Keep those nominations coming for our inaugural Startups To Watch list. The deadline is Monday, Aug. 30, and yes, you can nominate your own startup. To be eligible, the startup must be headquartered in the Triangle and have annual revenues of less than $5M. Sorry, no life sciences/biotech/medical device startups.
Long Distance
We at GrepBeat are suckers for a good acronym, and Raleigh-based startup BOA Nutrition has a solid one. BOA Nutrition’s first product, ENDURE, is a high-powered spray of 150mg sodium for endurance athletes delivered through a process known as a “blast of optimized actives”—thus, “BOA.” In short, you grab a small canister during your long run or bike ride and spray it in your mouth; the sodium helps your cells and muscles re-hydrate more effectively. BOA raised a $2.2M seed round late last year to help with the upcoming launch of ENDURE, which has already signed a partnership with USA Triathlon.
Cynics might say that I assigned this story solely as an excuse to mention that I’m running on a nine-man team in the 208-mile Blue Ridge Relay on Sept. 10-11 and thus could really benefit from ENDURE, but that’s just a happy coincidence. (But if you’d like to join me this evening on the first of three training runs I’ll be completing in a 24-hour period, meet me at Ponysaurus Brewing Company at 5:30 p.m. Or if you’re more of a morning person, be there at 5:20 a.m. tomorrow in the Bean Traders parking lot for Run No. 2. The third run will be around Duke’s Al Buehler Trail loop tomorrow afternoon at Time TBD.) Wait, where were we? Oh, right: read our full story on BOA here.
Alphabet-ical
Raleigh-based SignalPath, which makes software for clinical research studies, has been acquired by Verily, the life sciences arm of Google’s parent company, Alphabet. (In fact Verily was formerly known as Google Life Sciences before Google decided to pivot to a bunch of confusing company names.) SignalPath was found in 2014 by Duke professor Brad Hirsch, who serves as CEO; it had raised $18M in 2019 and grown the headcount at its Raleigh HQ to around 100. Hirsch said that Verily gave him a commitment to keep the SignalPath team in Raleigh, while its deep pockets will help accelerate its growth. Here’s more from the N&O (which broke the story locally), TBJ and TechWire.
Working It Out
Raleigh-based workout app WAAM, which we first profiled back in June 2019, has been acquired by The St. James, a wellness brand HQ’d in Springfield, Va. (The terms of the deal were not disclosed, natch.) WAAM was founded by NC State grad Karly Pavlinac and participated in the 2018 summer cohort of NC State’s Andrews Launch Accelerator, so chalk up another exit for that program. Cofounders Capital Founder David Gardner met Karly when he was a speaker at that summer’s cohort, and he was so impressed that Cofounders eventually invested $500K. Karly will stay on after the deal as the Director of Digital Product Development at The St. James. Last but not least—WAAM is another acronym, in this case for “We Are A MOVEment.” TechWire has more details.
More Inc. 5000
As promised in Tuesday’s newsletter when we mentioned that Apex-based ecommerce software and services startup Sitation checked in at No. 379 on the newest Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing private companies, we’re back with a fuller recap (and links to even fuller ones) of Triangle tech-y names that made the list. One thing to note is that the rankings are based on the three-year revenue growth rate, so meteoric growth rates tend to mean starting from a fairly low base almost by definition and can’t be kept up forever at that pace even in the best of circumstances. Consider that Pendo “fell” to 571st this year from No. 26 last year; that’s more because Pendo has now been pretty sizable for more than three years rather than that its upward progress has stalled. Still, making the Inc. list remains a real feather in the cap, even if nowadays nobody wears the kind of hats that one might stick a feather in.
Last month we wrote aboutGreen Places, the Raleigh startup founded by serial entrepreneur Alex Lassiter that helps make it easier for small- and medium-sized businesses to go carbon neutral. Now Raleigh-based digital agency Brooks Bell Inc. has signed on—and is taking carbon-neutrality a step further by pledging to offset one metric ton of carbon per month for each of the firm’s clients. Savvy readers will recall that Brooks Bell Inc. was founder by—surprise!—former Download subject and Pete Meets... guest Brooks Bell. Full disclosure: Brooks’ husband, Levitate CEO Jes Lipson, is the biggest investor in Green Places.
Hold The Liine
Raleigh-based Liine, a startup we first wrote about in July 2019, has closed on $200K of a fundraise that could be up to $1M when it’s done. Liine is a SaaS platform that helps turn incoming calls to medical offices into new patients—or “lead generation,” as the cool kids call it. (Or is “lead gen” cooler? Hmmm...) TechWire has more info.
Money Won
Money won is twice as sweet as money raised—which after all tends to come with that pesky dilution—so Chapel Hill-based LiRA is probably feeling pretty good about the $25K prize it won for taking first place in the final pitch completion of the 10-week Covintus Tech Tank accelerator it just finished. LiRA, a lip-reading platform for patients who have literally lost their voice (even if just temporarily) due to throat cancer or surgery that we profiled in May, took those top honors on Tuesday. Here’s more info.
Free Read
Tom Finegan, the CEO of GrepBeat Partner Clarkston Consulting, is the author of the upcoming book Amplifiers: How Great Leaders Magnify the Power of Teams, Increase the Impact of Organizations and Turn Up the Volume on Positive Change. GrepBeat subscribers can win a free copy by signing up here. They’ll give away one book a day from Sept. 1 through Sept. 15, the official release date. Tom is a serial entrepreneur who has also invested in FoodLogiQ and Momentum Learning, among others. Clarkston Consulting works with consumer products, retail and life science companies.
Bottled Up
If you’re looking for coworking space, you can always play it safe and glom on to a big chain like WeWork. And hey, they’re perfectly nice. But if you’re looking for something more local, gritty and—dare we say it—cool, then the soon-to-open Durham Bottling Company may be for you. Smashing Boxes CEO Nick Jordan bought the space at 506 Ramseur Street a few years back as a new company HQ but always had grander plans for the 16,000+ square feet. Enter Durham Bottling Company (DBC), which might sound like a new nightlife concept but is in fact a coworking and event space with a stated mission to create a more inclusive and diverse community. DBC offers all the usual amenities you’d expect (free coffee, hot desks, private offices, etc.) but also has a sister nonprofit entity that will help stage a monthly event series. You can get on the waitlist here.
Extra Bit
The Launch Place has extended the application deadline for its Big Launch Challenge through Monday, Aug. 30. A total of 10 startups will be chosen to pitch on Oct. 14 for a total of $15K in prize money. You can apply here, or register for the event here.
Guess where Pete is and (maybe) win a GrepBeat mug!
This week’s winner is Ebin Holt, who correctly identified my location as Dulce Coffee in Durham. Let’s hear from him: “I moved to Durham in 2013 to take a job at Bronto as a developer/consultant in client services. There have been a lot of changes since then from the Netsuite acquisition to the Oracle acquisition and now the more recent EOL (end of life) announcement. Even though I've already transitioned to a role in the broader Oracle Netsuite org, where currently I help clients connect their ERP to ecommerce storefronts and marketplaces, I'll continue to provide support to Bronto clients through to the final days as they transition to another marketing platform. I still live in Durham with my wife and three kids.”
Man, it’s like everyone I meet worked at Bronto. I wonder why that is??? But I will say, that little green dinosaur looks even better with the name "GrepBeat."
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