?? Southern Startup Report: September 26 - October 7, 2020

The Southern Startup Report is a twice-monthly, curated newsletter covering the latest tech startup happenings in the American Southeast. It is produced by LookFar, a New Orleans-based software development studio, and Club Discovery, a co-working space for innovators, entrepreneurs and technologists in the heart of New Orleans' Bywater neighborhood. Learn more about sponsoring the SSR or subscribe here to get the SSR delivered to your inbox.

Synapse is bringing back Converge, a digital conference, November 16th through the 19th, 2020. In partnership with Global Entrepreneurship Week, Synapse Converge: GEW Edition is specifically designed for entrepreneurs, investors, and late-stage companies to learn from and connect with each other.

The Ada Lovelace Awards, a celebration of women across the Gulf South who have made an impact in their local tech community, is back with a virtual event next week. The 5th annual awards were originally scheduled to take place in March as part of New Orleans Entrepreneur Week, but like so many events this year, they've made the move to a virtual format. The winners will be announced Tuesday October 13 at 7pm CST via Facebook Live. Learn more about this year's nominees or check out past winners here. 

Looking for pitch deck feedback and possible investor connections? The DocSend Fundraising Network is connecting pre-Seed and Seed stage founders with early-stage capital and unbiased pitch deck feedback. According to DocSend CEO Russ Heddleston, "Many founders, especially underrepresented ones, have a hard time getting their fundraising in motion. We launched the DocSend Fundraising Network to help founders. In the past two months, we've seen hundreds of pre-Seed and Seed stage founders (in many locations and industries) submit their decks to the DocSend Fundraising Network. Every founder receives data-driven, unbiased feedback, and many have been matched with lead investors." h/t to Backstage Capital for the info.

~ Mallory Whitfield, Editor of the Southern Startup Report for LookFar, a New Orleans-based software development studio.

New Orleans, LA - The Idea Village is seeking emerging, technology-enabled startups that are ready to scale for its flagship accelerator program, VILLAGEx; applications for the 2021 cohort close on November 20. The New Orleans Startup Fund, The Idea Village, and others in the New Orleans entrepreneurship ecosystem are celebrating CultureConnect’s recent acquisition by Axiell; CultureConnect got its start in 2013 in New Orleans. BioAesthetics, a biotech startup which traces its roots to New Orleans, has surpassed its Series A funding goal thanks to significant funding from the NO/LA Angel Network, The Pelican Fund, The Launch Place, FemHealth Ventures, New Orleans BioFund and others. Good Work Network has received a $200,000 grant from JPMorgan Chase to expand resources for underrepresented entrepreneurs, while Cox Communications has pledged $60 million over the next year to close the digital learning gap. Nonprofit STEM NOLA has received a $2.79M grant to expand their education programs for young people and people of color in STEM. A team of Tulane grads is aiming to bring glass recycling to New Orleans with Glass Half Full, what they promise to be the first crowd-funded, sustainable glass recycling & processing facility in the world.

Atlanta, GA - Metro Atlanta has the highest number of Black-owned startups that received money from Google for Startups Black Founders Fund, with $2.3 million going to companies based in ATL; see the full list of 35 startups. Partnering with Cox Enterprises, Techstars Atlanta has shifted their focus to work with founders and entrepreneurs looking to tackle social injustice; applications for the 2021 Techstars Social Impact class are open through October 18. Two Atlanta Tech Village alumni have gotten some notable national press recently: Calendly founder Tope Awotona was featured on a recent episode of NPR's How I Built This while parental monitoring tool Bark is featured in the documentary Childhood 2.0. Incluzion founder Jibril Sulaiman also continues to draw attention for his online platform connecting companies to Black and Latinx talent for freelance work.

Austin, TX - Austin-based ICON is already known for its ability to build a home in less than a day using its massive 3D printers - now it's been tapped by NASA and the Air Force to build habitats that can potentially be used on the moon and Mars. Austin Startup Week went virtual this week, kicking off on Monday with a focus on women in technology, while other sessions explored fundraising in Texas during the pandemic. South by Southwest has also announced that they'll go virtual in 2021; they are accepting PanelPicker submissions until October 16. MassChallenge’s Austin accelerator recently announced the 12 startup finalists that will compete for $500,000 in cash prizes on October 22; the Southern based companies include At Ease Rentals Corp, Class2Class, Code 1 Medical Devices, CUE Audio, DanceFight, Muxy, Weeve and WriterDuet. Three Austin-based startups - Laundris Corp., Tankee and Varuna Tech - received a total of $200,000 in cash awards from Google for Startups’s Black Founders Fund.

