SUMMIT + CELEBRATION

PITCH

This conference is built for high potential, scaling companies in Tech and Biotech making it the best in the biz for sourcing quality deal flow in the Southeast.

POWERED BY CED

THE COMPANIES

Welcome to the 2024 Company Showcase! We are gearing up for another record-breaking year of innovation in the Southeast at Venture Connect. We’re calling on innovative companies to have the chance to pitch live, sharing your company goals for increased visibility and potential funding—all in under five minutes. Take a look at our 2024 companies below.

Selected companies to pitch will receive one complimentary ticket given to their presenter who will be given the spotlight on one of two stages, spanning two full days of pitching. We also encourage startup teams to join us. Your participation is a fantastic way to network with peers and dive deep into the heart of the Southeast’s innovation space. Purchase a group of Celebration tickets to ensure your entire team can partake in the excitement of Venture Connect.

For those selected, attendees will have the chance to learn more about you and connect directly via our partnering app before the conference begins. It’s more than a pitch—it’s a stepping stone to your company’s next big leap.

Application Timeline

Tuesday
Nov 7

Company Applications Open

Applications to pitch at the best capital conference in the Southeast were open November 7, 2023 through January 5, 2024.

Friday
Jan 5

Company Applications Close

All applications must be submitted by January 5th.

Monday
Feb 5

Selection Notification

Each application is reviewed in detail and companies will be notified of the status of their applications no later than February 5th. CED will make rolling announcements of featured companies in February, as confirmations are received.

Tuesday – Tuesday
Feb 6 – Mar 19

Share on Social Media

Spread the word about your company pitching on stage.

Wednesday – Thursday
Mar 20 – 21

Time to Pitch!

Please start by typing a Company Name OR select a Company Sector and/or Company Founder from the drop down filters.

OR
Tech
Active Defender
Founder: Jim Boyte
Tech
Acuity Behavioral Health
Founder: Jim Szyperski
Biotech
AGED Diagnostics
Founder: Rachel Zayas
Biotech
AGRITX, LLC
Founder: Gina Sloan
Tech
Alithia Power
Founder: Cris Ugolini
Biotech
Altis Biosystems
Founder: Ben Scruggs
Biotech
Amalgent Therapeutics, Inc.
Founder: Malcolm Meyn
Tech
Amissa Health
Founder: Jon Corkey
Biotech
AntiXero
Founder: Joe Huber
Tech
Anumá Aerospace Corporation
Founder: Diana Little
Biotech
Artemis Immersive
Founder: Adam Isley
Biotech
Atlantic Fish Co
Founder: Doug Grant
Biotech
Avana Health
Founder: Peter Pacult
Biotech
AxNano
Founder: Doug Speight
Tech
BallotReady
Founder: Aviva Rosman
Tech
Beam Dynamics
Founder: David Kaszycki
Biotech
BIOMILQ
Founder: Leila Strickland
Tech
Bionic Health
Founder: Robbie Allen
Biotech
BMI OrganBank
Founder: Carrie DiMarzio
Biotech
Boundless Science
Founder: William Walker
Tech
Bristles AI
Founder: Tina Tang
Tech
Cadence Cash
Founder: Andrea Inokon
Biotech
Cerillo
Founder: Eric Mayton
Biotech
Cervu
Founder: Alan Rosenbaum
Tech
CINCH CCM, Inc.
Founder: Tim Murray
Biotech
Clarus Biologics Inc
Founder: Robert Johnston
Tech
Compatica, Inc.
Founder: Adee Feinstein
Biotech
Cosmic Eats, Inc.
Founder: Sheetal Shah
Biotech
Couplet Care, Inc.
Founder: Kristin Tully
Tech
Coworks
Founder: DeShawn Brown
Tech
Crest Digital Therapeutics
Founder: Stephen Hamm
Tech
CureMint
Founder: Brandon McCarty
Biotech
CytexOrtho
Founder: Brad Estes
Biotech
CytoRecovery, Inc.
Founder: Alexandra Hyler, Ph.D.
Biotech
Deep Blue Medical Inc.
Founder: Dr. Howard Levinson
Biotech
Dignify Therapeutics
Founder: Ed Burgard
Biotech
DNALI
Founder: Kyle Tomek
Biotech
Druid Agriculture
Founder: Julian Walker
Tech
eBoxchain
Founder: Suraj Chanda
Tech
Ecobot
Founder: Lee Lance
Tech
EcoMap Technologies Inc.
Founder: Sherrod Davis
Biotech
Eldec Pharmaceuticals
Founder: Robert Tarran
Tech
Electronic Lab Logs
Founder: Daniel Summers
Biotech
Elysia Creative Biology
Founder: Eli Hornstein
Biotech
Endocanna Health, Inc.
Founder: Len May
Tech
Equivalent
Founder: Heather Neff
Biotech
Evecxia Therapeutics
Founder: Jacob Jacobsen
Biotech
ExstoBio
Founder: Juan Carlos Pacheco
Biotech
EyeCheq
Founder: Ali Khoshnevis
Tech
EZOS
Founder: Chase Minnifield
Tech
Fashivly
Founder: Ashlyn Greer
Tech
Flux Hybrids
Founder: Micah Ulrich
Tech
ForOurLastNames
Founder: Ray’Chel Wilson
Biotech
Galaxy Diagnostics, Inc.
Founder: Amanda Elam
Tech
GoghNow
Founder: Chance Smith
Biotech
Good Agriculture
Founder: Alex Edquist
Tech
GreenLifeTech Corp
Founder: Bruce Roesner
Tech
GroupUps
Founder: Yasin Abbak
Tech
Hank AI, Inc.
Founder: Jack Neil
Biotech
Helixomer, Inc
Founder: Thomas LaBean
Tech
HireMe Healthcare
Founder: Ryan Lee
Biotech
Indus, Inc.
Founder: Saiprasad Sankaranarayanan
Biotech
Innatrix Inc.
Founder: Jiarui Li
Biotech
inSoma Bio, Inc.
Founder: Stefan Roberts
CPG
Jabin Beverage Co
Founder: Homayoon Ershadi
Tech
Jobvious
Founder: Tim Jones
Biotech
Jurata Thin Film
Founder: Sheila Mikhail
Tech
Kahana
Founder: Jonathan Gans
Tech
Karma Wallet
Founder: Jayant Khadilkar
Biotech
Kuria Therapeutics, Inc.
Founder: Keith Ward
Biotech
Lindy Biosciences, Inc.
Founder: Deborah Bitterfield
Biotech
LUMINELLE
Founder: Allison London Brown
Tech
Map My Customers
Founder: Matthew Sniff
Biotech
Margik Inc.
Founder: Margaret Kocherga
Biotech
Mazen Animal Health, Inc.
Founder: Jennifer Filbey
Biotech
Metalytics, Inc.
Founder: Eric Cumming
Biotech
MgeneRx Inc.
Founder: Nasser Hassan
Tech
Modern Ritual Health
Founder: Elianna Goldstein
Tech
mPATH
Founder: Dave Miller
Tech
Muuklabs INC
Founder: Ivan Barajas Vargas
Biotech
MyMatR
Founder: John Starke
Biotech
NabGen, Inc.
Founder: Charles Askew
Biotech
NALA Membranes
Founder: Sue Mecham
Biotech
Nephrodite, Inc.
Founder: Nikhil Shah
Tech
NextGen Interactions
Founder: Jason Jerald
Tech
Nolodex
Founder: Adrian Sasine
Tech
Oculi
Founder: Charbel Rizk
Biotech
Onda Vision Technologies, Inc
Founder: William Reynolds
CPG
Parasol Distribution
Founder: Kevin Barry
Biotech
Phinite
Founder: Jordan Phasey
Biotech
PhotoniCare
Founder: Ryan Shelton
Biotech
PlakousTherapeutics, Inc.
Founder: Robert Boyce
Tech
PlanMyKids
Founder: David Watkins
Biotech
Praetego Inc
Founder: Pepper Landson
Biotech
Predicate
Founder: Morris Nguyen
Biotech
QATCH TECHNOLOGIES
Founder: Zehra Parlak
Biotech
Quorum Bio
Founder: Sudharsan Dwaraknath
Tech
Rehicle Auto Parts
Founder: Michael Krumpe
Tech
Rendyr, Inc.
Founder: Martin Angst
Biotech
Resonantia Diagnostics, Inc.
Founder: Matt Jones
Tech
Salem Cyber
Founder: Trevor Gingras
Biotech
SelSym Biotech, Inc.
Founder: Seema Nandi
Tech
ServeScape, Inc
Founder: Mario Cambardella
Tech
SneakPeek Technologies Inc.
Founder: Justin Kelly
Biotech
SonoVascular, Inc.
Founder: Daniel Estay
Tech
SonoVoice, Inc.
Founder: Sandeep Bhatt
Tech
Sparc
Founder: Laurel Djoukeng
Tech
Sportscale, Inc
Founder: Sharon Moore
Tech
SWIR Vision Systems, Inc.
Founder: Allan Hilton
Tech
SwitchFrame
Founder: Justin Kelsey
Biotech
TearSolutions, Inc.
Founder: Gordon Laurie
Tech
Townhall
Founder: Peter Nadolny
Tech
Translational Imaging Innovations
Founder: Eric Buckland
Tech
Truentity Health
Founder: Mike Desai
Tech
Trusted AI Solutions
Founder: Debra Baker
Tech
TSV Analytics
Founder: Trevor Ferree
Biotech
Upstream Biotechnology, Inc.
Founder: George Greene
Biotech
URO-1, Inc.
Founder: Jack Snoke
Tech
Uviquity, Inc.
Founder: Scott Burroughs
Biotech
Verinetics, Inc.
Founder: Jessica Beaver
Biotech
Vizma.AI
Founder: Carlos Alberto Dedesma
Biotech
VQ Biomedical, INC
Founder: Galen Robertson
Tech
Washington's Hammer
Founder: Valeni Felton
Tech
Zinnia
Founder: Lauren Marturano
Tech
Zoee
Founder: Nichole Lowe
Tech
Active Defender
Founder: Jim Boyte

