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Happy Tuesday!

In the latest Friday Nooner, K4Connect CEO F. Scott Moody reveals the secrets behind two key letters: what the “F” in his name stands for and the deal with the four “Ks” in K4Connect. Don’t act like you’re not curious.
 
Thanks to all who came out to Thursday’s GrepBeat Happy Hour at Durham’s Bull McCabe’s, sponsored by Hutchison. Here are some pics. Remember that we’ll be back at Bull McCabe’s for the Grep-a-palooza After-Party on June 9, sponsored by Michael Best & Friedrich. The After-Party kicks off at 4 p.m. and is open even to those who couldn’t make it to Grep-a-palooza, though only Grep-a-palooza attendees will receive free drink tickets. Of course that’s just one of many reasons to register for Grep-a-palooza; check out the full agenda here.
 


Tech Culture Club

Often it seems like the pandemic has formed two camps within the tech world re: working regularly in an office: those who never want to do it again and those who are eager to be around their co-workers in person at least some of the time. In this week’s episode of the Tech Culture Club podcast sponsored by Vaco, Bandwidth’s Chief People Officer Rebecca Bottorff tells host Melissa Phillippi that she comes down strongly in the latter camp.

In fact, Rebecca reveals that Bandwidth has lost some employees who simply didn’t want to return to the office. But they’ve replaced them with even more new team members who crave some level of in-person contact. (FWIW GrepBeat has an in-person culture, but YMMV.)
 
Read some show highlights here, then listen (and subscribe!) to the episode here.


 


Bias Busters

Unlike Bandwidth, plenty of tech companies have remained remote-first—or were conceived that way from the start—which makes the use of communication platforms like Zoom and Slack paramount. While such platforms have become ubiquitous, they can also lead to new challenges in creating and perpetuating implicit biases and microaggressions.
 
Durham-based startup DivySci tackles that issue by integrating into the platforms and using AI to examine verbal, non-verbal and written interactions between team members to evaluate if companies are hitting their goals for inclusivity and equity in the workplace—and what they can improve. DivySci is one of the 15 recipients of the $10K MICRO grants that NC IDEA made last month. Read our full story here.
 
This is also our final feature story among the seven Triangle-based MICRO recipients, alongside Ashanti Styles, Calico Sol, LabRunner, ROSA Technology, anyBODY Clothing and 2022 UNC grad Sophia Retchin’s alt-protein startup, the name of which she’d like to keep under wraps until this summer. Congrats again to all the winners!


 


Benefits Builders

Benefits software startup Noyo, which is based in San Francisco but has a sizable Durham presence, has closed on a $45M funding round that will mean continued growth in the Bull City. Noyo was co-founded in 2017 by CEO Shannon Goggin and COO Dennis Lee, who met while working together at tech unicorn Zenefits in the Bay Area. Dennis moved his family to Durham with the intention of getting an MBA at Duke’s Fuqua School, but he dropped out three days before classes were scheduled to start and instead joined Shannon to launch Noyo.
 
But Dennis has stayed in Durham, and from the start Noyo has based about 25 percent of its workforce out of American Underground, with 25 percent in the Bay Area and the rest working remotely from around the country. Noyo previously raised a $12.5M Series A in 2020 and now this new $45M will put some serious rocket fuel into the engine. See Triangle Inno for more.


 


Wired Up

Last year Smart Wires, a startup that supplies software and other tech to electric utilities to maximize grid capacity, relocated its HQ from California to Durham. Smart Wires senior exec Jessica Joyce tells TBJ that the firm is marching ahead with its Triangle plans, a little less than a year after it told state officials that its plan was to invest $21.5M and add 250 new jobs (in exchange for $2.8M in incentives). See TBJ for more.


 


Truce Reached

Cary’s Epic Games has reached a temporary truce over part of its ongoing lawsuit with Google. The agreement is regarding Epic’s recent acquisition of Bandcamp. Epic has long been battling with Google over the fees it charges and other restrictions in the Google Play store. When it acquired Bandcamp, Epic feared that Google would boot Bandcamp from the store due to guilt by new association. So under this deal, while the litigation continues, Google won’t kick out Bandcamp, and Epic Games will put the disputed fees into an escrow account in case it loses in court. See TechWire or TBJ for more.


 


Tech Transfer

At a panel I was on during last month’s Raleigh-Durham Startup Week, Bull City Venture PartnersDavid Jones mentioned tech transfer from universities as an area in which the Triangle could be doing a better job in taking advantage of our “natural resources,” in this case the region’s great universities. In yesterday’s TechWire, Cofounders Capital’s David Gardner tackles the same issue. His overall verdict: the universities too often demand a royalty structure, which can be a good fit with large, established companies but can create major issues for startups.


 


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 Opportunity

A reminder that we’re looking for startups to pitch at part of GrepTank—our spin on Shark Tank—at Grep-a-palooza. You’ll get to tell your story in front of the Triangle tech ecosystem, get live feedback from prominent investors/judges, and also get free entry to the full conference. Please apply here by this Friday.

 

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