RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – With regular 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.
Today, we’re back with a fresh set of resources for local entrepreneurs. The latest update comes to the “Competitions, Grants & Other Funding Sources” section of the guide, which features a range of local pitch events, grants, cyclical funding programs and other opportunities for startups to raise cash beyond traditional VC or angel rounds. Though most of the resources are limited to Triangle-area opportunities, we occasionally add noteworthy regional programs to the mix.
We recently updated the listing for the annual AdvanSE Life Sciences Conference to reflect the latest data about its PitchRounds program. Held every year in the Atlanta area, the event invites life science companies across the Southeast to present their solutions in biopharma, digital health, diagnostics, medical devices and agricultural biotechnology.
According to new data posted on the conference website, the 500 companies selected to participate in PitchRounds since its inception have raised $7.6 billion in 790 funding transactions, with 70 subsequent IPOs and merger and acquisition events.
The 2022 edition will be held during next month’s AdvanSE Life Sciences Conference, running May 25–27 at the Hotel Avalon in Alpharetta, Georgia, near Atlanta.
2022 AdvanSE Life Science Conference (in Alpharetta, Georgia)
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.
In case you missed it, check out all the updates we made in 2021. And here’s a review of the additions from recent weeks:
- We made three new additions to our interactive map of local coworking spaces and incubators, which features dozens of spaces fit for startup teams and small businesses in the Triangle. The newest entrants are Blush Cowork (Cary), The Factory (Raleigh) and The Work Hall (Raleigh). Read more in last week’s post.
- In the “Free Events and Meetups” section, we added Raleigh-Durham Startup Week—an annual event hosted by prominent startup accelerator Techstars. The four-day program brings together the local startup community to celebrate recent accomplishments, discuss emerging business topics, share innovative ideas and make new connections. This year’s Raleigh-Durham Startup Week ran from April 19 to April 22 at various venues in Durham:
Raleigh-Durham Startup Week is almost here – a Triangle Tech Star tells us what to expect
- In the “Communities, Networks & Memberships” section of the guide, we added Duke University’s Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Club (EVCC). Run out of Duke’s Fuqua School of Business, the EVCC provides resources and events supporting student entrepreneurs and people who want to work at local startups. The club’s calendar of events includes a mix of pitch competitions, conferences, workshops, lunch and learns, and networking opportunities for Duke’s growing startup community.
- In the “Competitions, Grants & Other Funding Sources” section of the guide, we added NC State University’s Miller Fellowship, a program that helps newly-graduated alumni pursue their ventures full-time. The fellowship aims to capture recent grads in that short window between finishing college and deciding whether to jump into a full-time job or take a risk in growing a startup.
More recent additions
- In the “Inspiration, Advice & More Resources” section of the guide, we added a link to last month’s “podcast marathon,” an eight-hour event held in the Earfluence podcast studio in Durham’s American Underground. (Note: Capitol Broadcasting Company, parent of WRAL TechWire, owns American Underground)
‘Podcast marathon’ featuring who’s who of Triangle startup scene launches Earfluence’s new studio
- In the VC and angel funding section of the guide, we added Front Porch Venture Partners, a local venture capital firm founded by graduates of Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. As Hypepotamus recently reported, Front Porch Venture Partners follows a “hybrid” model, investing in both early-stage startups and other VC funds. The group’s inaugural fund invested in 14 venture funds and 13 startups. Its fund partners include many local investors, such as Idea Fund Partners, Hatteras Venture Partners and Cofounders Capital.
- In the “Inspiration, Advice & More Resources” section, we added a link to the latest “State of the Region” address delivered by Tom Snyder, executive director of Raleigh-based RIoT. The annual address lays out the progress, opportunities and threats facing the Triangle over the course of the year. This year’s edition, delivered at Raleigh Founded, focuses on changes in the labor force, supply chain struggles and inflation, domestic and foreign affairs, and the growth in entrepreneurship.