Active Defender builds and delivers games changing emergency communications: Picture this: You’re standing in the cafeteria and hear an alarm. You know there is a threat, but you don’t know what it is or where it is. As you navigate toward an exit, you have no way of knowing if you’re moving away from danger or right in its path. Now, imagine if you had all of those answers in seconds with personalized guidance getting you to safety. Active Defender can give everyone those answers, empowering them to make the right decisions at the right time.

Tech
Acuity Behavioral Health
Founder: Jim Szyperski

Acuity provides a workforce utilization model specifically developed for inpatient psychiatric settings and behavioral healthcare generally. Founded by healthcare systems, Acuity provides a predictive AI-driven solution that is fully integrated into EHR workflows and is used to project day-ahead staffing and bed utilization needs. The company’s mission is to provide a sustainable economic model for inpatient psychiatry utilization that is predictive, patient/nurse-centric and facilitates higher reimbursement for behavioral healthcare providers.

Biotech
AGED Diagnostics
Founder: Rachel Zayas

AGED Diagnostics is a pre-clinical diagnostics venture based out of Bethesda, Maryland. We are developing blood tests for fatty liver disease and liver fibrosis. While liver disease affects 1 in 3 Americans, and health insurers spend $108 billion annually on management, there are no effective noninvasive tools. AGED is developing the first accurate, noninvasive blood test. Our team has completed several pilot studies to validate our core technology and have found a set of biomarkers that can differentiate between the benign and advanced form with 90-99% accuracy from patient blood.

Biotech
AGRITX, LLC
Founder: Gina Sloan

AGRITX is reimagining the future of sustainable agriculture, bringing nature back to the poultry farm. Our mission is to harmonize microbial ecosystems through groundbreaking natural microbiome therapies, enhancing agricultural health and viability. We are on a mission to revolutionize industrial poultry farming steering clear of traditional antibiotics and their overuse. At AGRITX, we lead the charge with a pioneering, science-backed approach to embryonic microbiome development. Our therapeutic products, rooted in nature, allow beneficial microbiome flora to thrive while effectively eliminating pathogenic microbiota—offering a paradigm shift from conventional methods.

Tech
Alithia Power
Founder: Cris Ugolini

Alithia is a North Carolina seed-stage company that believes the core of new inventions and innovations start at the beginning, with the materials. Since the invention of the transistor in 1947, great inventions are only realized once the materials they are based on become a commercial reality. As we move into the future, the world is moving beyond the capabilities of the founding father of semiconductors, Silicon. Alithia is developing the path forward with a semiconductor called GaN. And although that semiconductor has been around for a short while, we’ve only begun to realize its full potential. Alithia is applying 25 years of R&D to revolutionize the way we manufacture GaN and apply it to the world.

Biotech
Altis Biosystems
Founder: Ben Scruggs

Altis has commercialized a model system of the human intestine to facilate efficient and cost-effective drug development. The current lack of user-friendly pre-clinical pharmacological testing models for the human intestine significantly hinders our ability to develop new therapies for intestinal disorders. Altis Biosystems has pioneered the creation of Repligut® Systems, a collection of in vitro models derived from stem cells and designed specifically for pre-clinical drug discovery. RepliGut® models are designed to replicate the complex structure of the human small intestine and colonic epithelium using a standard user friendly format.

Biotech
Amalgent Therapeutics, Inc.
Founder: Malcolm Meyn

Amalgent Therapeutics, Inc. is developing safer pain medications using proprietary adjuvant technologies to mitigate the addictive properties of opioids.

Tech
Amissa Health
Founder: Jon Corkey

Amissa generates real-world health and activity data using smartwatches to discovery digital biomarkers that prevent dementia and age-related diseases including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Disease.

Biotech
AntiXero
Founder: Joe Huber

AntiXero is developing the longest lasting therapy for cancer-related dry mouth.

Tech
Anumá Aerospace Corporation
Founder: Diana Little

Anuma Aerospace is a mission driven green tech company working to decarbonize long-haul, heavy-lift freight transportation. We are developing solar-electric/liquified-air hybrid, partial-vacuum lift (PVL) airships for the $198 billion long-haul freight transportation market. Our patented PVL lift cell is poised to revolutionize the lighter-than-air industry by replacing expensive and non-renewable helium with partial-vacuum.

Biotech
Artemis Immersive
Founder: Adam Isley

We build spatial medical technology for healthcare and related industry verticals.

Biotech
Atlantic Fish Co
Founder: Doug Grant

Atlantic Fish Co is using cellular agriculture to develop sustainable, cultivated seafood. This technology grows fish cell lines in bioreactors to produce authentic seafood, not plant-based replicas. We’re focused on premium wild-caught species that are greenhouse gas intensive due to the trawling techniques required to catch them and can’t be raised easily via aquaculture.

Biotech
Avana Health
Founder: Peter Pacult

Life sciences company focused on unmet needs in uterine health. Developed platform drug + device treatment to address conditions like abnormal uterine bleeding (affects 1 in 3 women) and postpartum hemorrhage (leading cause of maternal death globally). Adding diagnostic and predictive AI features to the device platform. Development stage: clinical trials.

Biotech
AxNano
Founder: Doug Speight

AxNano develops and commercializes dual-use equipment platforms to capture and destroy emerging environmental contaminants, including PFAS. AxNano has licensed two industrial-grade equipment platforms from the Army Corps of Engineers and a global defense contractor and repurposed them to capture and destroy the most challenging and pervasive industrial contaminants, including but not limited to PFAS.

Tech
BallotReady
Founder: Aviva Rosman

BallotReady aggregates government data to help organizations mobilize people to take action in our democracy

Tech
Beam Dynamics
Founder: David Kaszycki

Beam helps media and entertainment companies increase the ROI of their production technology by delivering an Asset Intelligence Platform that optimizes the ownership, operation and maintenance of their revenue generating assets. Our technology is deployed at some of the largest media companies across the US and Latin America, giving them control over their critical production infrastructure in a single cloud-based platform.

Biotech
BIOMILQ
Founder: Leila Strickland

BIOMILQ is a women-owned and science-led mammary biotechnology start-up working to bring the benefits of breast milk to early life nutrition. BIOMILQ’s proprietary mammary biomanufacturing platform will enable the production of functional human milk components to support gut, immune, and brain health. BIOMILQ strives to nourish healthier babies and bring more of the functional benefits of breast milk to early-life nutrition products.

Tech
Bionic Health
Founder: Robbie Allen

Optimize your healthspan with expert physicians, delivering data-driven predictive healthcare.

Biotech
BMI OrganBank
Founder: Carrie DiMarzio

Hundreds of thousands of Americans are stuck on kidney dialysis when a kidney transplant could extend their lifespan and save insurers money. At the same time, many kidneys from consented organ donors are thrown away instead of being tested for viability and transported to someone who needs a lifesaving kidney transplant. BMI OrganBank, based in North Carolina, has developed a unique organ preservation system which has shown great promise for expanding the supply of transplantable kidneys and improving post-transplant outcomes.

