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 resource for local entrepreneurs. The latest update comes to the guide’s “COVID Relief Resources” section, a list of state, regional and national programs to support startups and small businesses during the pandemic.
The North Carolina Department of Revenue recently re-opened its Business Recovery Grant Program, thanks to a fresh infusion of federal funding from the Department of Treasury.
Serving businesses with economic losses of at least 20%, the program consists of a hospitality grant for arts, entertainment and recreation businesses, as well as food-service and accommodation businesses. A reimbursement grant of up to $500,000 is also available for other businesses, even ones that have received COVID relief from other programs.
A key difference between the first phase of the Business Recovery Grant and the latest iteration is that the eligibility requirements have been loosened for businesses that didn’t meet the economic loss threshold or were excluded because they received funds from federal programs.
“Our hope is that the expanded Business Recovery Grant program requirements will encourage more eligible North Carolina businesses to apply,” NC DOR Secretary Ronald Penny stated in a press release earlier this month. “These funds are available for eligible businesses that suffered a financial loss because of the pandemic and we want to make sure those businesses receive them.”
Applications will close on June 1. Interested businesses can read more and find out how to apply on the DOR’s website.
Phase 2 of the BRG is live! Because of updates to the program’s eligibility criteria, BRG is open to ALL business industries that suffered financial loss due to the pandemic including businesses that received other COVID-19 relief funds. pic.twitter.com/ul1MZRX5co
— N.C. Dept of Revenue (@NCDOR) May 13, 2022
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 added The Loading Dock’s new coworking space in Wake Forest to the guide’s interactive map of local coworking spaces and incubators. The space opened in December, marking The Loading Dock’s first expansion outside of Raleigh. Fitting for both individual entrepreneurs and startup teams, the space includes dedicated desks, oversized coworking tables, private offices, meeting rooms for up to 45 people and event space for over 200 attendees. It also offers a range of unique perks, such as a full-service kitchen with local coffee on demand, outdoor seating, Fiber WiFi and a dog-friendly environment.
- We added Dolphin Tank, a series of pitch events for women entrepreneurs, to the “Competitions, Grants & Other Funding Sources” section. The program is expanding to the Triangle, with an agtech-focused event on June 1 in RTP. According to the website, the event is part of a partnership with a handful of prominent organizations in the local startup ecosystem, including Pappas Capital, NC IDEA, Rex Health Ventures and Alexandria LaunchLabs.
- In the “Competitions, Grants & Other Funding Sources” section, we 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. Per new data on the event 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 next edition will be held during the 2022 AdvanSE Life Sciences Conference, running May 25–27 in Georgia.
2022 AdvanSE Life Science Conference (in Alpharetta, Georgia)
- 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 this post.
More recent additions
- 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.
