SSR - April 12, 2024

The National Academy of Inventors has released its annual ranking of the top 100 universities with utility patents. The top 3 are not surprising (Univ. of California, MIT, and Univ. of Texas), but the South earned solid representation on the list. The Univ. of Florida Research Foundation ranks 13th with 142 granted patents. The next highest ranked institution is Duke Univ. with 92 patents. The Univ. of South Florida ranked #35 with 88 patents; and the Georgia Institute of Technology, tied at #37 with 87 patents issued. The full list of rankings can be found here.

Louisiana

Nexus Louisiana in Baton Rouge was selected by Startup World Cup to host a regional pitch competition where the winner will later advance to compete in Silicon Valley for a chance to win $1M. The local competition will take place during Baton Rouge Entrepreneurship Week (BREW) on May 9th. In addition to pitch competitions, BREW has a great lineup of speakers this year. Don’t forget to register!Congratulations to BRF in Shreveport for securing two grants totaling $2M from the US Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration to accelerate tech entrepreneurship in North Louisiana. Louisiana Economic Development (LED) is now accepting applications for its Rural Entrepreneur Initiative, the small business program that helps local companies overcome challenges unique to rural communities. The SBA and SBDC officially opened a new Business Recovery Center at JEDCO Conference Center’s Avondale site. The site will assist businesses applying for drought-related relief. Up next – come out to VillageX Demo Day in the morning on your way to Jazz Fest on April 25th.

Alabama

Together, Innovate Alabama, gener8tor, Apollo Foundation, Bronze Valley, and Innovation Portalare launching three startup accelerator programs in Huntsville, Birmingham and Mobile. The startups in gBETA Huntsville are: Inviktus, Seerletics, Invis, Qrave, and nCase. Chosen for gBETA Gulf Coast: AI Ops, VB Ideas, Sensor Easy, Aspect Aerospace, and Pinnacle Pole. In Birmingham, gBETA Bronze Valley Venture Lab accepted Yosubi, Backbone Technologies, Purposed Wellness, EVA AI, and The Clothing Library. The University of Alabama at Birmingham  School of Medicine released some impressive stats this week. In total, the school received over $600M in research funding last year - $274M from the NIH and $338M from other sources.

Arkansas

The U.S. Department of Defense awarded $1.9M to a team of researchers at the University of Arkansasand UAMS to develop a wearable device that will help with the early detection and monitoring of internal and external bleeding. Ultimately, the team’s goal is to develop a device that is less than 1 square inch and sells for under $100. Arkansas Business announcedthis year’s class of 40 Under 40 honorees, a group of rising young professionals who will be honored at a luncheon June 11 in downtown Little Rock.

Florida

Congratulations to Pavilion Solar, a Miami-based solar tech company, for making it to the semifinalist stage of the American-Made Solar Prize, hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Office. Pavilion Solar was among 20 teams to progress, securing a $50K cash prize and the opportunity to compete in the subsequent phases of this multimillion-dollar challenge. The Florida Venture Forum, announced that its 16th annual Florida Early Stage Capital Conference will feature a record $300K in award dollars from various sponsors and programs, including Space Florida, DeepWork Capital, and Florida Power & Light’s 35 Mules Accelerator. Start-ups can apply here by May 10th.

There are many exits to report today. ZimVie, sold itsSpine business to an affiliate of H.I.G. Capital for $375M in total consideration, including $315M in cash and a $60M promissory note. Miami-based People Clerk sold to a larger tech company with a similar mission, Quest for Justice. The acquisition will help people who represent themselves in U.S. civil courts without lawyers. Also in Miami, EarlyDay was acquired by Wonderschool to alleviate staffing stresses in child care. Previously, EarlyDay raised a $3.25M seed round in September 2022 and a $1M pre-seed round in July 2021. In early 2022, Wonderschool raised a $25M Series B. Finally, Borderless Capital, a Web3 investment firm, acquired CTF Capital, a leading Miami and Latam based quantitative trading and asset management company.

Georgia

Switch On Business published a list of U.S. colleges with the most business founders who launch companies within their college’s city or state. Georgia State University ranks 2nd in the nation with 46.32%! The report notes that GSU supports student founders with its Entrepreneurship and Innovation Institute, which offers a seed funding and mentorship program for student and alums. In funding news, EarliTec Diagnostics, a Decatur-based medical device company, raised $21.5M in Series B funding led by Nexus NeuroTech Ventures and Venture Investors Health Fund. EarliTec makes earlier identification and treatment for autism possible. Railroad Software, a Cumming-based provider of rail operations software & managed services, announced a majority recapitalization with Arcadea Group. Railroad Software offers digital solutions for FRA compliance and rail yard management. Finally, Stord, a supply chain management platform and Atlanta-based unicorn, acquired fulfillment services provider ProPack Logistics, which focuses on multichannel fulfillment and last-mile shipping.

Mississippi

Congratulations to Anna Barker, founder of Glo Pals, recently named in the Inc. Female Founders 250list! Startup founders, don’t forget to check out the upcoming Co.Builders pitch competition schedule and deadlines here.

North Carolina

Raleigh-Durham Startup Week was underway this week and has already reported record attendance. Nearly 2,000 tickets were sold this year, up from 1,200 last year. At Venture Connect, Good Agriculturetook home the Audience Choice award. The company provides tools and services to support regenerative farms. They are still seeking about $200K for their $500K pre-seed round. The Triangle Tweener Fund announced that its Q1 funding totaled $940K in 18 Triangle startups. Of these, 9 were SAFEs, 4 were convertible notes, and 5 were priced rounds. Read about the portfolio companies here. In M&A news, there are several exits to report today. NOVUSacquired RTP-based BioResource International. In Chapel Hill, CData acquired the German data visualization company Data Virtuality. Specifics of the deal were not disclosed, but this is the Series B-level startup’s second acquisition.

South Carolina

Zylo Therapeutics announced a partnership with hair restoration leader BosleyMD and a spinoff company called Atticus Pharma. Atticus will continue research and development of Zylö’s products for the pharmaceutical industry, while Zylö Therapeutics will continue to focus on other applications such as cosmetics and animal health.

Tennessee

There were two big raises out of Nashville this period: Melt Pharma with $24M in Series B funding and Yoshi Mobility with $26M in Series C. Yoshi provides on-site gas delivery and car care services. Melt Pharma is developing non-opioid, non-IV, sedation, and analgesia therapeutics for human medical procedures. Market Square Ventures, a new VC firm based in Knoxville, announced its launch. The group will focus on investing in early-stage startups in Tennessee, the Southeast, and Appalachia. Investments will range from $100K - $250K in pre-seed or seed rounds.

Memphis-based ESO Epicenter released its first Impact Report. In only two years, the program has supported 87 graduates, hosted 93 events, and over $740K of capital deployed. Keep up the great work! Just down the road, the Spark Innovation Center at the University of Tennessee Research Park was awarded an $150K EPIC (Energy Program Innovation Cluster) grant last week from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Technology Transitions. The money will support a Spark Prototyping initiative to help start-up companies access prototyping resources and facilities. Last week, the Anderson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville awarded a total of $20K to the winners of its Graves Business Plan Competition for student-led startups.