Biotech
Boundless Science
Founder: William Walker

Boundless Science solves intractable, expensive, medical problems which cause significant morbidity and mortality. We solve problems at the systems level using novel materials and advanced technologies.

Tech
Bristles AI
Founder: Tina Tang

Bristles leverages AI and computer vision integrated into an easy-to-use mobile app to help DIYers plan and design home improvement projects from refinishing outdated furniture to updating a bathroom or kitchen. Our proprietary technology enables users to generate ideas for projects, visualize paint colors realistically, erase hardware and fixtures while preserving structural lines, and layer in new materials and decor. Our tech only requires images of paint colors and products, eliminating the complexity and expense of 3D models traditionally required for home design software.

Tech
Cadence Cash
Founder: Andrea Inokon

Cadence Cash, a fintech leader, offers unique financial solutions like micro-loans, lines of credit, and invoice financing, focusing on underserved small businesses. Its standout feature is an AI-driven underwriting system that ensures fair, bias-free credit assessments. Beyond financing, Cadence provides expert coaching and networking through a user-friendly platform.

Biotech
Cerillo
Founder: Eric Mayton

Cerillo is a techbio firm focused on enabling transformative microbiome discoveries through its platform of innovative research tools (hardware, software, and consumables). With a history of achieving milestones and strong unit economics, Cerillo has parallel paths of profitability, acquisition, and explosive growth opportunities on the near-term horizon.

Biotech
Cervu
Founder: Alan Rosenbaum

Cervu is a women’s health medical device startup that is developing a patent-pending intravaginal pelvic floor physical therapy device for female cancer survivors who suffer from chronic pelvic pain and dyspareunia (pain with sexual intercourse) as a result of their cancer treatments. An NCSU and UNC biomedical engineering startup utilizing university-licensed technology, Cervu is currently developing a device prototype using Phase I SBIR grant funds from the NICHD.

Tech
CINCH CCM, Inc.
Founder: Tim Murray

CINCH CCM (community-based home care management) B2B SaaS helps larger home care agencies such as Right at Home, Visiting Angels, The Key, and Home Instead enter into and generate millions of dollars in additional revenue by delivering highly profitable and high-quality short visit home care services in independent living, Active Adult 55+ Apartments and Active Adult 55+ multi-Housing communities a $1B Market.

Biotech
Clarus Biologics Inc
Founder: Robert Johnston

Clarus Biotechnology is an innovative provider of VLP or virus like particles. Our product is an additive to immunotherapy treatments that require the dendritic pathway of the draining lymph nodes to activate the innate immune system with broad scale immuno mechanisms including mucosal and T-Cell activations. Our IP is applied to the research discovery as well as the manufacturing process.

Tech
Compatica, Inc.
Founder: Adee Feinstein

Compatica is the publisher of incidentli, a Workplace and Job Site Data Recording platform. Founded in Cary, Compatica is a North Carolina C-Corp.

Biotech
Cosmic Eats, Inc.
Founder: Sheetal Shah

Cosmic Eats is a science-based company that is developing solutions to empower everyone with access to earth friendly food. The Cosmic Eats team initially came together to design a solution concept for NASA in 2021, in response to NASA’s Deep Space Food Challenge. NASA was seeking solutions to sustain astronauts with food on future deep space missions to Mars. Cosmic Eats won this NASA challenge and was awarded a prize. In 2022 the US DoD, via DARPA (the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), selected Cosmic Eats for an SBIR award. Over the next 12 months, this enabled the company to set up its business operations, and to start prototyping and developing their solution for future terrestrial use.

Biotech
Couplet Care, Inc.
Founder: Kristin Tully

Couplet Care offers an innovative hospital bassinet to reduce nurse time and address serious safety risks associated with using outdated bassinet equipment for hospital rooming-in. As a UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health spin-out, the Couplet Care Bassinet uniquely provides 100% independent maternal access to the infant in the hospital without the need of a second person present to transfer the infant or move the bassinet to address the risks of infant drops, skull fractures, brain bleeds, suffocations, maternal pain, and nursing shortages. It was designed with extensive research and user-need rigor and has been shown in a clinical pilot trial to have significant benefits for infant safety, maternal pain, and nursing efficiency.

Tech
Coworks
Founder: DeShawn Brown

Coworks is a flexible workspace/coworking management platform. Our mission is to be the operating system for the modern flexible workspace. Our platform is a full-service operations system that manages scheduling, payments, room/desk reservations, and lead and member management. We sell directly to workspace operators and empower them to create operational efficiency while accessing key spatial data. Our member app allows the members in each space to easily access space resources, events, and community. Together we are able to provide key data and metrics to space managers around usage, growth, and community engagement while allowing the people in the space to easily understand how to utilize and access the workspaces on demand.

Tech
Crest Digital Therapeutics
Founder: Stephen Hamm

Crest Digital Therapeutics, Inc is a pioneering digital therapeutics startup committed to revolutionizing mental health care by merging cutting-edge technology with clinical expertise. We specialize in developing groundbreaking prescription digital therapeutics that harness the power of software and data to deliver targeted, effective, and personalized therapeutic solutions, initially for individuals suffering from BPD, a severe and costly chronic mental healthcare condition that has a $25B direct cost burden to the US healthcare system.

Tech
CureMint
Founder: Brandon McCarty

CureMint is a spend management solution for multi-office dental organizations, helping streamline the procurement of supplies and manage invoice reconciliation.

Biotech
CytexOrtho
Founder: Brad Estes

CytexOrtho is is a healthcare startup developing a first-mover solution for the millions of active patients with early hip disease who are too young for a total hip replacement. The ReNew Hip implant is a cutting-edge bioabsorbable medical implant that restores the joint for a prolonged, active lifestyle, instead of replacing it with an artificial implant that wears out in less than 10 years. By restoring the hip joint with our pioneering approach, we eliminate the need for an artificial hip joint later in life. More importantly, we focus on restoring the health and activity levels of individuals at disease onset, rather than making them endure chronic disease and pain while waiting for the joint to deteriorate completely before considering a hip replacement.

Biotech
CytoRecovery, Inc.
Founder: Alexandra Hyler, Ph.D.

Employing technology exclusively licensed from Virginia Tech and The University of Virginia, CytoRecovery has developed a revolutionary, benchtop, affordable platform that provides rapid and precise sorting and recovery of cells from tissue and other biological samples. Its breakthrough performance is achieved through label-free, sorting technology, thereby providing rapid recovery of live, viable cells. The technology has broad applications in oncology, regenerative medicine, and other fields, as it enables rapid and direct recovery of live cell populations from tumor samples without the use of antibodies or other cell markers, as is required by current cell separation products.

Biotech
Deep Blue Medical Inc.
Founder: Dr. Howard Levinson

Deep Blue is transforming soft tissue surgery by developing and launching next generation surgical devices for optimal tissue tension, reinforcement, and defect closure. Each year in the USA 400K abdominal hernia repairs suffer a 32% long-term failure rate, and 4M to 5M abdominal surgical site closures suffer a 3% short-term failure rate. Failure in soft tissue surgery due to suture pull-through of tissue or mesh is common, is painful for the patient, and is often related to a lack of fast, reliable reinforcement that reduces tissue stress at the surgical site. Our soft tissue surgery platform has three pillars: the T-Line® Hernia Mesh portfolio, the T-Line® TCS (Tissue Control Suture) portfolio and the T-Line® Breast Scaffold.

Biotech
Dignify Therapeutics
Founder: Ed Burgard

Dignify Therapeutics (Dignify) is developing novel bladder and bowel therapies to restore voluntary control of bladder and bowel function and prevent urinary and fecal incontinence.

Biotech
DNALI
Founder: Kyle Tomek

DNALI, a pioneering biotech startup, is revolutionizing the DNA synthesis industry with high-yield, chemically-modified DNA sequences. Our technology addresses the high cost of synthesizing modified oligos through a novel continuous enzymatic process in gentle biological buffers. This breakthrough unlocks opportunities in the Bioeconomy, spanning biomedical research, pharmaceuticals, industrial biotechnology, and clinical/environmental diagnostics.

Biotech
Druid Agriculture
Founder: Julian Walker

The Druid SERRA System is a revolutionary Ai-enabled camera system that allows farmers to monitor their crops from anywhere. Our system can detect changes in plant health and alert farmers when their crops are in need of attention, providing a hassle-free and cost-effective way to keep tabs on their investment. With Druid, farmers can keep an eye on their crops from the comfort of their own home, allowing them to optimize their operations and maximize their yields.

