This will be your last Tuesday newsletter of the year. That being said, let's jump right in so that you can get your news fix in right before the holidays.
Before you continue on, though! A gentle reminder that nominations for our inaugural "Rising Stars" event close in TWO WEEKS, along with very early bird pricing for said event. Don't miss the opportunity to lift up exceptional people who have greatly contributed to our tech ecosystems. Find more information on the Rising Stars page.
We had much to write about this year at GrepBeat—specifically, more than 250 stories to write about. But we love to harbor competition, so friendly neighborhood editor David Schwartz has compiled a list of the top-20 stories of the year to uncover what you all loved to read the most.
The chosen stories were the best performers based on a combination of strength right after publication, total views and staying power. The list also includes fun notes on the top all-time stories, the names of our passionate writers throughout the year, the geographical spread of our readers and much more. Find the full list (and see where your favorite startups and stories ranked) here!
Styl Sold
In tandem with our Top Stories of 2024, the number-one story subject from that list was recently acquired by what CEO and Co-Founder Dhruv Bindra described as "a figure in Silicon Valley we’ve always looked up to." Dhruv's LinkedIn experience lists that his company Styl AI had a "7-figure exit."
The last time we heard from Duke University-grown Styl, which was for this June 2024 feature, the app had over 60,000 downloads and had facilitated more than 10-million individual swipes from users. This later acquisition just goes to show that student startups are still significant and can still sell! All the S'es!
Read Dhruv's full post about his experience leading up to selling Styl.
Google Grants
North Carolina Central University (NCCU) in Durham announced last week that it's received a $1M grant from tech giant Google to establish the Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Equity Research (IAIER). This program is the first-of-its-kind for an HBCU in the nation.
The grant will support opportunities for as many as 200 students to engage in AI-related fields through interdisciplinary courses, research and mentorship within the first two years of its launch, which is set for 2025. The grant to NCCU is part of nearly $2 million in grants given out to NC universities and organizations.
Find the full breakdown of what NCCU will receive here.
Sentering App
Raleigh-based SenterMeannounced earlier today that they've officially launched their app, which Founder and CEO Charlotte Louis coined as "the first emotional wellness and stress management app designed specifically for women professionals."
We last heard from SenterMe when we wrote about them this past July; Charlotte had just wonRiOT's $1K pitch prize and was about to launch the beta version of the app. On top of offering educational content and opportunities to connect with fellow users, the startup also partners with women- and minority-owned wellness outlets to offer users discounts and further community involvement.
Even after the inaugural FCAT Fellowship's Demo Day, there is still buzz coming from some of the companies out of the cohort (no surprise there)!
Cohort member Jason Brown, the CEO and Founder of Deliveri, competed with other startup founders on "2 Minute Drill," a show hosted by entrepreneur and best-selling author David Meltzer that challenges founders to pitch their startup in just 2 minutes for cash and prizes.
And according to this LinkedIn post, the startup brought home some big wins. Catch Deliveri's episode—which is also available to stream on Apple TV+, YouTube, Android TV and Roku—here.
Super Boom
Some bittersweet news for NC-bound supersonic passenger jet startup Boom Supersonic, as they were able to bag major investors for their new round of financing, but at a lower valuation.
The N&O reports that Boom was able to raise its latest $100M round with the help of investors such as Paul Graham and OpenAI founder Sam Altman, even though the private company's valuation had fallen since its last round in 2021.
All that being said, this latest round has helped Boom raise more than $800M. This new round of financing is to “fully fund” the initial prototype of Boom’s promised engine, called Symphony, that's set to be built at the Greensboro site. Read the full N&O coverage here.
Warranted Help
Durham-based Warrant is working to help fintech players jump ahead of projected rise in crypto companies as the nation prepares for the incoming Trump administration that has signaled support for cryptocurrency.
According to this recent Triangle Inno story, since working in financial services, CEO and Founder Austin Carroll was spending a lot of her days “shepherding marketing materials through legal and compliance review processes.” She said that in a fast-paced world of fintech, there isn’t time to gather copywriters, designers, and legal and compliance teams.
With her new company, she aims to automate a standard set of policies for fast-growing fintech companies. Read more about Austin and Warrant here.
Still Happy!
We at GrepBeat are so thankful to everyone who bore the cold weather and came out to last Thursday'sHoliday Happy Hour. We are especially thankful to our gracious sponsors, Aprio and Fourscore Business Law, for providing us with the good times.
It was great to get together one last time before things quiet down for the holiday, and, as always, there are some photos from the event in this recap story if you couldn't make it to this one. There will be more in the new year. See you next year!
Accelerate Your Growth
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Extra Bit
RIoT's Tom Snyderwrote an insightful WRAL article yesterday about what NC can do to really bolster its economy, with notes taken from his recent panel to the board of the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina. The real answer? Startups.
Tom emphasizes that while large tax and job incentives have attracted major companies, they often fail to hold up their end of the bargain. Since small businesses already make up almost half of the jobs in our state, more of the incentives should point toward small businesses and tech startups, which create and high-wage jobs, which then circulates money through the economy to support lower-wage and local restaurant, retail, arts and entertainment jobs. There's more to read in this WRAL article.
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