RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – With weekly updates to keep content fresh, WRAL TechWire’s Triangle Startup Guide offers a timely resource package for anyone looking to start or grow a business in the Triangle area.

For startups and small businesses that are still struggling with the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve provided a list of COVID-specific resources at the bottom of the “Competitions, Grants and Other Funding” section of the guide.

Today, we added a new resource to this page: The North Carolina Small Business Impact Grant Program, RETOOLNC, is re-launching applications for minority and women-owned businesses affected by the pandemic. Grants ranging from $10,000 to $25,000 will be awarded to state-certified Historically Underutilized Businesses (HUBs) and Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) firms.

The program launched in 2020 but started accepting new applications last week. Business owners can apply and read more details here.

Other recent additions to the Triangle Startup Guide

Every week, we update the guide with new resources for local entrepreneurs for our exclusive Triangle Startup Guide.

If we missed something, please feel free to suggest it for inclusion. You can email me directly or use this contact form.

Here’s a review of additions we’ve made in recent weeks:

  • We added a new listing to our interactive Map of Coworking Spaces and Incubators: Office Ours opened its fourth Triangle location in Garner last May. The space includes office suites, a kitchen and break room, a 10-person conference room, white noise machines, a secure lock system and more amenities.
  • The latest addition to the Inspiration, Advice & More Resources section of the guide is our newly launched “Tomorrow’s Unicorns” series, a multimedia package covering Raleigh’s most successful startups. The series kicked off earlier this month with deep dives on Global Data Consortium and Diveplane.
  • In the Venture Capital and Angel Groups section, we updated the Wolfpack Investor Network listing to include that the group has totaled $15 million in investments since its founding in December 2016, per the latest information from NC State University. We also added a new line to the Triangle Venture Alliance listing, noting that it has invested $53 million into 73 portfolio companies since 2016.
  • We added Launch Johnston County to the Accelerators and Mentorship Programs section of the guide. Headed by the Clayton Chamber of Commerce, Launch Johnston County aims to provide the coursework, networking, mentorship and funding opportunities emerging businesses need to grow in the Johnston County area. Applications will open later this year, and the program is expected to officially launch in January 2022.
  • We added PitchRounds to the Competitions, Grants and More Resources section. Held during the upcoming AdvanSE Life Sciences Conference in South Carolina next month, PitchRounds invites life science companies across the Southeast to present their solutions in biopharma, digital health, diagnostics and medical devices. Startups have until Sept. 25 to apply to pitch in the program, which runs from Oct. 27 to Oct. 29 in Charleston.
  • We added several new coworking spaces, removed closed spaces and made some updates to the existing listings in our map of local coworking spaces and incubators. Read more about the updates here.
  • In the Competitions, Grants & Other Funding Sources section of the guide, we added Duke Institute for Health Innovation’s annual funding cycle, which supports innovative projects from faculty, staff, trainees and students of Duke University and the Duke University Health System. With thematic solicitations for proposals offered on a yearly basis, the program targets projects that aim to address critical issues encountered by care providers and patients.