From the moment this email lands in your inbox, you’ll have to wait about 715,500 more seconds for our inaugural “Rising Stars” event (which of course places said event at 6:30pm ET next Thursday, February 6th).
But it will only take you (roughly) 17 seconds once you finish reading this sentence to register for the event. Don’t miss out on a chance to celebrate some of the community’s ascendant standouts!
Imagine you have a 97-year-old grandmother and she accidentally takes too much of a prescribed medication. Your first thought (presumably) would be, I hope grandma is going to be alright. But after that, you might wonder: Why haven't we made it easier for someone like grandma to manage medications?
This exact experience led Wilmington founder AJ Trelease to launch CareHome Health Solutions—and its flagship product, the “Graciela” (named after his actual, non-hypothetical grandmother—who is in fact alright!). Described by AJ as “Keurig for pills,” the Graciela can be programmed by an at-home or in-hospital caregiver to dispense proper amounts of medication at proper times.
Last November, we wrote about Wilmington startup Boreas Monitoring, which provides better quality control for cryogenic tanks storing fertility materials. Within said feature, CEO Will Baird teased that the next major milestone would be to “service larger tanks.”
Tease Pt. II: yesterday, Boreas Monitoring announced the coming of the CryoGuardian. This new Marvel Comics villain product will be customizable, “tailored to fit cryotanks greater than 50L,” and ready for installation by the end of Q1.
See the announcement here (and if you’re not familiar with Boreas, read our feature to understand how the CryoGuardian will level up their business and impact!).
Window Open
I’ve peppered you with reminders in recent weeks re: info sessions and upcoming dates for NC IDEA’s Spring 2025 Grant Cycle. But I want to 📯blow the founder summoning bugle📯 one more time now that the application window is open.
Founders throughout NC have from now until 5pm ET on February 24th to submit applications for NC IDEA’s non-dilutive startup grants. As a reminder, MICRO grants are $10K for young companies “looking to validate assumptions and develop a business model,” and SEED grants offer $50K for early-stage companies looking to scale.
Okay, I lied. One more 📯sounding of the founder summoning bugle📯, in this case because the window is also now open for applications for CED's ninth GRO Incubator cohort. For those who may not know, GRO is a 12-week incubator program consisting of expert guidance and community collaboration, designed to help founders accelerate progress building businesses around their technologies.
Apply here (and check out this recap of the last GRO cohort, GRO8, if you want some inspiration).
Canada Delivers
In tech-adjacent-ish news, Wilmington Biz reports that Nova Scotia-based custom machinery manufacturer Protocase and its subsidiary division, 45Drives, have made the first of what could be 100 Wilmington hires this year.
While Protocase falls a bit more in the manufacturing realm than our typical focus, it's a company that works with engineers and innovators across industries including robotics, aerospace, AI, and many more. It's also worth noting that the ~100 jobs will reportedly involve positions in engineering, rapid manufacturing, and on a service team for data storage.
Today’s serving of the In The Soup podcast series is basically chicken noodle: wide appeal, very useful. Co-hosts Jenn Summe (Primordial Ventures) and Melissa Crosby (Colopy Ventures) cover the concept of cultivating company culture and writing sentences with too many words that start with “c.”
Joining them are two founders who’ve had success with this sort of effort: Allison Wood (of DaVinci Education) and Wilmington’s own Nathan Snell (of Raleon and nCino).
Listen and subscribe here (and catch a few important words on National Puzzle Day in the opening).