I’ll be on vacation next week, but rest assured that the GrepBeat newsletter will be in Jackie’s most capable hands. I’ll see you back in this space on Tuesday, Aug. 1. Unless you happen to be in Myrtle Beach next week too, in which case maybe you'll see me sooner.
Good Eatin'
Good nutrition is important for everyone, but it’s especially crucial for cancer patients. That’s the focus of Agilix Health, a healthtech startup with Triangle roots that uses digital tools to track nutrition, dehydration and other key markers for those fighting cancer. The two founders met while earning MBAs at Duke’s Fuqua School and one (Peter Meath) is based in Durham. Agilix Health also recently received investments from the Triangle Tweener Fund and Cary-based Harbright Ventures.
Tired: Every company is a tech company. Wired: Every tech company is an AI company. Speaking to the latter, Raleigh’s Pendo announced yesterday a new suite of tools that uses AI to help its customers improve the software experiences they deliver. Pendo CEO Todd Olson says that the unicorn has been investing significantly in AI innovation over the past two and a half years, driven by a team of about 20 people in its Israel office led by Dr. Inbal Budowski-Tal. Here’s more from two TechWire stories here and here; the second is a Q&A with Todd.
Meanwhile Triangle Inno casts the Pendo news in the broader context of other Triangle tech companies diving into AI, including Raleigh-based AI startup Pryon (you may recall Pryon CEO Igor Jablokov as a wildly entertaining Download subject).
New Fund
Durham-based VC Resilient Ventures is targeting $15M for its second fund to invest in Black entrepreneurs. We first wrote about Resilient—led by Keith Daniel and Tom Droege—in 2019 and then again in 2022. The VC’s first fund was just under $3.5M and made 11 investments. The plan for the larger second fund, of which they’ve already closed about $2M, is to write larger checks of about $250K for pre-seed startups and $750K for Series A investments. See TechWire and Triangle Inno for more info.
Breaking Ground
In the latest sign that VinFast is genuinely determined to build its massive EV production facility in Chatham County, the Vietnamese-based company has announced a groundbreaking ceremony for next Friday, July 28. (Hey, I’d love to go, but maybe you’ve heard that I’ll be on vacation.) Company officials are sticking publicly to their hope to open the facility on 2025. See WRAL.com, TBJ and the N&O for more info.
Momentum-NCCU
The N&O has more details on the partnership between Momentum and NC Central to offer free coding classes to 20 Durham residents that we first mentioned a month ago. The program is being funded by the National Telecommunication and Information Administration. Applicants must reside within a 15-mile radius of NCCU. Classes will be held virtually on Tuesday and Thursday nights for 24 weeks. The application deadline is Friday, Aug. 4. See the N&O for more info here, or apply here.
Taking Flight
RTP’s First Flight Venture Center is gearing up for a new cohort of its six-week Propeller program. Billed as a course in “entrepreneurial design thinking,” Propeller helps (very) early-stage tech and science innovators test their idea as a potential business. First Flight President Krista Covey is a former Friday Nooner guest and Download Q&A subject. See TechWire for more info on the Propeller program here.
Reunited
One annoying element of many rankings of geographic areas on this or that metric is that whoever carved up the official Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) that are typically used for such studies split the Triangle into Raleigh/Cary and Durham/Chapel Hill, rather than counting the Triangle as a whole. Well, UNC’s Kenan Institute corrects such nonsense. It combines the Triangle and ranks our local economy as the third-fastest-growing in the U.S. among the 50 largest metros, behind only Silicon Valley/San Francisco and Austin. See TechWire for more info.
Coffee And Concepts
Innovate Carolina is launching a “Coffee and Concepts” series of events to be held at 79 Degrees West in Pittsboro. The first is tomorrow morning, Friday July 21, from 9:30-11:30 a.m. titled “Supercharge Your Brand with the Power of Digital Content." (Find the Eventbrite here.) On Friday morning, Aug. 18, you can attend “Reading and Understanding Your Business Financial Statements.” Find that Eventbrite here.
Build Great Software
Founded by serial entrepreneurs, Dualboot is a software and business development company. Their clients include tech and non-tech founders as well as Fortune 500 companies, so they can start small or scale fast depending on what you need. Every client is assigned a U.S.-based Product Director with years of experience bringing products to market, and they can manage the entire development process. They focus on how the software fits into your company to drive revenue and build the business. At Dualboot, they don’t just write your software—they help you grow your business. Intrigued? Email them here.
Real talk: doing our best to serve you costs money. Businesses and organizations that would like to support our efforts should see our sponsorship opportunities here.
