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New VC Fund(s)

Likely inspired by our recent deep dive on the portfolios of Triangle VCs, Durham’s Bull City Venture Partners announced today that it has closed its oversubscribed fourth fund with $53M in capital commitments. OK, the first part (probably) isn’t true, but BCVP really did close the aptly named Bull City Venture Partners Fund IV. The fundraising was likely made easier—though “easy” is only an adjective that applies to someone else’s fundraising, never one's own—by the fact that BCVP’s portfolio has chalked up five exits in the past eight months, including the $200M acquisition of Durham-based Spoonflower by Shutterfly.
 
BCVP has already deployed capital from the new fund, including into GrepBeat story subjects Levitate (Jes Lipson’s second startup after the big hit that was ShareFile) and Tiny Earth Toys. Read our full story on BCVP’s new fund here.

HERstory

We’re excited to announce today a new monthly Q&A series called HERstory written by Shawn Ramsey, the Founder of The Art of Moxie—which helps entrepreneurs find their voice and communicate it to the world—and a chapter leader of new RTP outpost of the global women networking group UPWARD. The first installment is an in-depth, no-holds-barred interview with Kelly Pfrommer, the CEO of RTP-based Cloud Giants. (We profiled Cloud Giants in 2019, and Kelly has also been a guest on our For Starters podcast.)
 
It’s fitting that this inaugural HERstory is running at the start of Mental Health Awareness Month because Kelly speaks frankly about her struggles with mental health issues while trying to run a company and raise two young kids in a pandemic. The Q&A is also chock-full of great advice for entrepreneurs of all genders, including when it really is time to jump off a cliff. Read the full HERstory here.

Duke Startups

Along with Tuesday’s profile on allergy-free shopping subscription service Allergood, today we have feature stories on two more startups that participated in this spring’s Duke Innovation Studio accelerator. First up (alphabetically, anyway) is Audiown, a marketplace that allows fans to support their favorite artists while also earning money if those artists succeed. With Audiown, artists can choose what percentage of a project’s ownership—and resulting revenue—they are willing to share. A “project” can be a single, an album, or even the artist themselves. Read our full story here.
 
Lots of startups are launched to solve a specific problem, but EZTrain is one of the few that began directly in response to a problem posed to them by the person who became their first customer. An Air Force Reserve unit sergeant asked a group of students in a Duke course called “Hacking For Defense” if they could provide a solution that made the most of reservists’ limited training time on bases so that they could better stay on top of the myriad training and preparation requirements necessary to stay “qualified” to strap into a jet. Read our full story here.

Exit Sign

Chalk up another Triangle tech exit, albeit again for the magic dollar figure of “undisclosed.” Austin-based Idera revealed this week that it has acquired Durham-based software testing startup Hexawise. Scot Wingo had named Hexawise to the 2021 Triangle Tweener list. Hexawise focuses on lowcode testing solutions, which enables even non-coders to test software that's in development. See TechWire for more info.

Jurassic's World

GrepBeat sister company Jurassic Partners (we’re both under the Colopy Ventures umbrella) announced today that it has made a $4M Series B investment into Durham-based startup Corevist. It’s Jurassic’s second investment in Corevist, a B2B ecommerce platform focused on serving large manufacturers using tools from software giant SAP that we first wrote about two years ago. Alongside the investment, Corevist Founder (and proud grad of Bronx Science High School) Sam Bayer is retiring as CEO and graduating to the Board of Directors, while longtime SAP ecosystem veteran Andy Martin is joining Corevist as CEO. You can read more from Jurassic here and Corevist’s announcement here.

Breathing Easier

Raleigh-based digital health startup VitalFlo has announced a partnership with Ireland-based Vitalograph, a global provider of respiratory diagnostic products and clinical drug trial services. We first profiled VitalFlo in 2019. The NC State spinout helps asthma patients monitor and manage their condition with a device called a spirometer and an accompanying software platform. See TechWire for more info.

