Diversity Series

Today we’re running Part 2 of our four-part series from Elizabeth Moore on diversity in the Triangle tech ecosystem. This edition focuses on the role of Triangle HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities)—NC Central in Durham and Raleigh’s St. Augustine and Shaw—in trying to widen the “pipeline” that flows toward greater opportunity in the business and entrepreneurial worlds to include more people of color. To be frank, it’s an uphill battle.

Read today’s story here. You should also read Part I (Access To Capital) and the Roadmap to the series. Then look out for Parts 3 and 4 next week.

Cleaning Up

Reusable water bottles are good for the environment, but if you don’t regularly clean them—and most people don’t—they’re also good for germs. That’s where QUVI, a startup led by three rising UNC sophomores, comes in. QUVI offers a kiosk that uses Ultraviolet C (UVC) lights to clean both the interior and oft-neglected exterior of water bottles. It can also clean frequently used (and touched) items like smartphones and headphones. Read our full story on QUVI here.

Name Game

We think it was entertainment entrepreneur Bill Shakespeare who first asked, “What’s in a name?” The Coworking And Entrepreneurial Community Formerly Known As HQ Raleigh asks that anew as it changes its name to Raleigh Founded. The immediate impetus for the name change was a lawsuit over the “HQ” sobriquet from deep-pocketed Regus, a coworking giant. Though as Raleigh Founded (I’m trying to get used to it) Co-Founder Jason Widen explains to WRAL TechWire, they’ve been considering a name change for some time. “Raleigh Founded” is a twist on a name they almost went with in the early days nine years ago, “Triangle Founded.”

Not that I get a vote, but I would have preferred “Triangle Founded” because it’s more inclusive of the broader region and less Raleigh-specific. Though in fairness Raleigh Founded is, in fact, more focused on Raleigh than, say, Durham/Chapel Hill/Cary/etc. Regardless, it’s a million times better than “raleighFounded.”

Welcome Back!

We want to wish a hardy “welcome back” to UNC’s student-run business news wire NC Business News Wire—“NCBizNews” to its friends. The operation is actually a class offered by the UNC School of Media and Journalism, but it was shut down in late 2019 because of a lack of interest. Julia La Roche, a 2011 UNC grad who is currently a Yahoo Finance correspondent, has taken over the class. It was always a mostly remote operation, so it’s thankfully not affected by UNC being forced to go all-remote due to a spike in Covid-19 infections. TechWire has more details.

Funding News

Frequent GrepBeat story subject Loanwell (this June, and February 2019) has raised $715K in new financing, according to a securities filing. Loanwell’s loan platform has been powering the NC Rapid Recovery Loan Program. The Durham-based startup founded by Bernard Worthy and Justin Straight was also recently picked as one of 12 Black-led startups from around the country for a new Google accelerator program.

Heads Up

In one of last month’s newsletters, we mentioned an issue that was new to us—the need for websites and apps to be compliant with the American Disabilities Act (ADA). This week we heard from loyal GrepBeat reader Christina Noel, a marketing strategist and business coach, about one of her clients (a Durham-based startup) with an e-commerce store that is facing a lawsuit from a New York-based law firm alleging that their site isn’t ADA-compliant. This was totally news to the startup, but they might need to pony up as much as $20K-$70K to defend the suit. Christina has written this article to help other startups and businesses avoid the same fate.

Lending Help

Raleigh-based industry intelligence startup Vertical IQ, which we wrote about in June, has added a new category: Credit Underwriting and Risks. This will be especially helpful to clients in the lending industry who want to assess the credit-worthiness of potential borrowers. Of course, they could always look to our old friend Bill Shakespeare: “Neither a borrower nor a lender be.”

Speeding Up

Work From Home and, especially, Learn From Home (i.e. remote learning during the pandemic) has underscored yet again the digital divide between the better-off and those in under-served and rural communities. With the surge in remote learning, NC Governor Roy Cooper announced yesterday $12M in grants to help expand high-speed internet to 11 rural counties. Hey, if it makes it easier to read GrepBeat, we’re all for it.

Extra Bit

Hey, remember our old friend Greg Lindberg, the Founder and former CEO of Durham's Eli Global? He was sentenced yesterday to 7+ years in federal prison for trying to bribe NC Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey. Ouch. As always, TBJ is all over it.

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

This week’s winner is Megan Hutchinson, who correctly noted that I was at Whiskey Kitchen in Raleigh. Megan called her victory “so, so sweet” because she’s tried so many times, which should be a good lesson to others out there who have so far been foiled by the random number generator. More from Megan: “I’m a tax partner with GrepBeat supporter Cherry Bekaert LLP, and a member of the firm’s technology industry group. I’m an admitted tax geek and love helping clients navigate ever-changing tax issues. In these pandemic times, I also moonlight as a virtual kindergarten teacher.” That’s Megan below with her star pupil.