Baton Rouge, LA - Baton Rouge-based health startup Relief Telemed is expanding its COVID-19 testing services to a southern California school district, marking the local telemedicine startup’s first out-of-state venture. This news comes shortly after the startup landed a contract with LSU to provide COVID-19 testing to LSU students, faculty and staff through four on-campus sites this fall. Pass It Down, a Baton Rouge-based tech company which provides web-based tools for libraries, museums, and organizations to create interactive experiences has created a new interactive timeline of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s life to honor her recent passing. Startup Grind Baton Rouge is set to host their next virtual meetup on October 13, on the topic of Storytelling and Fundraising.

Birmingham, AL - Startup accelerator gener8tor recently announced their fall cohort, including the five startups that will participate in the inaugural class at the Bronze Valley Accelerator: Acclinate Genentics, Babypalooza, Cancer U, H2T Digital Co. and Pmngr. At the recent BIO Alabama Conference, there was a focus on the need for collaboration among researchers, scientists, entrepreneurs, businesses, elected officials and others to grow Alabama’s bioscience sector. Speakers at the virtual event also encouraged entrepreneurs in attendance "to establish relationships early with VCs, before the financial ask, and to build out an investor relations plan."

Dallas, TX - Six women-led, early stage startups have been selected for the inaugural AccelerateHER Incubator: Black Girls Drone, Cooks Without Borders, Departmynt, Playable Media, Radda and The D. Diaries. Four Black-owned startups from the North Texas area (Kanarys, Zirtue, ShearShare and CourMed) were selected to receive $300K in funding from the Google for Startups Black Founders Fund. Banking giant Capital One is partnering with Dallas VC firm Impact Ventures and HBCU Paul Quinn College to invest in underrepresented entrepreneurs. Unfortunately, the COVID pandemic has caused female-focused co-working space Her.HQ to close its doors in Dallas. Tech Titans, the largest technology trade association in Texas, has announced the finalists for its 20th Tech Titans Awards.

Houston, TX - The new 17,000-square-foot Downtown Launchpad innovation hub recently celebrated its grand opening; the hub features co-working and accelerator space and is home to Houston's MassChallenge Texas and gener8tor accelerators and global nonprofit incubator Impact Hub Houston. The Houston Chronicle recently profiled the work that Grace Rodriguez and Impact Hub Houston are doing to create a more diverse and inclusive startup community in H-Town. MassChallenge Texas recently named the top 10 companies in its Houston cohort; the startups based in Houston include Integricote, PATH EX Inc. and Starling Medical. Houston-founded Evolve Energy was recently acquired by London-based renewable energy company Octopus Energy in a $5 million deal, and The Ion has received a $1.5M economic development grant to go toward Houston accelerator programs.

Jackson, MS - The STEM non-profit The Bean Path is celebrating their second anniversary with a drive-thru event & giveaways on the grounds of what will soon be Jackson's new tech hub. Dr. Nashlie Sephus recently purchased the 12 acres in Mississippi's capital with plans to train local young people in artificial intelligence, cyber security, and software development. The team behind influencer marketing automation product Buzzbassador is making history as Mississippi's first startup to pitch at Venture Atlanta.

Miami, FL - After years of spearheading a movement to foster diversity and inclusion in the Miami startup ecosystem, Code Fever (the founders of Blacktech Week) are getting a rebrand and additional brain power. Now dubbed the Center For Black Innovation, the organization recently announced their acquisition of Black Tech Mecca, a Chicago-based think tank "with a mission to build stronger Black Tech Ecosystems as a pathway to economic and social revitalization." Felecia Hatcher-Pearson, co-founder of CodeFever and Blacktech Week, recently highlighted 18 Black entrepreneurs based in South Florida to watch. Miami's Wyncode Academy is getting support from the Knight Foundation to provide $60K scholarships to to low-income, underrepresented residents for technology training. 

Nashville, TN - Four Tennessee-based ventures, including CPR Wrap, Hera Health Solutions, SweetBio and SecondKeys, have been named as semifinalists in the global Startup of the Year Summit competition. Music City's Pathway Lending is one of six community development financial institutions in the nation to be chosen to participate in a new $40 million loans fund to support underserved communities, while Nashville Business Incubation Center recently received $600,000 to assist small businesses impacted by COVID-19. The Nashville Entrepreneur Center is hosting their next “Pitch for Good” event on October 22 with a focus on music and entertainment; the deadline to apply to pitch is October 16. AfroTech recently shined the spotlight on Memphis, calling the city "Black Silicon Valley" and "a hotspot for Black entrepreneurs and tech talent with the assistance of innovative organization, Epicenter." 