Tech
eBoxchain
Founder: Suraj Chanda

Tech driven logistics solution for prescription delivery. We partner with independent pharmacies to provide same day prescription delivery service to their patients. A delivery network powered by HIPAA trained driver employees acting as extended delivery arm for each pharmacy. Advanced HIPAA audited software vertically integrated into the pharmacy management system completing the lifecycle of a delivery prescription from the delivery initiation to fulfillment.

Tech
Ecobot
Founder: Lee Lance

Ecobot is a ClimateTech B2B SaaS platform that predicts the future through real-time biodiversity-centric field data. A permit is where data goes to die. We are capturing biodiversity and water data typically discarded after achieving an environmental permit ahead of infrastructure scale construction to create a defensible competitive moat and build a cross-industry, global Biodiversity Prediction Platform. Ecobot has been used to produce over 130,000 reports, and behind these reports are over 5M biodiversity data points.

Tech
EcoMap Technologies Inc.
Founder: Sherrod Davis

We’re a SaaS company that develops white-labeled ecosystem intelligence products for institutions. We offer AI-enabled & web-based platforms & chatbots that come pre-populated with curated and continually updated data that deliver ecosystem intelligence to institutions and their external stakeholders. Whether it’s an entrepreneurial community, industry association, university system, or any other type of institution, EcoMap helps empower them and their ecosystems through best-in-class data and products.

Biotech
Eldec Pharmaceuticals
Founder: Robert Tarran

Eldec Pharmaceuticals is an early-stage biopharma company that is developing peptide-based therapeutics to treat a wide range of respiratory diseases and their complications. Our platform-based approach is to identify naturally-occurring peptides and then to optimize them as therapeutics. The Eldec advantage is that our peptides typically offer high levels of specificity with minimal off-target effects. Our lead program, ELD607, is focused on a novel broad-spectrum immunomodulator. ELD607 inhibits the Orai1 calcium channel leading to reduced inflammation. In the lungs, ELD607 reduces neutrophilic inflammation, decreases lung damage.

Tech
Electronic Lab Logs
Founder: Daniel Summers

Electronic Lab Logs is software company in Wilmington NC that provides a SaaS offering for laboratories to automate and track compliance for all instruments and disciplines for reporting to accrediting bodies and regulators. We replace the existing paper workflows used to track preventative maintenance and quality controls across country.

Biotech
Elysia Creative Biology
Founder: Eli Hornstein

We engineer feed crops that prevent livestock from releasing methane. By using existing feed to deliver methane suppressors, we make it seamlessly easy for farmers to eliminate a source of greenhouse gas larger than shipping, air travel, and deforestation put together.

Biotech
Endocanna Health, Inc.
Founder: Len May

We provide turnkey solutions for white label DNA testing. Branded DNA tests, Personalised reporting portal, Lab Services, Test Management Console, Drop Shipping, Interactive treatment plans and Feedback loop

Tech
Equivalent
Founder: Heather Neff

Our design software accelerates dark mode development through the generation of responsive Smart graphics.

Biotech
Evecxia Therapeutics
Founder: Jacob Jacobsen

Evecxia Therapeutics is the first company realizing the therapeutic potential of Serotonin Synthesis Amplification, a serotonin pharmacology distinct from serotonin reuptake inhibitors (eg Prozac) and Psychedelics. We are raising a Series C to complete three Phase 2 trials in 2025 through 2026 – in Depression, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and Suicidal Ideation. Big Pharma is re-prioritizing Psychiatry. Evecxia enjoys interest from US and overseas Pharma.

Biotech
ExstoBio
Founder: Juan Carlos Pacheco

ExstoMD is a B2B SaaS helping healthcare providers integrate science-based, data-driven cannabinoid therapeutics into patient care. ExstoMD results in more efficient and effective patient care, improving patient outcomes and decreasing healthcare costs.

Biotech
EyeCheq
Founder: Ali Khoshnevis

Less than 50% of Americans visit an eye care provider as instructed, and ninety-five percent of blindness is preventable when detected early. Barriers to eye care include lack of access, awareness of an eye problem, and financial constraints. EyeCheq is a fully autonomous health and vision platform deployed to retail healthcare settings to prevent blindness. Providing health and vision screenings in settings where patients visit 20-30 times more frequently than an eye care provider disrupts the current barriers to receiving care. EyeCheq consists of a visual acuity chart, autorefraction, and retinal imaging.

Tech
EZOS
Founder: Chase Minnifield

EZOS, redefining the property maintenance landscape. Our innovative digital platform seamlessly connects property managers and landlords with a network of skilled professionals, and products offering efficient, high-quality solutions to a variety of maintenance challenges. Born out of a need to simplify building upkeep amidst labor shortages and complex supply chains, EZOS addresses a crucial market gap in a $29 billion industry. With our current annual recurring revenue hitting $700k and a strategic vision targeting $5M ARR by 2025, we’re not just a company – we’re a movement. Join us in transforming property maintenance, one building at a time.

Tech
Fashivly
Founder: Ashlyn Greer

Fashivly is an online personal styling platform that solves the problem of getting dressed everyday. Our team of industry experienced stylists find and put together head-to-toe accessorized looks and send digital looks and shoppable links straight to your inbox, all based on body type, lifestyle, budget and style goals.

Tech
Flux Hybrids
Founder: Micah Ulrich

Flux Hybrids is a final stage manufacturer making plug in hybrid fleet vehicles and vehicle conversions.

Tech
ForOurLastNames
Founder: Ray’Chel Wilson

The racial wealth gap costs the US economy $1.5 trillion. This disproportionately impacts underrepresented populations, with a market size upwards of $2.1 billion. ForOurLastNames offers a culturally relevant solution by gamifying the gap between education and investing for first-generation wealth builders. Leveraging the CEO’s background as a former high school teacher and current expertise as an investment management specialist, along with the CTO’s background in engineering and experience in leading global EdTech DevOps teams, ForOurLastNames has gained significant traction.

Biotech
Galaxy Diagnostics, Inc.
Founder: Amanda Elam

Galaxy Diagnostics is advancing direct detection (PCR and antigen based testing) for hard-to-detect pathogens implicated in complex chronic illness. Or ultrasensitive assays increase sensitivity but up to 6 times in high risk patient groups. By overcoming the limits of detection with proprietary sample enrichment techniques, Galaxy’s lab testing services and future product offerings provide actionable diagnostics with the potential to save patients from a lifetime of illness and payers from high healthcare costs.

Tech
GoghNow
Founder: Chance Smith

GoghNow uses real time technology to enable the average consumer to easily alter the ambiance of spaces with live musicians. Our solution operates as a marketplace model that contains available genre agnostic musicians that you can request directly to your location in the tap of a button. GoghNow stands at the forefront of transforming how we experience live music, shifting the paradigm from large-scale events to integrating music seamlessly into our everyday lives.

Biotech
Good Agriculture
Founder: Alex Edquist

Good Agriculture is an AI-powered farm business management platform so small-and-midsize farmers can do more of what they do best: produce nourishing food and steward the land.

Tech
GreenLifeTech Corp
Founder: Bruce Roesner

GreenLifeTechTM has developed a safe, cost-effective, patent pending technology allowing for the removal of oxygen in a closed container while operating at atmospheric pressure. This is not a vacuum system. It is well established that an oxygen deprived environment will extend the shelf life of hydrocarbons that deteriorate in the presence of oxygen. This includes fruits and vegetables as well as transfusion blood and pharmaceuticals. Fresh produce has been extensively tested in anerobic environments and found to increase the shelf life by up to 5x.

Tech
GroupUps
Founder: Yasin Abbak

GroupUps is a group pricing marketplace for individual buyers of equipment. GroupUps uses data, tech, and AI to cut out distributors and their salespeople, enabling manufacturers to sell more profitably and at scale to SMBs.

Tech
Hank AI, Inc.
Founder: Jack Neil

AI for the $100b Medical Document Management and Claim Creation Market.

Biotech
Helixomer, Inc
Founder: Thomas LaBean

Consider the art of origami: taking a simple piece of paper and, through various ingenious folds, turning it into a work of three-dimensional beauty. Now consider that those precision folds could create a cure to major healthcare problems. That’s Helixomer. An engineering and development leader of the world’s first three- dimensional, bio-inspired, dynamic medicines for blood. We are leading a paradigm shift in a new class of drugs that will transform patient care – and change lives – across medical fields, including hematology, cardiology, neurology, organ transplantation, and oncology. We are the change that the medical market craves; change that will inspire 3D revenue.

