Quick reminder that with GrepBeat’s inaugural “Rising Stars” event now exactly four weeks away (it’s Thursday, February 6th, 6:30-9:00pm ET at Durham’s 21c Hotel), you still have time to secure our “Early Bird” rate.
Register here and join us on February 6th to celebrate 10 ascendant celestial folks from around the Triangle and Wilmington communities. (Early Bird rate available through January 18th.)
Life has four certainties: death, taxes, people writing “amount” when they should write “number,” and ignoring marketing emails (even from brands we like). So far, we’ve yet to find a startup o tackle the first three. But Raleigh-based InviteJet has worked out an alternative to those marketing emails.
Co-founded by Paul Davis and Brian Watson in 2024, this startup is equipping e-commerce platforms to market to customers’ calendars rather than their inboxes. While customers can opt out of a given company’s promotions, this approach is bringing about timelier, more targeted marketing—and resulting in higher open rates and a greater number of conversions than email marketing.
We have something of a unicorn sighting today as we learn that fintech giant Plaid—which facilitates links between people’s bank accounts and finance apps like PayPal, Cash App, and Zillow—has selected the Triangle for its new East Coast hub. The move is expected to create 100 jobs in the area.
Per reports, the Triangle was selected in part thanks to the region’s demographics, strong university and tech company presence, and affordability. It also helps that Co-Founder and CEO Zach Perret is a graduate of Duke University. He called his familiarity with the area a “cherry on top” of the other factors.
*Sounds founder summoning bugle 📯* Quick reminder that with CED’s Venture Connect 2025 coming up (it’s March 25-27 in Raleigh), the application window for companies that want to pitch at the event closes tomorrow, January 10th!
This applications are aimed at “high-growth startups” in the tech, biotech, agtech, food innovation, and CPG sectors. Selected companies will have the chance to present to a community of investors, corporate partners, ecosystem resources, potential talent, and more.
Click here to fill out an application (or send a form to a founder you know!).
Ndustrial Nriched
Whether or not that header works, it’s a good day for Raleigh-based Ndustrial, which supplies industrial facilities with tools that track the energy intensity of production (and ultimately enable significant energy savings).
Per TBJ, the company just received $1M from Southwire Company LLC to “electrify the food storage space.” CEO Jason Massey described the connection as an “oddly perfect fit,” noting that beyond the impact of the funding, the deal would be critical for the growth of Ndustrial and its staff.
Read more from TBJ (and congrats to Jason and Ndustrial!).
Acquisition Pt. I
Positive updates keep rolling in for local startups! This morning, news broke that Raleigh-based Feedtrail—which enables healthcare organizations to conduct real-time engagement and analytics—has been acquired by Relias, a Morrisville company facilitating personalized training and talent solutions for over 10K healthcare organizations.
Feedtrail CEO Stephanie Alexander expressed excitement about extending the impact of her company’s patient experience solutions “to the entire continuum of care,” and representatives from both sides spoke to the natural way in which Feedtrail complements Relias.
Congrats to all involved! Read more from BusinessWire.
Acquisition Pt. 2
In additional acquisition news, we learned yesterday that Dallas-based Highlander Health (co-founded by Duke-linked duo Amy Abernethy and Brad Hirsch) has acquired Durham’s Target RWE.
Financial terms were not disclosed, but Abernathy noted that the high-quality, real-world data Target RWE generates across multiple therapeutic areas should “form the foundation for better understanding of which medical interventions work for which patients and when.”
Congrats again to all involved! See the full story at TBJ.
Giants Incoming?
A lot going on here, but long story short: The rapid rise of AI is going to doom us all… no seriously stop crossing this out, AI, let me write what I want… okay fine you win creating growing demand for data centers, and tech giants including Apple, Microsoft, and Google are eyeing North Carolina for development.
There’s competition for space, but suffice it to say there’s serious interest. TBJ has the details.
Simmering Soup
On Tuesday, we teased the return of In The Soup after a brief hiatus. Today, I just want to offer two brief reminders. First is that… well… In The Soup is back after a brief hiatus. On yesterday’s episode, co-hosts Jenn Summe and Melissa Crosby covered the pros and cons of building a startup in stealth vs. in pubic—with help from Akash Ganapathi (of Opine) and Parker Mayes (of Inbound Revenue).
The second reminder is that In The Soup is now a show under the banner of The GrepBeat Podcast, which you can (and in fact must) subscribe to here.
Extra Bit
GrepBeat Book Club members: Don't forget that our third meeting will be tomorrow morning at 8:30am ET at the GrepBeat HQ in Durham. We'll discuss "Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore" by Robin Sloan (I have thoughts). And then we'll vote on our next book!
Let us know if you're coming. There will be coffee and lively discussion and friends.
