Happy Prime Day, everyone! And here’s a cheat sheet: it’s 2, 3, 5, 7, 11...
Sleep Saver
Attention, parents of toddlers: Raleigh startup Hush Buddy may just have the solution to get your kids to sleep and get you back to your Netflix show. Hush Buddy’s innovation is the anthropomorphic nightlight named Whisper, which dims its warm glow if the child makes too much noise—thus encouraging quiet and, before too long, restful sleep. Plus, it’s really cute. Read our full story on Hush Buddy, which is a semifinalist for one of NC IDEA’s $50K SEED grants, here.
Pete Meets...
Vickie Gibbs, the Executive Director of UNC’s Eship Center, was such a greatPete Meets... guest that I interviewed her twice. (Full disclosure: I forgot to hit “record” on Zoom the first time. I know, I know.) Vickie earned an engineering degree from Duke and an MBA from UNC, has worked in leadership roles at multiple Triangle tech startups and even co-owned a men’s clothing store before her current role leading UNC’s entrepreneurship efforts. The Georgia native will also be rooting hard for her home-state Bulldogs this Saturday night against Alabama, which I heartily support (more for the anti-Bama sentiment). You can read our teaser story on the episode here, go directly to the podcast here (don't forget to subscribe!), or visual learners can watch the video. And thanks as always to our Pete Meets... season sponsor, TriNet!
More Bandwidth
Raleigh’s Bandwidth is pouring some rocket fuel on its international expansion efforts by acquiring Belgium-based Voxbone for about $527M. With the deal, Bandwidth will be able to offer its CPaaS (Communication Platform as a Service) solutions to more than 60 countries accounting for about 93% of the global economy. Not bad for a company that CEO David Morken launched with his Co-Founder in a Raleigh spare bedroom. And Bandwidth is also growing locally as well as internationally with its plans to build a new 500K-square-foot HQ in Raleigh. TechWire and TBJ have more details on the acquisition.
Hang Bugs
If some NC State researchers are right, the dreaded spinning pinwheel of death—or pinwheel of delay, anyway, which feels like death in this now-now-now age—might be an increasingly rare sight. A team lead by Helen Gu has developed software that can identify and fix the “hang bugs” that cause such processing delays in minutes, not weeks. The program is called HangFix. TechWire has more details.
Black And White
Morrisville-based TrialCard operates in a GrepBeat Gray Zone in that, among other services, it offers software solutions (up our alley) to the “biopharmaceutical and medtech industries” (not our alley). But one thing is clear: it keeps growing. Last week TrialCard announced its fifth acquisition in less than two years, this time swallowing Canary Insights—see what I did there?—a Colorado-based healthcare information management company. TechWire and TBJ have more details.
Hire Knowledge
More local growth stories: 1) Durham-based CandleScience, an online retailer of candle- and soap-making supplies, recently signed a lease for a new 144k-square-foot manufacturing facility in Durham. CandleScience expects a move-in date of early to mid-2021, and even before then plans to hire another 40 new positions. 2) A few months after opening a Raleigh office, the New York-HQ’d AI startup ASAPP (we’re told it’s no relation to A$AP Rocky) says it has about 20 positions open in the Triangle. ASAPP has also named Tim Stone, who was the CFO at Ford Motor Company, as both its CFO and COO starting in mid-October.
Crowd Wisdom
Aspiring (or active) entrepreneurs, here’s one more name to add to your list of potential funding sources: NC Grind. It’s a new site launched by CrowdfundNC that aggregates platforms offering private “backyard investment opportunities” across the state. While such platforms are currently used mostly by brick-and-mortar operations like breweries, restaurants and coffee shops, any would-be new business seeking capital can give it a whirl. TechWire has some more details.
Re-name Game
Sticking on the funding side, a Florida-based growth equity firm that has two Triangle startups in its portfolio is changing its name, closing a new fund and actively scouting deals. The former Stonehenge Growth Equity Partners will henceforth be known as Topmark Partners. The firm has invested in Raleigh’s K4Connect (led by CEO and former Pete Meets... guestScott Moody) and RTP-based Zaloni. If your startup has between $3-$30M in annual revenue and is at or close to profitability, maybe you could be next.
Extra Bit
The annual All Things Open conference that’s usually held each fall in Raleigh will be an all-virtual event this year on Oct. 19-20, which is next Monday and Tuesday. TechWire has all the details.
Guess where Pete is and (maybe) win a GrepBeat mug!
Another week, another chance to win the most coveted prize in all the Triangle. Send your guesses here!