Tech
HireMe Healthcare
Founder: Ryan Lee

HireMe Healthcare matchmakes quality nurses to employers by providing technology that simplifies, expedites and humanizes the hiring process. Founded as an idea in 2017 and launched in 2021, HireMe is taking pages from the dating app playback to bring qualitative aspects into the hiring process to ensure proper fit and improve retention. 100,000 nurses left the profession last year and 100,000s more are expected to leave in the next few years. Turnover hovers around 25%, and the average cost to replace these nurses is $52,000, putting providers into the difficult place of having to fill positions fast.

Biotech
Indus, Inc.
Founder: Saiprasad Sankaranarayanan

Founded by two brothers- an orthopedic surgeon and a biomedical engineer, Indus seeks to be an industry leader in reinventing surgical care. We aim to solve inter-and post-operative challenges using machine learning & artificial intelligence. Most orthopedic implant surgeries require postoperative visits & radiation diagnostics. They delay failure detection, leading to complicated late revision surgeries. Also, expensive & time-consuming. Currently, there are no affordable postoperative diagnostics in the market. Our product, LumiOS, is a microsensor- aided in-vivo sensing system, that detects motion of implants. It detects failures early to abate revision surgeries.

Biotech
Innatrix Inc.
Founder: Jiarui Li

Innatrix has built a platform to generate eco-friendly biological products to control untreatable crop pests and pathogens, to help farmers to increase yields at least 10% with ROI>3. Innatrix core team has collectively over 150 years’ experience on ag product development and commercialization, and partners with several research and commercial partners. We have received U.S. patents to protect our protein evolution technology and RNAi technology, and confirmed the efficacy of 2 product leads in the lab and field conditions. We have raised over $3 million non-dilutive and capital funds.

Biotech
inSoma Bio, Inc.
Founder: Stefan Roberts

At inSoma Bio, we are developing products to turn historically complex surgeries like breast reconstruction into natural and minimally invasive procedures. We have a synthetic biology solution that allow patients to use their own fat to rebuild their tissue with no need for major reconstructive surgery, fillers, or implants.

CPG
Jabin Beverage Co
Founder: Homayoon Ershadi

Jabin is a beverage company centered around using fresh, functional ingredients to power athletes and adventurers challenging the status quo. Our flagship product is a family twist on a Persian beverage that replenishes the body and prevents cramping after exercise all while being tasty and enjoyable to drink! We are outperforming industry leaders and will be the first product in the market to bring the powers of apple cider vinegar to athletes and adventurers.

Tech
Jobvious
Founder: Tim Jones

We enable automotive specialist shops to manage and grow their business by providing tools to improve operations, cashflow and bring new customers.

Biotech
Jurata Thin Film
Founder: Sheila Mikhail

Jurata Thin Film is focused on the thermostabalization of vaccines and biologics to break the cold chain and improve vaccine equity. Furthermore, our fill finish process does not require lyophilization, and is considered to be 10X more efficient than existing technologies, saving significant amounts of money, space, and energy. Our thin film platform also allows to bypass the need for injectable formulations. We have successfully demonstrated protective efficacy in mice (following SL/BU delivery) and non-human primate (following IN delivery) models against influenza and Ebola challenge, respectively.

Tech
Kahana
Founder: Jonathan Gans

Kahana is a collaborative SaaS platform that creators use to jumpstart and scale a secure knowledge business. Kahana enables creators to quickly build and protect digital products through ‘hubs’ of content.

Tech
Karma Wallet
Founder: Jayant Khadilkar

Karma Wallet is a sustainable finance ecosystem that uses data & technology to give consumers the truth about the brands they support. Karma Wallet aggregates millions of data points across 30+ data sources to rate companies on social & environmental performance. That data is mapped to the UN Sustainable Development Goals to create Company Report Cards for 15,000+ brands. Our eco-friendly debit card, launching in February 2024, provides users with cashback (do good and earn money) for sustainable shopping and automatically donates to non-profits, amplifying the positive impact.

Biotech
Kuria Therapeutics, Inc.
Founder: Keith Ward

Kuria is developing novel, small-molecule NRF2 activators to restore mitochondrial function and detoxify oxidative stress to treat blinding diseases.

Biotech
Lindy Biosciences, Inc.
Founder: Deborah Bitterfield

Lindy Biosciences is addressing formulation challenges in the rapidly growing biotherapeutics market. Our core technology, MicroglassificationTM, produces spherical, dense, stable particles of a therapeutic protein, ideal for solid injectable formulations such as high-concentration suspensions. Over half of all antibody therapeutics are given intravenously, in part because the high dose required cannot be formulated as a solution in a volume small enough for subcutaneous injection. Lindy Biosciences has developed high-dose suspensions of protein that are suitable for subcutaneous injection, which can decrease administration costs, increase patient comfort and compliance, and enable new high-dose molecules to reach the market.

Biotech
LUMINELLE
Founder: Allison London Brown

LUMINELLE is a commercial-stage medical device company focused on solving the BIG problem of uterine disorder diagnosis.

Tech
Map My Customers
Founder: Matthew Sniff

Map My Customers is an enterprise-class CRM platform built for the needs of outside/field sales teams. Our platform combines the traditional CRM capabilities: lead management, territory management, account management, data analytics/reporting with the mobile-first capabilities: lead generation, route optimization, rep tracking/check-ins that outside sales teams need. Map My Customers has been successful as both a stand-alone CRM and as a sales-enablement add-on to existing CRMs (Hubspot, Salesforce, etc)

Biotech
Margik Inc.
Founder: Margaret Kocherga

Margik is the world’s first low-cost high-volume Organic LED platform, and we are enabling automotive lighting to become efficient and sustainable.

Biotech
Mazen Animal Health, Inc.
Founder: Jennifer Filbey

Mazen Animal Health, Inc., a Delaware C-Corporation formed in 2016, is developing plant-produced, orally delivered animal vaccines and therapeutics that will revolutionize animal disease prevention and treatment. The products will offer customers cost effective, safe to deliver, efficacious, room temperature stable biologicals to increase productivity and help ensure a continuous food supply. Mazen’s proprietary biological production platform enables vaccines and other biologics such as enzymes and antibodies to be produced in maize grain which, after processing, can be dosed with feed for production animals or as a treat for companion animals.

Biotech
Metalytics, Inc.
Founder: Eric Cumming

Metalytics maps the flow of metabolism within a cell in order to identify and overcome metabolic bottlenecks that limit cell productivity. We work with a wide variety of cell lines and organisms used to produce products across life science industries. Our premiere offering, CoreMFATM, goes beyond traditional metabolomics to provide an unparalleled view of cell metabolism, using the gold standard of metabolic flux analysis (MFA). CloneSelectMFATM and MFALiteTM are the first of several SaaS offerings from our new MFAtwinTM platform.

Biotech
MgeneRx Inc.
Founder: Nasser Hassan

MGeneRx is a pioneering company developing non-invasive, cost-efficient software for early identification of genetic dysmorphologies in newborns. MGeneRx’s software is a cost-efficient, highly reliable, non-invasive application for the early identification of newborn genetic dysmorphologies. Genetic syndromes can be associated with severe cardiovascular, immune, endocrine, and neurodevelopmental risks, and thus have an impact on the quality of life of patients and their families. These syndromes impact 8,000,000 children (6% of worldwide births) which are born with a chromosomal abnormality (or congenital defect) every year, with at least a third not diagnosed until much later.

Tech
Modern Ritual Health
Founder: Elianna Goldstein

Transforming patient access and care in dermatology. We are fixing the broken way patients and providers currently manage dermatology conditions. Our virtual dermatology platforms connects patients with a virtual dermatology to diagnose suspicious lesions, rashes and critical issues of concern within hours, versus waiting weeks to months for a typical appointment. We are addressing the $8B skin cancer epidemic through a simple, efficient and highly scalable solution.

Tech
mPATH
Founder: Dave Miller

mPATH is a B2B SaaS company that increases the uptake of life-saving preventive health services for healthcare organizations, insurers, and employers. mPATH was developed and founded by two physicians who wondered why major industries like travel and banking empowered people to manage their needs with technology, while healthcare did not. This inspired the creation of mPATH, an automated program that identifies individuals overdue for routine health screenings, educates them about their options, and connects them with life-saving care.

