Senior Moment
The Covid-19 pandemic is presenting challenges to us all, but the crisis has been felt particularly acutely in senior living facilities. That’s why today we’re featuring three Triangle startups who operate in that space—K4Connect, Roobrik and Viibrant—to highlight how they’re adapting to the heightened needs of their customers. You can read our full story here.
Meet... Ms. Polish
Given how much time we’re all spending at home these days, it’s only natural that some of us are going to get awful sick of looking at the same couch and wallpaper every day. Fortunately, Durham’s Spoonflower can meet the need for new home décor with its on-demand printing of fabric and wallpaper. Spoonflower President Allison Polish is the subject of the latest edition of the Meet... Q&A series from Tricia Lucas. You’ll learn about Allison’s unique path to her present position (she bought it, kinda), plus her love for karaoke and 1,000-piece puzzles. We hope she had already stocked up on the latter, since it seems there’s now a shortage. Read the full Q&A here.
People Pleaser
They say that timing is everything. Durham-based startup Peoplelogic.ai—which went live on March 17, right in the teeth of a global pandemic—might hope that’s not true. Peoplelogic.ai is a people analytics, employee experience and performance management platform founded by Matthew Schmidt, the former Co-Founder and President of DZone. But hey, it’s always a good time to do a better job of managing employees, especially now that the work-from-home explosion raises new issues. Read our full story here.
Venture Connect
The March 5 postponement of CED’s Venture Connect Summit—a little less than two weeks before it was scheduled to begin—was one of the first dominoes to fall in a rapid reshaping of the Triangle startup scene, at least for the near future. Now CED has announced the Summit has been refashioned as Venture Connect Online. Some of the details are still being worked out (such as how tickets/access will work), but the headline is that for five weeks starting on Monday, May 4, each week CED will roll out an “episode” of a five-part series that will feature video presentations from startups and speakers, plus much more.
In other big CED news, CEO Ravila Gupta is stepping down effective tomorrow to pursue a new opportunity while Kelly Rowell, currently CED's VP for Customer Experience, is taking over as interim CEO. Though don’t worry, Ravila isn’t going far; she’s going to be CED’s new Chair of the Board of Directors. Congrats to both Kelly and Ravila!
Big IDEA
NC IDEA has announced the 27 semifinalists for its $50K SEED grants for the 2020 Spring cycle. An even dozen of them hail from the Triangle. Grant recipients will be announced in mid-May, after finalists are selected and then present to the review panel.
Where does NC IDEA get the money to give out as grants to early stage startups, you might ask? That’s an excellent question—and now you can be part of the answer. For the first time in its history, NC IDEA is soliciting direct donations for its new Partners in Purpose fund, which will deploy 100% of the money received to its grant programs. Thom Ruhe, NC IDEA’s CEO, explained to TBJ’s Lauren Ohnesorge that the unprecedented step is necessary to help NC IDEA keep fulfilling its mission, now that early stage startups need help more than ever—and the organization’s endowment is likely being buffeted by the public markets’ downturn. (Speaking of Lauren, major congrats are in order—she’s a new mom!)
Get To It
Today’s edition is too jam-packed for niceties like “separate items” and “transitions,” so here goes, in the order I received these news nuggets: A) Momentum’s coding school has gone completely virtual, and that will include the first edition of a new program with Atlanta’s Morehouse College, one of the nation’s leading HBCUs. Momentum@Morehouse will kick off with its first 12-week coding bootcamp in May.
B) RIoT never met a crisis it couldn’t meet with a great program—and even better acronym. It will launch MISSION-R, its “moonshot goal response” to Covid-19, with a webinar this Thursday (April 2) at 1pm with experts in the medtech and economic development space to help address the dual, and interrelated, challenges of addressing our public health and economic crises. (Register here.) MISSION-R stands for “Making Innovation and Startups Succeed In Our New Reality,” which I’m sure you were totally going to guess.
C) Missing your favorite yoga class? Trying to figure out a way to keep your kids both active and calm? (And out of your hair?) Kill all of those birds at once with simultaneous virtual yoga classes offered each Tuesday and Thursday at 10am by CorePower (for adults) and Growga (for kids). The classes are free, but participants are suggested to donate what they can to local nonprofits that are working to meet the needs of those most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. You can pre-register for classes here.
Dirty Money
Durham fintech PatientPay, which offers an online patient engagement and payment platform that is just what the doctor ordered in this current crisis, has raised $6.15M in an oversubscribed round. TechWire has an interview with CEO Tom Furr, who notes that studies show that a virus can spread via credit-card devices and cash, which PatientPay eliminates. Really, cash is so dirty that if you so much as touch a germ-ridden greenback, you should head directly to the ER. [Editor’s Note: It’s a terrible idea to rely on Pete for medical advice.]
In other funding news, Raleigh’s ZynBit banked $250K. ZynBit sells software billed as “sales acceleration” tech for use in CRMs (customer relationship management platforms) and recently made Scot Wingo’s 2020 Tweener list, though it ranked dead last. Oops, sorry, we’re being told that was alphabetical order.
Petopia
Pets have long been an important part of our lives, but it seems like they’re having a real “moment” lately as the stars in countless Zoom meetings and online videos that can take our minds off the forbidding headlines. So this is the perfect time to launch a social network for pets. At least that’s what Durham’s Ark Mobile thinks. Don’t worry, people can use it too. TechWire has all the details.
Extra Bit
Disappointed that you didn’t have a March Madness bracket to fill out? Dismayed by the drumbeat of Covid-19 news? Disjointed by not getting to see your coworkers in the flesh? Don’t worry, we have just the antidote: the Triangle Startup Trivia Tournament!
Like virtually all good ideas, this one was not originally mine. Rather, it was the brainchild of Klearly CEO Alex Krawchick and Triangle startup kingpin Robbie Allen, with a significant assist from Klearly’s marketing guru, Sam Cibelli. We’re still figuring out details, but here’s the gist: we will pit startup teams (from 1-3 people) against each other in trivia contests on Zoom hosted by yours truly, and the last team standing will have the honor of calling themselves the Smartest Startup In The Triangle—plus some prize TBD. (Or maybe bragging rights is reward enough?)
For right now, please let us know if you/your team is interested in participating, and we will go from there. Note: this contest is limited to startups. I will be the arbiter of what qualifies as a startup. The companies we feature on GrepBeat.com are a pretty good proxy. Now, are you in or not???
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