RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – CEOs and investors from across the country will be coming together for the opportunity to pitch at this year’s VentureConnect on Wednesday and Thursday. The event, in its second year in-person post-COVID, has a record-breaking 180 start-ups vying for investor attention.
Companies from a range of industries including Ag and Biotech, Consumer, and Semiconductors are perfecting their pitches ahead of the event.
I spoke with three such CEOs as they prepare for next week: Charbel Rizk of Oculi, co-founders Osahon Ojeaga and Mary E. Moore of Aja Labs, and Rich Camacho, co-founder and CEO of BlueRecruit.
Ocili’s vision for vision tech
Oculi is a semiconductor company developing vision technology. According to Charbel Rizk, Oculi founder, CEO and CTO, the OCULI SPU (sensing & processing unit) is the world’s first smart programmable (software-defined) vision sensor and will be capable of powering “smart” devices, places, and vehicles.
“We solved the fundamental problems associated with vision technology so our impact will ultimately touch the simplest automation tasks such as sliding doors and light fixtures up to safe & autonomous driving,” said Rizk. “There is no solution today that meets the market requirements for speed, power consumption, cost, and privacy. An always-on effective solution requires all to be commercially viable for mass production. We enable such a solution.”
Startups form a big parade: 180 to make pitches at Triangle venture event
A “dating app” for hiring
Rich Camacho is co-founder and CEO of BlueRecruit, a company for matching blue-collar workers with employers across dozens of industries. BlueRecruit removes the hassle of job posts and resumes and makes connections for companies based on skills, experience, and certifications. “It’s more of a dating app approach,” says Camacho.
BlueRecuit was Started in 2019, and Camacho reflected that they hoped that employers would be willing to pay for a model that spared them the hassles of job posting and recruiting. Four years later, with more than 30k job seekers and 1,400 employers, that looks to be the case.
‘Future of Work’ draws more startups – NC venture event to showcase 9
New materials finding new uses
In the Consumer segment, CEO Osahon Ojeaga and Chief Science Office Mary Moore of Aja Labs are excited about the chance to share and refine the vision for their company. Aja Labs makes the world’s first plant-based biopolymer hair extension, available through their sister company, Nourie. But they’re also looking to communicate the potential for other uses of the biopolymer fiber.
“I’m excited to be setting the stage for what this organization could be,” says Ojeaga. “I really want people to see us as a materials engineering innovation company. This is beyond hair extensions. This is a platform technology.”
They’re also planning to attend pitches. “For me, says Moore, “it’s about going to some of these different talks and hearing about pain points in other areas and figuring out if our solutions can cross over into some of those areas.”
A community reconnected
All three CEOs expressed interest in reconnecting with their start-up community. “The NC start-up ecosystem is a close-knit community,” said Camacho. “I am excited to meet more people from the region and hear what they’re involved in,” said Charbel Rizk.
Rizk will be presenting during the “DeepTech” session Thursday afternoon. According to Hunter Young with CED, DeepTech will profile startups whose solution and business is predicated on considerable scientific or engineering innovation.
Mary Moore and Osahon Ojeaga of Aja Labs will be in the Consumer Innovation session. You can catch Rich Camacho pitching for BlueRecruit in the “Future of Work” session.