Pensacola, FL - I recently joined Lloyd Reshard and the community at Startups on the Blocks for one of their weekly virtual events. This new networking and education event is intended to connect Black business founders with mentors, best practices, office space and potential collaborators. You can join them on Thursdays at 6pm via Hopin.

Raleigh-Durham, NC - Three North Carolina firms - LoanWell, Courtroom5 and Freeman Capital - are receiving a combined $200,000 in funding from Google for Startups Black Founders Fund. NC IDEA is seeking applicants for its new grant program focused on "innovative and transformational ideas that will elevate Black Entrepreneurship"; final submissions are due November 2. NC IDEA has also picked 23 semifinalists for its $50,000 startup SEED grants. Duke University has had a record-setting year, bringing in $65M in licensing revenue and helping to launch 17 startups, while Duke undergrads have launched a website to give you actionable tips to fight climate change. First Flight Venture Center’s prototyping facility, Hangar6, has landed a $2.6 million federal grant, while First Flight Venture Center has also snagged $125K from SBA’s FAST Award program. Charlotte's annual Venture135 conference is returning this November 16-19 in an all-digital format. Wilmington school management software firm LINQ has acquired Colyar Technology Solutions and named a new CEO, Krista Endsley. Dignify Therapeutics has been awarded five new National Institutes of Health (NIH) awards, totaling over $2.5 million in additional funding.

Tampa, FL - Tampa entrepreneur Steve MacDonald is launching his own venture fund, MacDonald Ventures; he shared that he's accepting pitches and interested in investing in technology-enabled B2B startups. Tampa Bay Wave is getting a lot of support from local cybersecurity firms like A-LIGN and KnowBe4 for its new security-focused CyberTech|X Accelerator; applications for the program are being accepted until November 30. Seven local startups recently graduated from the Tampa Bay Innovation Center’s B2B Tech Accelerator: Ceres Engineering, elitRecruiter, LeaseHoney, MangoSigns, Paragon Cyber Solutions, Real Random and Smart Edge Technology. Tampa laundry startup Washlava is being sued for alleged unpaid wages after placing employees on salary deferral. Synapse Converge: GEW Edition is gearing up for their virtual event next month, with new speakers added every day; attendance is free.

Alpharetta, GA - CoreView - $10M Series B

Atlanta, GA - Lucid Scientific - $3M Seed

Atlanta, GA - Sora - $2.7M Seed

Atlanta, GA - Talli - $220K Pre-Seed

Austin, TX - HUVRdata - $5M Series A

Austin, TX - Virdee - $2M Seed

Charlotte, NC - DebtBook - $950K

Coral Gables, FL - PayCargo - $35M

Dallas, TX - Alkami Technology - $140M

Dallas, TX - Botisimo - $700K Seed

Durham, NC - Courtroom5 - $20K

Durham, NC - Zaloni - $9.6M 

Frisco, TX - Payrix - $50M Series A

Miami, FL - Aegle Therapeutics - $6.5M Series A

Miami, FL - Secberus - $6.6M Seed

Morrisville, NC - Clinipace - $4M

Orlando, FL - RedTeam - $5M

Raleigh, NC - EternaTear - $4.9M Series A

Raleigh, NC - Inceptor Bio - $3.2M

Raleigh, NC - Liine - $900K

Research Triangle Park, NC - APIE Therapeutics - $100K

Research Triangle Park, NC - BioAesthetics - $4.5M

Research Triangle Park, NC - Locus Biosciences - $77M

St. Petersburg, FL - 5×5 Technologies - $3M

Winston Salem, NC - Fluree - $6.5M

October 9 - Durham, NC - NC IDEA ECOSYSTEM Grant Application Deadline

October 9 - Chattanooga, TN - Will This Float? Black Founders Edition Application Deadline

October 9 - Chattanooga, TN - CO.LAB Amplify Pitch Competition Application Deadline

October 11 - Nashville, TN - Small Batch - Big Ideas Pitch Competition Application Deadline

October 13 - MIT Hacking Racism in Healthcare Virtual Hackathon Application Deadline

October 15 - Birmingham, AL - Innovation Depot 2021 Velocity Accelerator Cohort Application Deadline

