Southeast Shoutouts | Alabama tops the roundup with two posts
The other items from across the region are about funds being raised or deployed.
From Auburn, AL:
The Economic Development Partnership of Alabama (EDPA) wrapped up the second cycle of its 2023 Alabama Launchpad competition by awarding $75,000 to two start-ups. Birmingham-based employment app Croux was awarded $50,000, while Auburn-based biotech company VivoSphere LLC secured $25,000.
Launched in 2006, Alabama Launchpad is the state’s most active early seed-stage fund for start-ups and entrepreneurs. It operates three cycles each year, allocating $25,000 to a company in the concept phase of its business and $50,000 to a start-up classified as in the seed stage.
The latest competition was hosted at The Park at Auburn University and featured 11 finalists. Learn more at this link.
From Birmingham, AL:
Biotech start-ups in the Magic City will have considerably more space to grow early next year after Southern Research’s new incubator facility opens. Named Station 41, the facility will include 11 offices and 14 wet labs, along with shared lab equipment and entrepreneurial services to support start-up businesses engaged in treating and diagnosing diseases. It is a sibling to Station 41 Accelerator and Station 41 Venture Studio.
From Cary, NC:
WRAL TechWire reports that Front Porch Venture Partners has submitted a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission that shows more than $12.5 million in Pooled Investment Fund Interests for its second fund. The filing indicated a total of 53 investors contributing.
This second fund follows an initial fund last year which raised more than $5 million, according to the Front Porch Venture Partners website. The company’s goal is to raise a total of $20 million for this year.
Front Porch provides a point for individual investors and family offices to have the opportunity to invest in start-ups and small businesses with a focus on the Southeast region. As part of its strategy, the firm partners with a number of other venture capital firms across the Southeast.
From Charlotte, NC:
Charlotte Inno reports that Winston-Salem-based Equilibrium Impact Ventures (EQIV) made its first investments, totaling $150,000, into Charlotte start-ups Just Her Rideshare and BatteryXchange.
- The former, started in 2020, is a community of women drivers providing a safe, stress-free alternative ridesharing option, specifically targeted at women.
- BatteryXchange provides rentable, portable batteries to cell phone users.
EQIV is focused on investing in North Carolina-based and women- and minority-owned businesses that have a mission related to addressing social issues.
From Across the South:
Four years ago, the share of start-up capital in the South was just 10 percent. Last quarter, that number shot up to 20 percent, according to Carta, an equity-management platform. That’s the highest percentage of funding that companies from the South have raised on Carta since 2018 when its data began.
Texas and Florida helped propel the South to its new high in percentage of venture capital funding, both accounting for more than four percent of all U.S. venture funding raised on Carta last quarter.
That said, at least five states in the Southeast did not report any investments on the Carta platform. They were Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Mississippi. In the case of Tennessee, it was a rather minuscule .76 percent of total cash raised on the platform.