Tech
Muuklabs INC
Founder: Ivan Barajas Vargas

MuukTest provides lightning-fast software quality assurance on a click. Software quality is costly and slow: Software developers are scarce and expensive. Up to 50% of software development time is spent on testing. Today’s solutions are to execute tests manually or slowly automate tests requiring significant maintenance time. This is too expensive and time-consuming for an engineering manager with a considerable backlog to build – and grown over time. Incomplete testing leads to late defect finds that increase costs exponentially and delay rollouts—affecting companies competitively.

Biotech
MyMatR
Founder: John Starke

MyMatR has developed the next generation of smart public waste containers. This device uses AI to identify and automatically sort waste at the source of disposal, creating a cleaner, profitable, and more efficient waste stream.

Biotech
NabGen, Inc.
Founder: Charles Askew

NabGen Inc. is a NC-based biotech company that is removing barriers to gene delivery and human health. Their platform technology functions as a universal antibody suppressant to inhibit anti-drug antibodies, anti-transplant antibodies, and treat autoimmune disease. NabGen is pursuing partnership opportunities to overcome vector immunity of AAV gene therapies while also developing wholly owned therapeutics to instantaneously suppress pathogenic antibodies.

Biotech
NALA Membranes
Founder: Sue Mecham

Women owned and led cleantech company is commercializing a revolutionary new membrane for desalination and wastewater reuse. The NALA team has applied patented polymers and developed a scalable manufacturing methodology for producing chlorine tolerant reverse osmosis membranes. NALA’s new membranes will eliminate biofouling to reduce the cost, complexity, and climate impact of reverse osmosis operations used to produce clean water. In 2024, the NALA team, based in RTP-NC, is scaling up polymer and membrane manufacturing and engaging with eager industrial customers to test and pilot the technology.

Biotech
Nephrodite, Inc.
Founder: Nikhil Shah

Nephrodite is developing, Holly, an implantable hemofiltration device that enables continuous dialysis during the day and night for ESRD patients, eliminating the need for arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs), arteriovenous grafts (AVGs), PD catheters and in-center HD visits. The surgically implanted device will provide enhanced convenience and QOL, while minimizing the excessive labor and complications associated with current HD, PD and emerging home HD treatments. Nephrodite’s Holly is designed to enable continuous dialysis via an implantable device, allowing the individual to be mobile and active, free from spending hours in a chair at a center or at home.

Tech
NextGen Interactions
Founder: Jason Jerald

At NextGen Interactions, we believe it is our moral responsibility to identify and solve for the most impactful use cases that can benefit from immersive technologies. In our case, this is primarily training first responders for high-risk emergency response events that are impossible or too expensive to prepare for using traditional means.

Tech
Nolodex
Founder: Adrian Sasine

Nolodex is on a mission to modernize and monetize B2B transactions within communities through the power of referrals.

Tech
Oculi
Founder: Charbel Rizk

Oculi is fabless seed stage startup spin-out of Johns Hopkins University that makes computer/machine vision (visible, infrared, depth) fast, efficient, secure, and inexpensive. The Oculi SPU (Sensing and Processing Unit) product is the world’s first smart programmable vision sensor at pixel level. It enables visual intelligence at the edge for applications such as gesture tracking, facial recognition, and eye tracking with a reduced latency-energy factor of <600x at a fraction of the cost, and with unique privacy protections.

Biotech
Onda Vision Technologies, Inc
Founder: William Reynolds

Onda Vision Technologies, Inc (OVT) originated as an Internet of Things (IoT) company focused on human health, performance, and safety. We are located in Raleigh, North Carolina, and are a spin-out company from the North Carolina State University’s Advanced Self-Powered Systems Integrated Sensors and Technologies (ASSIST) Center. Onda Vision Technologies serves people who experience abrupt changes in their hydration levels induced by athletics, occupation, or medical conditions. Our wearable solution provides early alerts and continuous monitoring to prevent adverse health outcomes.

CPG
Parasol Distribution
Founder: Kevin Barry

Parasol is curating the best NA products on the market, so restaurants, bars, and retailers can build high-margin ancillary revenue by producing alcohol-free beverage programs. Our data aggregation strategy is helping the industry create more access for people who don’t want a second drink, are drinking less, or don’t drink alcohol at all.

Biotech
Phinite
Founder: Jordan Phasey

Phinite is an Ag Robotics company that produces fertilizer from animal manure. It is addressing a huge environmental issue by turning hog waste into sustainable fertilizer. The company has secured an exclusive offtake worth $25M in ARR and generates high gross margins in fertilizer manufacturing using a patent-pending robotic fertilizer mining operation. The company seeks growth

Biotech
PhotoniCare
Founder: Ryan Shelton

PhotoniCare has developed the OtoSight Middle Ear Scope, a connected handheld imaging device that can see through the eardrum to visualize and characterize fluid directly in the middle ear. This new information is critical to accurate treatment of ear infections, the leading cause of hearing loss, surgeries, and antibiotic use, especially in children. The current gold standard for diagnosis gets it wrong 50% of the time, but PhotoniCare’s OtoSight has been shown to have 90% accuracy and introduces a new revenue stream to clinicians and practices that adopt it.

Biotech
PlakousTherapeutics, Inc.
Founder: Robert Boyce

Plakous Therapeutics developed a patented, platform biotherapeutic to prevent the rare pediatric disease, Necrotizing Enterocolitis and a follow-on indication for Osteoarthritis. We have generated compelling preclinical data for both conditions, but the unmet medical need and the regulatory efficiencies of NEC as a rare pediatric disease have led us to prioritize the NEC development effort. NEC afflicts roughly 6% of the 50,000 babies born annually in the U.S weighing less than 3lbs. and carries a 30% mortality rate. Further, NEC consumes $5.0B in overall healthcare costs.

Tech
PlanMyKids
Founder: David Watkins

PlanMyKids is a concierge marketplace platform to help busy working parents who need to find care or enrichment activities (e.g. camps and classes) for their kids when they are not in school. We achieve this by leveraging a vast partner network and personal A.I. assistance to curate and book these activities.

Biotech
Praetego Inc
Founder: Pepper Landson

Praetego is at the forefront of pharmaceutical innovation, pioneering a groundbreaking class of small molecules known as Amadorins. Our mission is to protect patients from the debilitating degeneration of age-related chronic diseases. Our primary focus is developing a patient-centric therapeutic solution that is potent, oral, and cost-effective, specifically designed to thwart neurodegeneration. Praetego is committed to altering the impact of Alzheimer’s disease, thereby enhancing the overall aging experience.

Biotech
Predicate
Founder: Morris Nguyen

Predicate’s OpenDx Platform is a revolutionary clinical management and decision-support tool, designed to enhance the early detection and treatment of serious illnesses, notably sepsis. This innovative platform is the first in the world to synergize two key technological advancements: wearable biosensors and natural language processing (NLP). Analyzed data from both wearable and NLP is pivotal in providing healthcare providers with early, actionable insights, enabling more precise treatment strategies. OpenDx stands out for its ability to integrate seamlessly into existing clinical workflows, a key aspect of Predicate’s mission.

Biotech
QATCH TECHNOLOGIES
Founder: Zehra Parlak

Drug development is a slow and expensive process with many unknowns about injectability and manufacturability of drug products. QATCH accelerates this process by providing critical information about drug formulations earlier using 100x less material than competitors. QATCH is a Duke spin-out biotech company with a sensor technology that can help pharma companies develop better drugs faster. QATCH’s proprietary sensor technology, the nanovisQ, can identify injectable and manufacturable drug formulations using a poppy-seed sized drop.

Biotech
Quorum Bio
Founder: Sudharsan Dwaraknath

Quorum Bio is deploying the world’s first gene-edited phosphorus bio-fertilizer, empowering farmers to increase their profits and reduce their environmental impact. Farmers chose Quorum in a 2023 national competition and volunteered to field trial the company’s technology for 2 years. Quorum has exclusive access to a novel gene-editing platform invented at the national laboratories and is using it to address farmer pain points across crop nutrition and climate-resilience. The venture-backed startup is supported by the Activate Fellowship and the US Department of Agriculture.

Tech
Rehicle Auto Parts
Founder: Michael Krumpe

Rehicle Auto Parts pioneered a convergence between Auto Salvage and Consignment. In doing so, we at Rehicle developed an application to give a vehicle owner what their vehicle is worth, in-parts! The Rehicle Inner Track Appraisal app is launching on the App Stores and will give the same vehicle history and valuation metrics you would expect from the likes of CarFax or Kelly Blue Book, but also adds the in-parts breakdown so that the consumer or business is equipped knowing what their vehicle is really worth, whole or in parts.

