And Happy October! Quick reminder at the top that GrepBeat will be hosting its first Happy Hour of the fall season tomorrow, October 2nd, from 5-7pm ET at Bull McCabe’s in Durham. This event is sponsored by American Underground; they’ll be celebrating day one of their new FCAT Fellowship program, as well as covering your first round (so thank them in person!).
As I’m sure our readers are well aware by now, Hurricane Helene charted a disastrous course through Western North Carolina late last week, leaving much of the region devastated. We know that many of you would like to have a way to help the families and communities struggling in the wake of the storm—so here are some good options.
Jess Porta of Greenplaces is coordinating a relief effort with local non-profits to deliver supplies where they’re needed. The drop-off location is at Raleigh Founded (509 W. North Street location), and they’ve asked that those who want to help please deliver supplies by Friday, October 4th. Note: Lauren Ohnesorge posted an article on this relief effort at TBJ. That article *lists the needed items,* so please give it a careful look if you plan to donate supplies.
For those who would like to make monetary donations, Lauren also noted that Governor Cooper has urged donations to the North Carolina Disaster Relief Fund. And for additional ways to help moving forward (supply drops, cash donations, blood donation, etc.), GrepBeat will be updating this post with reliable efforts and initiatives we come across. Please share.
Click here to read TBJ’s article on the Raleigh Founded drop-off and needed supplies.
Learning Lab
You know what’s not always a ton of fun? Learning. Sure, many of us “like to learn,” but the actual process of building new knowledge can be a grind. Brainery Labs Founder Tony Seing likens it to fitness and nutrition: Just as you might want impeccable physique but not enjoy “eating steamed chicken” and running long distances (if you do, I'm suspicious), you might want to know something but not enjoy learning it.
The solution that Brainery Labs will be offering is effectively an AI-driven educational process that is both personalized and gamified. The platform goes beyond AI tutoring to provide a full-fledged “RPG virtual classroom” that will make learning new material fun. Tony is currently participating in CED’s GRO Incubator.
ICYMI, last week’s Friday Nooner saw GrepBeat Godfather Joe Colopy and Melissa Crosby of Colopy Ventures welcome special guest David Cummings, the current CEO of Atlanta Ventures and past founder or co-founder of 10 startups. David offered some great insights on Atlanta’s development and told us about his current effort to transform a chunk of South Downtown Atlanta into a startup campus.
If you haven’t already, check out the episode here.
More EV News
It seems we can hardly go two weeks these days without an EV-related update—which is good, particularly when said updates aren’t all VinFast bummers. This week, we’ve learned that Aisin (aka AW North Carolina), which supplies parts for Toyota cars, is taking over a warehouse in Orange County.
As TBJ explains, Aisin currently makes automotive transmissions at the Treyburn Corporate Park in Durham. As the company transitions toward EV hybrid models, though, it needs more space. The warehouse will thus be used to “facilitate the company’s ongoing gas-to-EV shift in Durham” (notably as Toyota builds its EV battery plant near Greensboro).
Sticking with the theme of electricity, news surfaced late last week that German tech conglomerate Siemens has invested a fresh $36M into its Wendell facility. This investment is expected to create more than 200 jobs and will help the company meet demand in the data center, semiconductor, and utility sectors.
Specific upgrades to the facility in Wendell will include training classrooms, in-house fabrication, an interactive customer experience center, and a 1.5-megawatt, solar-powered microgrid that will be built in the parking lot.
This is not Triangle-specific news, but it’s certainly something the wider tech world will be keeping an eye on in North Carolina…. As Hurricane Helene wreaked havoc on the western part of the state last week, one of the mountain towns impacted was Spruce Pine. Incidentally, this is the home of Earth’s purest quartz—an essential material in semiconductors.
It's no exaggeration to say that the Spruce Pine mines are vital to the global production of semiconductor chips, so the ongoing disruptions will be worth monitoring. Already, mines owned by Belgian mineral company Sibelco (the largest mine in the area) and The Quartz Group have temporarily halted operations.
Say that 10 times fast. At any rate, just a quick note here for those who may not be aware that Pendo's annual Pendomonium festival takes place next week, October 7-9 in Raleigh. Billed as "so much more than just a conference," the event will feature 40 sessions, multiple keynotes, speakers from Yahoo!, GM, Spotify, and more—and will even involve Rev Run from Run DMC.
You can view the full agenda here, and locals who would like discounted tickets to the workshop and festival can use code: Workshop50
Accelerate Your Growth
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