October 15 - Miami, FL - Black Men Talk Tech Unicorn Ambition Pitch Competition Application Deadline

October 15 - Nashville, TN - Nashville Entrepreneur Center InFlight 2020 Application Deadline

October 16 - Nashville, TN - Pitch for Good: Music and Entertainment Edition Application Deadline

October 16 - Austin, TX - SXSW PanelPicker Deadline

October 17 - Dallas, TX - Impact Ventures IV Accelerator Application Deadline

October 18 - Atlanta, GA - Cox Enterprises Social Impact Accelerator Powered by Techstars Application Deadline

October 19 - Nashville, TN - Twende Entrepreneurs of Color Accelerator 2020 Cohort Application Deadline

October 25 - Rise of the Rest Virtual Tour: Equity Edition Application Deadline

October 30 - Austin, TX - SKU Consumer Products Accelerator Application Deadline

October 31 - Atlanta, GA - Pitch Rounds at AdvanSE Life Sciences Virtual Conference Application Deadline

November 2 - Durham, NC - North Carolina Black Entrepreneurship Council Grant Application Deadline

November 9 - United States - MIT Solve Reimagining Pathways to Employment in the US Challenge Deadline

November 20 - New Orleans, LA - Idea Village VILLAGEx Accelerator Program Application Deadline

November 30 - Tampa, FL - Tampa Bay Wave CyberTech|X Accelerator Application Deadline

open deadline - Atlanta, GA - Startup Runway Applications

open deadline - Atlanta, GA - Apply to the Silicon Road Retail Accelerator

open deadline - United States - Lightship Capital Twitch Pitch Virtual Pitch Contest Applications

open deadline - Dallas, TX - The DEC Network Fast Start Mentoring Program Application for Mentors and Mentees

Until further notice, all events listed below will take place virtually. Below you'll find the date, host organization & their location, and a link for more information. To let us know about an upcoming virtual event, or a rescheduled in-person event, please email mwhitfield @ lookfar.com

October 5-8 - Austin, TX - Austin Startup Week 

October 5-9 - Atlanta, GA - Fintech South 2020 Virtual Summit

October 5-9 - Birmingham, AL - BIO Alabama Virtual Conference

October 5-9 - Tampa, FL - Techstars Startup Week Tampa Bay

October 5-10 - Wilmington, NC - Virtual Cape Fear Region Minority Enterprise Development Week

October 8 - Startup Summit (Charlotte, NC) - Charlotte All Day Conference

October 8 - The Kukua Institute (Pensacola, FL) - Startups on the Blocks

October 9-10 - Sociallyin (Birmingham, AL) - Southern Social Summit 2020

October 11 - Blacktech Week (Miami, FL) - Blacktech Week /Black Tech Mecca AMA Meeting

October 13 - New Orleans, LA - 2020 VIRTUAL Ada Lovelace Awards

October 13 - Technology Executives Roundtable (Atlanta, GA) - Accelerating Black Entrepreneurship in Atlanta; How to Increase Diversity in Your Tech Company

October 13 - Outlander Labs (Atlanta, GA) - The Importance of Timing in Startup Fundraising

October 13 - Startup Grind (Baton Rouge, LA) - Storytelling and Fundraising - A Round Table Discussion

October 13 - The Nashville Entrepreneur Center (Nashville, TN) - Streamlined Financials for Startups

October 13-15 - Capital Factory (Austin, TX) - Founders Academy Essentials

October 13-15 - Tech Inclusion 2020

October 14 - Atlanta Ventures (Atlanta, GA) - Healthcare Entrepreneur Meetup

October 14 - Atlanta Tech Village (Atlanta, GA) - Virtual Women + Tech Meetup: Designing Life On Purpose

October 14 - Houston Exponential (Houston, TX) - HXTV VC Ask Me Anything Virtual Event featuring IronSpring Ventures

October 14 - FIS and The Venture Center (Little Rock, AR) - 2020 FIS Fintech Accelerator Virtual Demo Day

October 14-15 - Florida Venture Forum (Tampa, FL) - 2020 Early Stage Capital Conference

October 15 - The Kukua Institute (Pensacola, FL) - Startups on the Blocks

October 16 - The Ion (Houston, TX) - Design Thinking for Tech and Innovation Workshop | Prototypes + User Testing

October 16-18 - MIT Hacking Racism in Healthcare Virtual Hackathon

October 17 - The Bean Path (Jackson, MS) - The Bean Path Second Anniversary Celebration

