ICYMI, last week’s season finale episode of the Friday Nooner was a mini-celebration of GrepBeat Founding Editor Pete McEntegart on his last day in the office. The rest of us on the GrepBeat team (including the GrepBeat Godfather beaming in from Costa Rica) gathered for a bit of trivia and some heartfelt video tributes that we definitely can’t monetize.
Speaking of Pete, don’t forget that his real farewell party is now just nine days away. GrepBeat Pete’s Irish Goodbye will take place on Thursday July 11 from 5-7pm at Bull McCabe’s Irish Pub. There will be revelry, a chance to chat with Pete (and hear about his next journey into full-time standup comedy), and actual bagpipes. Plus, who knows what sort of farewell tomfoolery Little Pete (the bobblehead) might engage in? Register in advance here (and as with our happy hours, enjoy a free drink ticket for your troubles!).
Quick programming note: The GrepBeat team is out of the office for the 4th, so there will be no Thursday newsletter. Happy Fourth of July to you all!
Did you know that after the fossil fuel and agriculture industries, fashion and apparel are the third-largest polluting industry in the world? Me neither. But Jeanine Fry did, and that is in part what led her to become Co-Founder and CEO of Raleigh startup Loom3d.
This startup, which was awarded a $10,000 grant as part of this year’s NC IDEA MICRO grant cohort, is combatting apparel waste by addressing a surprising gap in the fashion industry. Essentially, it’s employing new technology to design seamless woven apparel. This enables “just-in-time production,” eliminating the need for advance bulk production that may go to waste. (And as a bonus, seamless woven clothing can also be more comfortable.)
Finding a surrogate for pregnancy isn’t the most fun you’ll ever have. Or so I hear. Hiring an agency to help can cost tens of thousands of dollars, and if you try to do it alone (say, via social media), the process might not feel as secure (you won’t automatically benefit from a background check, for instance).
Fortunately, Chapel Hill startup Baby Bumps can help. Founded by Victoria Fritz (who is now CEO) when she didn’t like her options for pursuing her own surrogate, the startup is designed to function like Hinge or Match.com for parents and surrogates. It simplifies the matching process, but still facilitates the medical and legal screening processes that ensure a proper arrangement.
Baby Bumps is a member of the current RIoT Accelerator Program (RAP) cohort, which is in the midst of its 12-week program.
Last Thursday night, the 14 NC startups that comprised CED’s largest GRO Incubator cohort to date presented at the annual Gro Incubator Demo Day. Each startup got the chance to make a five-minute pitch, engage with audience members, and then set about networking.
The emerging startups in this cohort are operating throughout the technology and life sciences sectors and are primarily based in and around the Triangle. Among them were several startups that have been the subjects of recent GrepBeat Features—including Benevolist, Celestic, Pathstitch, Theralinq, TruPacta, and WikiELN.
Ecosystem Map
There’s an interesting resource for the Triangle tech community that’s been made available online courtesy of Hutchison, CED, Michael Best, SotoIP, and VACO). It’s effectively an interactive platform (or "map") described as “a comprehensive representation of the dynamic and thriving entrepreneurial landscape across the state.”
The map, dubbed NCEEM (North Carolina Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Map), lists events, news and updates, relevant resources for the ecosystem, and more.
In news that may eventually impact a chunk of the Triangle startup community (though we know how slowly these things can move), a future RTP transit hub just landed a major grant. The project will receive $25 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation via the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act signed into law by President Biden in 2021.
The plan is to develop a transit station that would connect to regional bus rapid transit, passenger rail service, and a 17-mile-long bikeway—potentially making the RTP region less car-dependent. We’d love to see it.
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