Store Stories

Durham-based retail storytelling startup Looma has partnered with Texas-based grocery chain H-E-B to bring the startup’s Loop video display platform to about 120 stores across the Lone Star State. We first wrote about Looma in July, 2020. Looma produces videos telling a brand’s story that it displays at “point-of-decision” spots in grocery stores right next to where the products are being sold.

The company said that there are more than 1,000 active tablets installed across their retail programs, including some Harris Teeter and Lowes Foods stores in the Carolinaa (including, crucially, my local Harris Teeter) and in the Midwest through Schnuck Markets, which is fun to say. See TechWire for more info.

Quick-Hitters

No time for transitions: 1) Rocket-ship-esque cybersecurity startup JupiterOne has released a new publication, #ReinventingCybersecurity. You can read all about it on the LinkedIn page of JupiterOne CEO Erkang Zheng. 2) The deadline to apply for the Raleigh summer cohort of the RIoT Accelerator Program (RAP) is Friday, May 20, at 5pm. Click here for more info. 3) Attention parents: a new childcare and afterschool program center called Kate’s Korner will open this summer at the American Tobacco Campus.

Build Great Software

Founded by serial entrepreneurs, Dualboot is a business and software development company. Their clients include tech and non-tech founders as well as Fortune 500 companies, so they can start small or scale fast depending on what you need. Every client is assigned a U.S.-based Product Director with at least 10 years experience bringing products to market, and they can manage the entire development process. They focus on how the software fits into your company to drive revenue and build the business. At Dualboot, they don’t just write your software—they help you grow your business. Intrigued? Email them here.

Grep-a-palooza

We’ve added another Event Sponsor for Grep-a-palooza, and it’s none other than our good friends from Dualboot. They join ExtensisHR, Robinson Bradshaw, Hughes Pittman and Wyrick Robbins as Event Sponsors, while Michael Best & Friedrich is sponsoring the After-Party. It’s not too late to join them—lest you need to explain to your corporate higher-ups why your firm isn't sponsoring Grep-a-palooza like all the other cool kids.
 
Also, remember that our early-bird prices run through Friday, May 20. But why delay?

Because too much news is never enough.

• ‘Re-Launch:’ Post-pandemic economy could create a new independent lifestyle (WRAL TechWire)
• Garner vegetarian 'meat' maker eyes meal kit industry (TBJ)

Here's some helpful content from our partners.

	Jurassic Invests $4M into Corevist in follow-on round Published Today by Jurassic Capital
	Meet Demand Profitability with SAP Integrated Business Planning (IBP) Published Yesterday by Clarkston Consulting
	Corevist Announces Series B Investment To Fuel Growth Published Tuesday by Corevist
	How job seekers and hiring managers can thrive in today's job market Published April 29, 2022 by Vaco
	Lessons Learned About Troubleshooting Performance in Azure VMs Published April 18, 2022 by Cycle Labs

You can find all our Partner Feeds here.

	Computer Science Internship (Summer 2022) Posted Today by FeedStation
	Account Manager, Scale Posted Today by Pendo
	Account Executive - Denver Posted Today by JupiterOne
	Chief Revenue Officer Posted Today by ProcessMaker
	Training and Content Specialist Posted Today by ServiceTrade

To see all posted jobs, go to CronJobs. If you'd like your company to be listed, tell us at cronjobs@grepbeat.com and we'll do our best.

Guess where Pete is and (maybe) win a GrepBeat mug!*
 

This week’s winner is Joe Krall, who knew that I was at Durham’s Cloche Coffee. Here’s what he has to say for (and about) himself: “Joe Krall is a full-stack software engineer with Valcom, working in JavaScript and Slack emojis. Now in Fresno, CA, Joe previously lived in Durham, where he graduated from Project Shift—its successor, Parsity, is having its first demo day on May 20. He’d like to thank Cloche Coffee for many dates with his wife, and Gary Alan Miller for telling him about GrepBeat.” Congrats, Joe, and we’d like to thank Gary too! [BTW Joe sent two photo options, and while I preferred this one, you can't tell that he has a beard. Which he does.]