Tech
Rendyr, Inc.
Founder: Martin Angst

Rendyr gives small businesses and home creators the power to make products and customize goods at a professional level with our first-of-its-kind convenient and intuitive portable laser cutter with integrated filtration. We also sell proprietary replacement filters and accessories that expand the creative possibilities. Our product roadmap includes ready-to-use digital projects templates and advanced software with subscription options.

Biotech
Resonantia Diagnostics, Inc.
Founder: Matt Jones

Resonantia Diagnostics is developing an ‘end-to-end’ diagnostic platform to address the omnipresent burden of drug resistant bacterial and fungal infections, 2.8M in the US last year alone, by providing the information clinicians need to treat patients in hours, not days. Our next generation microfluidic point of care diagnostic platform identifies a pathogen in 30 minutes from a clinical specimen, and then determines the pathogen’s antimicrobial susceptibility in an additional 30-45 additional minutes. Resonantia’s platform is based off of two pieces of acoustic technology developed at Sandia National Laboratories.

Tech
Salem Cyber
Founder: Trevor Gingras

Our mission is to eliminate cybersecurity alert fatigue due to over-alerting and repetitive analysis. Our product, Salem, is an AI cyber analyst that investigates cyber alerts from existing client tools (EDR, SIEM, Cloud…) and escalates only the alerts most likely to represent real threats. We’re providing real-world value within the Fortune 100, and we’ve been building a lot of momentum and seeing great traction from large enterprises. We’ve got an awesome, global team with the right experience, aptitude, and passion to execute the mission.

Biotech
SelSym Biotech, Inc.
Founder: Seema Nandi

SelSym Biotech is a preclinical-stage biotech company based in Durham, NC, seeking to revolutionize hemorrhage control and wound healing approaches for improved patient outcomes following trauma and surgery. SelSym is developing platelet-mimetic technologies capable of interfacing with the body’s natural clotting mechanisms and healing processes to stem severe bleeding at the point of injury and enhance wound healing outcomes. SelSym’s lead product, an injectable synthetic platelet termed SymClot, has been shown to be highly effective in stemming blood loss in preclinical hemorrhage models representing both unplanned (traumatic injury) and planned (surgical) applications.

Tech
ServeScape, Inc
Founder: Mario Cambardella

ServeScape is a software and services platform that connects independent horticultural growers with landscape professionals and homeowners. It implements a sophisticated online marketplace with last-mile delivery capabilities, offering a greater selection and quality of plants with the convenience of direct-to-consumer delivery.

Tech
SneakPeek Technologies Inc.
Founder: Justin Kelly

SneakPeek is the AI sneaker authentication platform that provides instantaneous results to identify counterfeits, track authenticity, and pair physical assets to digital spaces.

Biotech
SonoVascular, Inc.
Founder: Daniel Estay

SonoVascular has developed a highly differentiated pharmaco-mechanical ultrasound facilitated thrombectomy system “SonoThrombectomyTM” for venous thromboembolism (VTE) – which consists of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE). We are working closely with key opinion leaders in the field that believe our technology is poised to be a disruptor, game changer in the DVT and PE markets. We have confirmed/validated our regulatory strategy with FDA, developed advanced functional prototypes that have been successfully tested in rigorous in vitro and in vivo models, and on track to conduct first-in-human studies in Q2 2024.

Tech
SonoVoice, Inc.
Founder: Sandeep Bhatt

SonoVoice is unlocking the potential of the human voice by bringing science-based voice evaluation and voice training out of academic medical centers and into the hands of millions of “vocal athletes.” Vocal athletes are the 45 million Americans who have significant vocal demands and depend on their voices for personal or professional well-being. Here’s a fitness analogy: SonoVoice intends to be the FITBIT (fitness evaluation) and TONAL (guided fitness training) for the human voice.

Tech
Sparc
Founder: Laurel Djoukeng

Sparc streamlines the job search and hiring process by leveraging AI and activating connectivity between professionals/students and employers.

Tech
Sportscale, Inc
Founder: Sharon Moore

Sportscale was founded by an athletic trainer, aiming to solve the burden of repetitive weight collection of athletes. Sportscale’s founder created the patented Sportscale System that integrates facial recognition with a body weight scale so athletes can independently interact with the scale and weight data can be stored automatically. Sportscale has raised two rounds of seed funding and began selling manufacture-ready product in Summer, 2023. After only a short time building and selling a custom product, Sportscale has recently partnered with a national scale builder to integrate an off-the-shelf scale into the Sportscale System; this re-design will improve operational efficiency, decrease cost outlay, and will establish immediate product reputability and reliability.

Tech
SWIR Vision Systems, Inc.
Founder: Allan Hilton

SWIR Vision Systems has built a successful operating business in just a few short years time. Apple is the company’s largest customer, and Sony one it’s key investors. We are unique – a Research Triangle, North Carolina based Semiconductor startup company making and selling patented, novel sensor and camera technology from our operations center here in Durham. The company has leveraged a very high performance technology team, spun out from RTI international in 2018, and has achieved early commercial success despite taking on a relatively modest levels of investment.

Tech
SwitchFrame
Founder: Justin Kelsey

SwitchFrame, Inc. is a game-changer in online advertising, offering an AI-driven platform that streamlines the creation and deployment of authentic user-generated content, particularly short-form videos. We revolutionize the content creation process, starting with an AI-assisted collection of customer videos and culminating in automatically edited, professional-quality videos. One of our platform’s most powerful features is the ability to effortlessly embed these videos onto websites or product pages through a single line of code, dynamically updating content and engaging viewers without any manual intervention.

Biotech
TearSolutions, Inc.
Founder: Gordon Laurie

TearSolutions founder, a professor of ophthalmology and cell biology at the University of Virginia, sought out the biological basis of ocular surface disease (diseases of the cornea, i.e. dry eye disease) which led to the discovery of a novel human protein, which he named Lacritin. Independent, peer-reviewed publications confirm that Lacritin is missing in ALL forms of Dry Eye Disease (DED), one of the top reasons someone goes to see an eye care professional, representing a $6+ billion market. TearSolutions is developing novel lacritin-derived peptide therapeutics that preserve lacritin’s bioactivity, provide quick relief, work in a majority of targeted patients and have a best-in-class comfort and safety profile.

Tech
Townhall
Founder: Peter Nadolny

Are your Zoom attendees engaged? Townhall can tell you! Plus, our research-based gamification system energizes them to show up, speak up, and work harder. Even when cameras are off. Built on 15+yrs and $7M in research funding from elite organizations including NSF, US Army, Finra, and HP, Townhall’s tactics have been validated in over 30 scientific journals.

Tech
Translational Imaging Innovations
Founder: Eric Buckland

Translational Imaging Innovations (TII) has developed an advanced software platform, revolutionizing the management of ophthalmic image processing workflows in biomarker discovery and clinical endpoint validation. Translational Imaging Innovations’ platform is a comprehensive and sophisticated tool designed for toady’s challenges in ophthalmology, and readily extensible across image-driven life science and medical applications. Its capabilities in ensuring data security, supporting advanced image processing, facilitating machine learning developments, and streamlining workflow management set a new standard in the field, promising enhanced outcomes in precision medicine research, clinical trials, and clinical care.

Tech
Truentity Health
Founder: Mike Desai

Truentity Health revolutionizes community pharmacies by transforming them into comprehensive healthcare hubs. Our innovative platform empowers these pharmacies to deliver a wide array of high-value clinical services specifically tailored to the Medicare demographic. By streamlining medical oversight, enhancing patient care, and simplifying the billing process, we ensure a seamless integration of services. Our approach fosters a collaborative environment, enhancing the synergy between local pharmacies and physicians. This not only elevates the standard of care provided but also significantly boosts profitability and operational efficiency.

Tech
Trusted AI Solutions
Founder: Debra Baker

Trusted AI Solution is developing a ChatGPT for Compliance called CompliBot. It will fill out third party vendor assessment questionnaires as well as create security policies for your company. It will also answer your compliance questions (SOC2 NIST).

Tech
TSV Analytics
Founder: Trevor Ferree

TSV Analytics is an advanced AI/ML social media suite. By infusing academic research conducted at NCSU into social media management, brands are given actionable insights on what content they need to be producing for their audience. TSV allows brands to listen for certain conversations on social media, customized for any brand, and then are provided analytics on what is trending, when they should post, and are given content recommendations on what to post, making social media a breeze for any growing brand. We do this by providing a one-stop- shop for all your social media needs — including the analytics, AI content generator, and scheduling tool all in one spot for a brand to go from having no idea what to post about to scheduled content in just minutes.