October 19-20 (Raleigh, NC) - All Things Open 2020

October 19 - CO.LAB (Chattanooga, TN) - Will This Float? Black Founders Edition Pitch Competition

October 19-23 - Chattanooga, TN - Startup Week Chattanooga Goes Virtual

October 20 - Palm Beach Tech (Palm Beach, FL) - Tech In The Southeast United States

October 21 - The Idea Village (New Orleans, LA) - Women & Wealth: Closing the Investment Gender Gap

October 21 - Valor Ventures (Atlanta, GA) - Founders Only: Scaling Startups In The Southeast

October 21-22 - Venture Atlanta (Atlanta, GA) - Venture Atlanta Live Online

October 22 - Atlanta, GA - Atlanta Startup Battle 8.0

October 22 - The Nashville Entrepreneur Center (Nashville, TN) - Pitch for Good: Music and Entertainment Edition

October 22 - MassChallenge (Austin & Houston, TX) - MassChallenge 2020 Virtual Awards & Startup Showcase

October 22 - The Ion (Houston, TX) - How to Start a Startup, with Heath Butler, Mercury Fund

October 22 - The Kukua Institute (Pensacola, FL) - Startups on the Blocks

October 22 - Synapse (Tampa, FL) - IN AWE: Investing In, Nurturing and Accelerating Women Entrepreneurs

October 23 - CO.LAB (Chattanooga, TN) - Amplify Pitch Competition

October 23-25 - Black Men Talk Tech (Miami, FL) - Black Men Talk Tech Unicorn Ambition Conference

October 23-25 - Palm Beach Tech (Palm Beach, FL) - Code for Good Hackathon

October 26 - Atlanta Tech Village (Atlanta, GA) - Virtual Atlanta Startup Village

October 27 - Valor Ventures (Atlanta, GA) - 6 Startup Metrics to Raise a Seed Round in the Southeast

October 27-28 - Life Science Tennessee (Nashville, TN) - LSTCON 2020

October 28 - The Ion (Houston, TX) - The Ion Startup Demo Day Semi-Final

October 28 - Valor Ventures (Atlanta, GA) - Learnings from 100 VC Financings in the Southeast

October 28 - Outlander Labs (Atlanta, GA) - Outlander Labs Virtual Happy Hour

October 28-30 - Lafayette, LA - Innovate South

October 29 - Navicent Health (Atlanta, GA) - Georgia Healthcare Innovation Challenge Forward Pitch Event

October 29 - Lafayette, LA - Get Started Medical Pitch Competition

October 29 - The Nashville Entrepreneur Center (Nashville, TN) - Project Music [Virtual] Showcase

October 29 - The Kukua Institute (Pensacola, FL) - Startups on the Blocks

October 29 - Tampa Bay Wave (Tampa, FL) - Wave's TechWomen Rising Pitch Night

November 9-13 - Southeast Life Sciences (Atlanta, GA) - AdvanSE Life Sciences Virtual Conference

November 10 - Capital Factory (Austin, TX) - Veterans in Tech Summit

November 10 - The Ion (Houston, TX) - Pitch Deck 101

November 10-11 - Innovate Mississippi (Jackson, MS) - Accelerate: The Annual Conference on Technology Innovation

November 12 - Grow Florida (Orlando, FL) - 2020 GrowFL Florida Companies to Watch Awards

November 13 - Emory University’s Goizueta Business School (Atlanta, GA) - RAISE (Retention and Advanced Investment for the Southeast at Emory) Forum

November 16-17 - NC IDEA (Durham, NC) - 2020 Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Summit

November 16-18 - 2020 Startup of the Year Summit

November 16-19 - Synapse (Tampa, FL) - Synapse Converge: Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) Edition

November 16-19 - RevTech Labs (Charlotte, NC) - Venture135 Conference

November 18 - The Ion (Houston, TX) - The Ion Startup Demo Day Final

November 19 - Alabama Launchpad (Birmingham, AL) - Alabama Launchpad Pitch Finale

November 19-20 - New Orleans Business Alliance (New Orleans, LA) - New Orleans Health Innovators Challenge

The Southern Startup Report is a twice-monthly, curated newsletter covering the latest tech startup happenings in the American Southeast. It is produced by LookFar, a New Orleans-based software development studio, and Club Discovery, a co-working space for innovators, entrepreneurs and technologists in the heart of New Orleans' Bywater neighborhood. Learn more about sponsoring the SSR or subscribe here to get the SSR delivered to your inbox.

P.S. If you find our report useful, please consider sharing it with a friend or colleague who may not already know about it.