, a telephone company, and now a healthcare group all say yes to the same room of kids, that tells you something about what this community values." - Katie Milton Jordan
More sponsors, at every tier from Community Partner ($250) to Presenting ($2,000), are still being welcomed ahead of the October 1 event. Details are available at hillcountryventurefest.com .