Biotech
Upstream Biotechnology, Inc.
Founder: George Greene

Upstream Biotechnology, Inc. engineers effective genetic traits for crop tolerance to poor field conditions, by controlling when and how the genetics are activated, to deliver increased yield for farmers. Adverse field conditions are the most significant limiting factor for field productivity. Upstream’s trait delivery platform technology controls when and how traits are deployed in response to environmental stress. The technology allows Upstream to develop crop resilience traits, ranging from disease resistance to drought tolerance, utilizing the high-performing genes previously unachievable through traditional breeding or typical transgenic engineering approaches.

Biotech
URO-1, Inc.
Founder: Jack Snoke

URO-1 is poised to commercialize FDA cleared proprietary solutions for soft tissue biopsy (prostate, breast, lung, liver, kidney, and lymph), that significantly improve the quality of tissue specimens, and increase efficiency in the clinic and pathology lab, to enable more accurate cancer diagnosis. Over 3M US soft tissue biopsies were performed in 2019. Several experts have questioned the adequacy of the current standard of care (SoC) core needle biopsy in the era of precision medicine and personalized healthcare.

Tech
Uviquity, Inc.
Founder: Scott Burroughs

Uviquity’s mission is to deliver safe, healthy and disease-free environments by revolutionizing the way we protect our food, our water and ourselves from pathogens.

Biotech
Verinetics, Inc.
Founder: Jessica Beaver

Verinetics is a MedTech company focused on enhancing availability of the medications used to treat opioid use disorder for underserved populations. The DispenSecurTM device merges a secure medication dispenser with cloud-based analytics, reducing clinic visits and ensuring safe, timely medication delivery. Verinetics is committed to providing solutions that reduce stigma and preserve personal dignity and independence for individuals on their recovery journey and to supporting the greater healthcare ecosystem in our quest to prevent future challenges for our communities. For us, it is personal.

Biotech
Vizma.AI
Founder: Carlos Alberto Dedesma

Vizma.AI’s is a pre-seed stage company with hard tech that allows MRI scanners to perform metabolic imaging and replace (and go beyond) biopsies and radiation-exposing PET scans. Our approach to imaging is actually a revisit of something GE first championed in 2010 except that Vizma.AI’s version is 95% less expensive and 90% faster. The legacy technology has already validated this approach as having a high impact in oncology, cardiology, and neurology. Vizma.AI will also seize a follow-on opportunity in image analysis software trained on this class of data. The company’s leadership includes three serial healthcare entrepreneurs with prior exits in medical imaging (HYPR, BFLY).

Biotech
VQ Biomedical, INC
Founder: Galen Robertson

VQ Biomedical is an early stage medical device company developing a novel oxygenation catheter, designed to deliver oxygen directly to the bloodstream, independently of a patients diseased lungs.

Tech
Washington's Hammer
Founder: Valeni Felton

Washington’s Hammer is the first tech startup committed to advancing the tools and techniques utilized in the U.S. Navy’s ship building and ship repair industry.

Tech
Zinnia
Founder: Lauren Marturano

Zinnia provides an AI-powered sales productivity platform that optimizes customer research, account planning, and deal closing for B2B revenue teams. Using behavioral analytics on historical data and activity, Zinnia’s machine learning algorithms deliver actionable recommendations that strengthen human connections between sales representatives and prospects.

Tech
Zoee
Founder: Nichole Lowe

Zoee is a revolutionary coaching platform poised to redefine the $28B coaching industry. Zoee is not just an application; it’s a comprehensive solution designed to simplify and enhance the coaching experience. Ultimately saving coaches valuable time, money and boosting their revenue. At the core of Zoee is the first turnkey coaching platform, an innovation that automates, streamlines, and simplifies every facet of a coach’s business operations. We are coaches with over 2 decades of experience in the coaching industry. We understand first-hand the challenges coachpreneurs encounter to build profitable businesses and the importance of time in a service for fee industry. Zoee is the answer to optimizing it effectively.

Investors That Have Previously Attended Venture Connect

  • 10Edison Capital
  • 11 Tribes
  • 2ndF
  • ACCELR8
  • Accomplice
  • Activate Venture Partners
  • Alerion Ventures
  • Alexandria Venture Investments
  • Amex Ventures
  • Arbour Way Investors
  • Ardent Venture Partners
  • ARTIS Ventures
  • Atomic VC
  • Avenue Growth Partners
  • Baird Capital
  • Ballast Point Ventures
  • Because Ventures
  • Bioventure Partners
  • Blu Ventures
  • Blue Heron Capital
  • Bonaventure Equity
  • BroadOak Capital Partners
  • Bull City Venture Partners
  • Camford Capital
  • Celesta
  • CFV Ventures
  • CGC Ventures
  • Circadian Ventures
  • Clovis Point
  • Cofounders Capital
  • Cone Health Ventures
  • Cowboy Ventures
  • CreativeCo
  • Cypress Growth Capital
  • DCVC Bio
  • Decathalon Capital Partners
  • Deepwork Capital
  • Delta-v Capital
  • Eastside Partners
  • Edison Venture Fund
  • Excelerate Health Ventures
  • FCA Venture Partners
  • FINTOP Capital
  • First Launch Capital Fund
  • Flagstaff Ventures
  • Flyover Capital
  • FMC Ventures
  • Foundation Fighting Blindness
  • Frazier Life Sciences
  • Freestyle Capital
  • Front Porch Venture Partners
  • Fulcrum Equity Partners
  • Fulcrum Financial Partners
  • Goldman, Sachs and Co.
  • Good Growth Capital
  • Gray Ventures
  • Grotech Ventures
  • Harbert Growth Partners, LLC
  • Harbright Venture
  • Hatteras Venture Partners
  • HG Ventures
  • Hockey Stick Investments
  • IDEA Fund Partners
  • Inclusive Capital Partners
  • Insight Venture Partners
  • Intel Capital
  • JMI Equity
  • Johnson & Johnson Innovation
  • Jurassic Capital
  • FMC VenturesKdT Ventures
  • LabCorp
  • Lakeland Capital Partners
  • Landmark Capital
  • Level Equity
  • Lighter Capital
  • LNC Partners
  • Material Ventures
  • MED1 Ventures, LLC
  • Mercato Partners
  • New Day Venture Capital
  • Noro-Moseley Partners
  • Osage Venture Partners
  • Oval Park Capital
  • Panoramic Ventures
  • Pappas Capital
  • Perceptive Advisors
  • Prevail Partners
  • Primordial Tech Ventures
  • RA Capital
  • Radian Capital
  • Relevance Ventures
  • Revolution Ventures
    RevUp Capital
  • Rex Health Ventures
  • River Cities Capital Funds
  • Salem Partners
  • Sanofi Ventures
  • Signature Bank
  • SJF Ventures
  • Solas BioVentures
  • Sopris Capital
  • Sovereign’s Capital
  • Spectrum Equity
  • Spring Mountain Capital LP
  • SSM Partners
  • Staley Capital
  • Stanley Ventures
  • Susquehanna Growth Equity
  • Sustainable Food Ventures
  • Syngenta Ventures
  • TDF Ventures
  • Tech Square Ventures
  • TechOperators
  • The Venture Collective
  • Tiger Management
  • Tiverton Advisors, LLC
  • Topmark Partners
  • Triangle Tweener Fund
  • Updata Partners
  • Vocap Investment Partners
  • Volvo Group Venture Capital
  • VTC Ventures
  • Xontogeny

Attend

Buy your tickets early and save. CED offers two ticket types: Startups and General Admission.

Agenda

Full agenda coming soon!

Sponsor

This investment will deliver immediate value in front of an audience that suits you while fueling the entrepreneurial spirit of North Carolina.

March 20 – 21
Raleigh, NC
  • “Very excited for the event. Got a chance to meet and network with lot of cool new and interesting people, that were supportive of our work at CareYaya and interested in collaborating with us. CED team did a great job organizing and running the event smoothly. The startups were cool and collaborative, and lot of new investor relationships were formed. I especially liked the opportunity to set up 1×1 meetings with people through the app. Overall, the best event I have been to since I started CareYaya!”

    Neal Shah CEO of CareYaya Health Technologies Inc.

  • “Thank you for organizing such a fantastic event! I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to pitch to the amazing venture capitalists in attendance and found their reverse pitches to be incredibly insightful.”

    Ania Rodriguez CEO of JourneyTrack