The Wilmington NC Ecosystem has TEN Opportunities for our Entrepreneurs to Grow and Scale in Spring of 2025

If Wilmington NC is ever going to get to $100 million in venture capital in a year (EVENTUALLY), here is how it will happen with the entrepreneurs participating in more educational programming. (And the wider business community needs to get involved in the startup ecosystem.) Either NEW is hosting a specific event or our partners are having helpful events.

Make the most of the opportunities.

1. NEW has arranged for a TECH SALES Workshop on Jan 16th. Successful sales attract investors.This workshop is being led by Mike Fisher?who was trained at SALESFORCE, Oracle Software and Zoom. (THREE TIMES the expected registration number of participants.)

2. We also want to learn from our neighbors to the South in Charleston.In the last SIX months of 2024, their startups raised $100 MILLION DOLLARS in Venture Capital. https://www.postandcourier.com/business/charleston-gnosis-tech-silicon-harbor-gnosis-scout/article_23c3faec-9d2a-11ef-8d3b-5bfa972f171c.html

On Feb 13th, we are hosting an event -?https://www.eventbrite.com/e/deeeeep-dive-2025-most-active-investor-top-30-most-influential-person-tickets-1131056403149?aff=oddtdtcreatorWe invited the MOST ACTIVE Venture Capital Fund in Charleston / South Carolina.

We also invited the face of the startup community in Charleston who was named one of the 30 MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE IN THE SOUTH by TIME Magazine.(The DEEEEEP DIVE in 2025 event series now has a TITLE SPONSOR in Hutchison Law.)

3. You can now apply to present at the DigSouth Tech Summit in Charleston. One of our Wilmington companies has already been confirmed to present. A Chance to meet Charleston investors. https://digsouth.com/techsummit (Our Feb 13th speaker is the cofounder of DigSouth.)

4. We are also working with the SBTDC to bring their "Are you INVESTOR READY?" event to Wilmington.How do you PREPARE to raise money?March 4th -?https://sbtdc.org/events/investor-ready-entrepreneur-wilmington-2025

5. Last week, we let you know about the Deadline for the CED VentureConnect Conference.with 200 investors that participate. I serve on the CED VentureConnect Selection Committee?

6. Another way to raise capital without investors? Non - Dilutive Grants

NC IDEA SEED Grant Workshop - January 27th in Wilmington - $50,000 or the $10,000 MICRO Grant

SBIR Grant workshop - February 18th in Wilmington?- ($250,000 to $2,000,000 grants like OpiAID.)Winning these competitive grants can validate the startups to potential investors. YES THEY CAN.

7. Are you participating in the UNCW CIE Mentor Program? What if one of the mentors knows the person who can change your company for the better? Or they have an idea for that one pivot move that accelerates your business? https://uncw.edu/research/centers/innovation-entrepreneurship/mentors/

8. What about an "Accelerator" program like NC RIOT? They have more than 80 corporate sponsors.Many Wilmington IOT entrepreneurs have been through this program including OpiAID and Predicate HPG. January 17th deadline -??https://riot.org/startup-accelerator

9.Have you EVER presented your startup to others in the community? Big presentation this Wednesday with Duravax and Portrett Pharmaceutical You can sign up to present at 1 Million Cups Wilmington on Wednesdays at 9 am at UNCW CIE - Reach out to Jack Fleming https://riot.org/startup-accelerator

10. We are moving the Wilmington INVESTOR BUZZ IN to May (Maybe May 16-17) But last year we had 63 investors come to Wilmington for the day to hear from our startups.

(Again, WHO is doing more for the startups of Wilmington NC?)