ICYMI: the guest on the latest Friday Nooner (sponsored by Big Pixel) was Trevor Ferree, the Co-Founder and CEO of Raleigh-based TSV Analytics. Added bonus: Trevor reveals which new-ish social media network he thinks has the best chance to be the Next Big Thing.
Exit Stories
Katy Jones is this week’s guest on our Exit Stories podcast—sponsored by Robinson Bradshaw—to tell the story of FoodLogiQ’s acquisition earlier this year. Katy joined FoodLogiQ in 2016 on the marketing side; in fact she was the subject of our Meet… Q&A in 2018 when she was CMO. She later became COO and finally CEO, which was her position at the time of the deal.
Read some highlights of the episode here, then listen (and subscribe!) here.
Dr. Do-Lot
Wearables For Animals. That’s the elevator pitch—or should be, anyway—for Durham-based FaunaLabs. Inspired by the marine science and conservation PhD research done by Co-Founder and CEO Dr. Dave Haas, FaunaLabs makes non-invasive devices that provide real-time analytics of animal health. They make wearables for animals ranging from whales to cows to your family’s dog. The key scientific insight is using new wavelengths of light to enable the sensors to “see through” a dog’s fur or a whale’s thick skin.
Raleigh-based haircare startup Virtue Labs has raised $8M, according to an SEC filing, about four months after it named Jose Luis Palacios as its CEO. Virtue Labs has developed hair products that use alpha keratin to develop thicker, healthier hair. We’re never quite sure if Virtue Labs qualifies as the kind of startup we cover; “Labs” in the name isn't typically a great start given its life-science-y feel, but like 100 words ago we wrote about FaunaLabs, so obviously there are gray areas. But we’ve come too far on this item to turn around now, so here you go.
New Models
On-again-off-again Wall Street darling VinFast (the love affair seems to be off at the moment) has partnered with global chip giant Nvidia in plans to build three new crossover vehicles at the EV manufacturing plant VinFast is building in Chatham County. The three new models will be the VF7, VF8 and the large VF9. You can’t even make a car that drives around the block these days without microchips. Auto News first broke the story; see TechWire for more.
More Car Talk
Speaking of cars, a new co-working spot-slash-social club called Car Space has opened in northeast Raleigh. The location will have luxury cars on hand as conversation pieces, as well as an attached social club in which members and guests can enjoy golf or racing simulators or smoke cigars. I don’t quite get the concept, frankly, but then again I am not at all a car guy; I have lived car-less in big cities for the majority of my adult life and currently drive a 2001 Acura. See TechWire for all the details.
TechWire also had an accompanying broader story on the state of coworking in the Triangle. Short version: the pandemic was a nasty speed bump and WeWork generates lots of (negative) headlines, but coworking is not just alive but growing thanks in part to trends such as digital nomads and remote work.
Awards Time
Raleigh-based Allstacks—a 2022 GrepBeat Startup To Watch—has garnered an honor from Will Reed, the only go-to-market (GTM) executive search firm built exclusively for early-stage founders. The firm named Allstacks No. 55 on the Will Reed 100 list of seed-stage and Series A B2B tech startups that are “shaping the future of workplace culture.” In other words, Will Reed (who I’m told is no relation to the NBA Hall of Famer) says that Allstacks is a great place to work. See this Allstacks blog post for more info.
Sharing Economy
TBJ’s Biz column recently took a look at the rising interest in fractional ownership for vacation homes. Loyal GrepBeat readers will note that’s exactly what Durham-based Plum CoOwnership does, which the story addresses. We first profiled the startup last March and also welcomed Founder and CEO (and serial entrepreneur) Matt Williamson as a Friday Nooner guest last May.
Local Leader
VentureSouth has named Jonathan Heigel, a Duke grad who recently moved to Raleigh, as its new director for its Triangle operations. HQ’d in Greenville, S.C., VentureSouth is a very active early-stage investor through its funds as well as its affiliated network of angel groups, including one in the Triangle. See TechWire for more info.
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.
Extra Bit
TiE is hosting a Founders Exit Panel Discussion and Social tomorrow (Sept. 13) at 5:30 p.m. at the Lonerider in Durham. Neil Bagchi (Bagchi Law) will moderate the panel featuring four TiE members with recent exits: Arun Sankaran, Nikin Shah, Vijay Nandakumar and Gautam Aggarwal. The event will also honor the “Drug Detectives” team—four students from Green Level High School in Cary—who won the TYE (TiE Young Entrepreneurs) Global Pitch Competition this June; we wrote about them last week. You can find more info about and register for the free event here.
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