Celebrate Founders Event (Jan 18, 5:00-7:00)
Join us on Thursday, January 18, 5:00-7:00 pm. RSVP @ https://www.eventbrite.com/e/celebrating-founders-tickets-761271943877
Launch Chapel Hill Spring 2024 Accelerator Applications Now Open!
Applications for the Launch Chapel Hill Spring 2024 startup accelerator have opened!
Looking to Hire an Intern? Two Great Opportunities:
Information on the Economics Recruiting/Internship Fair at UNC-Chapel Hill on Monday August 28 AND the 2023 Carolina Startup Connect: Meet & Greet (November 8)
Aurora Leadership Partners featured in NC Business Daily Digest
Aurora Leadership Partners is already
Friday Nooner: UNC’s Ted Zoller Talks Carolina Angel Network And… Iceland?
Another Friday Nooner is in the books! This week, Joe returned to the show in some amazing ForeverGrep swag and as always Jackie presented in front of a unique background.
Launch's LopoDiveskins and TempoBrew receive NCIdea Seed Grant
DURHAM, NC – April 27, 2023 – NC IDEA, a private foundation committed to supporting entrepreneurial ambition and economic empowerment in North Carolina, announced today that the organization has awarded $150,000 to fifteen North Carolina startups in its tenth NC IDEA MICRO grant cycle. Since the inaugural cycle in Spring 2018, NC IDEA MICRO has awarded over $1.6 million to 162 young companies across the state.
Through small, project-based grants, NC IDEA MICRO awards $10,000 in funding to young companies looking to validate and advance their idea. The program, piloted in Spring 2018, was created as an expansion of the Foundation’s long-standing SEED grant program to provide funding to younger, promising startups not yet positioned for the Foundation’s traditional $50,000 grants.
Gameflo Accepted into Target's Forward Founders program
The Target Accelerators team is thrilled to announce the fourth Target Forward Founders cohort. This program is built to equip historically under resourced founders to become the next wave of generational wealth-building companies, by utilizing Target’s size and scale to democratize access, education, and resources.
As Target Forward Founders participants, our fourth cohort will go through an extensive 10-week program that provides personalized education, tools and connections to help them learn how to scale into retail. Representing a variety of product categories including food and beverage, personal care, home, health and beauty, the Target Accelerators team is thrilled to welcome and introduce this group of unique brands as the program launches April 25. Meet the cohort!
Raleigh-based beverage startup giving sports drinks a run for their money with Middle Eastern flavors
Homayoon Ershadi is the founder of Jabin, a Raleigh-based beverage startup offering a family twist on an ancient Persian beverage. Ershadi was born and raised in Tehran but moved to the Triangle in 2009. An avid runner and cyclist, he found something unique to aid in post-workout recovery: his mom’s take on a traditional Persian beverage.
NxtNow Aims To Disrupt The Music Industry With New Platform
Oftentimes tech startup founders are creating the solution they needed in the past but could never find themselves. That is the case for the founders of Chapel Hill-based NxtNow, a platform that Co-Founder Kevin Thomas said intends to disrupt the entire music industry. The startup, which completed the Launch Chapel Hill accelerator program last fall, was born out of necessity.
Write This Down: Arete Aims To Innovate Traditional Journaling
As UNC focused more and more on its community’s mental health last fall, UNC sophomore Rob Sullivan was inspired to develop a more modern approach to journaling.
While taking 17 credit hours, working at the campus IT desk and helping lead two clubs, Sullivan somehow found time to develop a new goal-setting app—Arete.
Pitch Party & See the New Space
March 2, 2023 from 5:30-7:30 at Launch Chapel Hill’s new space (137 East Franklin Street, Suite #611) The Fall 2022 Accelerator Pitch Party & Debut of the new space! Sign up here.
Wait, Launch Chapel Hill moved? 7 reasons to visit Launch’s new space.
Launch Chapel Hill remains open for business in its new space in downtown Chapel Hill’s first innovation hub building. Founded in 2013, Launch is still the same award-winning accelerator that supports the startup community and is the first tenant in the newest building in downtown Chapel Hill, offering even more programming and resources to the Chapel Hill community.
Project Trace Aims To Make It Easier To Be An Everyday Environmentalist
With news about the impacts of climate change and other environmental challenges breaking every day, it is not uncommon to feel overwhelmed, unsure of where to begin and what to do first to help.
To ease with the confusion, conflicting information and occasional guilt associated with becoming a better environmentalist, Kevin Berman created Project Trace, an interactive resource guide for learning about how a person’s everyday actions can impact the environment. The startup participated in the latest cohort of the Launch Chapel Hill accelerator.
Chapel Hill-based Alight Success Aims To Align People To Their Dreams
After 20 years of school counseling, Kristin Hiemstra was bursting with inspiration from the goals and dreams of her students. But she found herself heartbroken thinking about all the lost goals and jaded morale of the adults around her.
“So I’m like—there’s gotta be a way that we can teach people how to keep those dreams alive, to give them traction to do it, and also how to navigate the actual work world,” she said.
Hiemstra’s secret ingredient? Alignment.
Launch Chapel Hill is Relocating!
Why choose between Rosemary (our first location) and Franklin (our second location) when you can have both?! As of 1-Feb-2023, Launch Chapel Hill has relocated from our old home (306 West Franklin) to 137 East Franklin (Suite #611) and then to 136 East Rosemary in Summer 2023. Keep up with our progress here!
Inclusive Intakes Aiming To Transform Mental Illness Into Mental Health
During quarantine, some people took up knitting, others restructured their workout routines, and even more spent a great deal of time watching Tiger King. Bryan Krehnbrink, a UNC School of Medicine psychologist, used his pandemic time to hone a different type of skill.
“I guess other people were baking bread and I was at home trying to learn how to code,” Krehnbrink said.
Naomi Kraut set out to make mothers feel seen
Naomi Kraut set out to make mothers feel seen through videos with singing—and swearing—puppets. That became a startup called Fun Mom Band that earned a $10K MICRO grant from NC IDEA to help flesh out a go-to-market merchandise strategy to help monetize the community spurred by the videos.
Durham-based Fun Mom Band is a product of the pandemic. It started with a puppet musical that expressed the struggles that moms face in an original way. It was released in May 2020 on YouTube and it also had an outdoor showing in a music hall.
Krsor Pairs Shippers With Travelers Looking To Turn Extra Trunk Space Into $$
If you have ever been on a long road trip with extra space in your car or are interested in a way to make money during your travels, then Krsor is for you.
As play on the word “cursor”—which in Latin means “runner” or “messenger”—Krsor provides an opportunity for travelers to connect with shippers so that cars with excess capacity can help ship items in the direction they are already traveling. The startup is participating in the current cohort of the Launch Chapel Hill accelerator, which runs through the end of the month.