You might notice a few changes in today’s newsletter. To wit: 1) Dualboot is back as the sole newsletter sponsor for Q4, and they’re a great fit for any and all of your development needs. See more about Dualboot below. 2) We’ve added a jobs section to the newsletter and to the site. It’s in beta, so we’d appreciate any feedback. If you have a startup job that you’d like to be listed, let us know at cronjobs@grepbeat.com and we’ll see what we can do. 3) We’ve renamed the “Partner News” section to “Feeds,” and there’s now a “Feeds” section on grepbeat.com that includes mentions in both the newsletter and on grepbeat.com—and job listings where relevant—for our partners and Triangle startups.
You’ll also want to register for the GrepBeat Happy Hour next Thursday, Oct. 14, at the Lynwood Brewing Concern in Raleigh, sponsored by Fourscore Business Law.
The Download
We have a feeling that Momentum CEO Jessica Mitsch won’t be reading her Download Q&A today. That’s because Jessica got married on Saturday, so we very much hope she’s having fun on her honeymoon rather than checking out grepbeat.com. But the rest of you can (and should) read it today. I especially liked that Jessica is the first person to answer the “What keeps you up at night?” question by stressing the importance of a solid night’s sleep. We very much agree.
Raleigh-based Reveal Mobile has acquired New York-based Mira, an out-of-home-focused (OOH) location intelligence startup. (In related news, I have a new favorite acronym: OOH.) The newly expanded company also signed Lyft as its first new customer. Lyft will use Reveal Mobile and Mira technology for vehicles equipped with Lyft’s rooftop digital screens to enable those cars to become fully measurable OOH ad units. Reveal Mobile was already a leader in geofencing marketing and attribution, enabling mobile advertisers to optimize and better measure the performance of ads. Reveal Mobile is a Greppys winner for Best Medium-Sized Startup, while CEO Brian Handly has been a Download Q&A subject and a guest on both Pete Meets...andFor Starters.
Read Reveal Mobile’s full release on the deal here, though sadly the financial terms were not disclosed. TBJ also ran a story today, which highlights Reveal Mobile’s interest in adding Mira’s team in a very tight labor market.
Growing Neighborhood
Our across-the-street neighbor Teamworks is acquiring Notemeal, a performance nutrition platform for elite athletes. It’s an obvious fit for Teamworks, which bills itself as the “operating system for elite athletes,” working with college and pro sports teams and leagues to help better connect athletes so they can perform their best. Teamworks was founded in 2004 by Zach Maurides, a former Duke football players. And hey, if Zach and his team want to send some Notemeal-inspired “nutrition” from 122 E Parrish St across to 121 E Parrish St, we won’t say no.
Here’s the full Teamworks release, though sadly—again—the financial terms were not disclosed.
VacoBought
Raleigh-based VacoBuilt, a strategic software and advisory services provider that’s backed by global talent firm (and Exit Stories sponsor) Vaco, has acquired Raleigh-based Kapok Digital. Kapok Digital is a boutique app development shop. The deal was finalized a few days ago.
Metaverse Players
The metaverse may be a virtual reality, but the Triangle’s presence there is very real. You likely already know that Cary’s Epic Games is positioning itself as a major player in the metaverse, which in broadest terms is a merging of the physical world with AR and VR. Now Raleigh-based startup Transmira just raised $2.6M in seed funding to fuel its growth as an ecommerce player in the metaverse, underpinned by blockchain technology. TechWire has an interesting Q&A with Co-Founder and CEO Richard Rice that's worth a read.
Shelving Units
Last week’s Triangle Inno (the tech-focused TBJ offshoot) featuredSinnovaTek, which recently closed on a $5M Series A to fund the growth of its microwave technology that allows startups and other small companies to level the playing field with giant food processors. The tech was originally developed at NC State. SinnovaTek’s thermal processing method allows for the production of shelf-stable food products that don’t require refrigeration until the packages are open.
Of course, one can’t make people put them in the fridge, like the misguided souls (such as my brother-in-law Jeff) who don’t refrigerate all-natural peanut butter because, apparently, they like puddles of oil. Sickies.
New Leaders
Raleigh is adding to its economic development team. Raleigh Economic Development, a partnership between the City of Raleigh and Wake County Economic Development—which itself is part of the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce—had added KyleTouchstone as its director. Here are stories from TechWire and TBJ, the latter of which says Touchstone “hints” at some new corporate HQs that may be on the way to the Oak City. Ooh, we love hints! (Or should that be “OOH”?)
Innovate Raleigh has also named Clark Rinehart, who has been running the Loading Dock, as its Interim Executive Director. Clark will lead the organization through its 10th Anniversary Summit on Friday, Oct. 29. Early bird registration is now open.
Body Snatchers
Follow-up: we mentioned last Thursday that Raleigh-based AI startup Pryon has raised an additional $12M. Here’s a story from TBJ in which Pryon CEO Igor Jablokov says that the company will use the funds in part to raid the likes of Red Hat and SAS for talent.
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.
Extra Bit
The Tech Tribune (which is “powered by” Crunchbase) has released its 2022 list of the 10 best tech startups in Raleigh. Here’s the list: 1) Pendo; 2) Constellation Digital Partners; 3) Pryon; 4) K4Connect; 5) EDJX; 6) Levitate; 7) EarthOptics; 8) Diveplane; 9) Allstacks; 10) LUMINELLES DTx System. Congrats to all!
To see all the available jobs on our (beta) CronJobs page, click here. If you'd like to list a job, contact us at cronjobs@grepbeat.com and we'll do our best.
Guess where Pete is and (maybe) win a GrepBeat mug!
Participation has been down lately in the Most Important Contest In The Triangle (The World???). It may well be due to the fact that former winners can't win again, and that takes 110 potential players off the board. But I know that many, many more of you want a coveted GrepBeat mug—and winning "Where's Pete?" is the only way to get one. So send your guesses here!
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