Northern Virginia still gets mistakenly framed as a commuter community for Washington. The region, which roughly encompasses Arlington, Alexandria, and Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William, and Stafford counties, is home to around 2.6 million people, more than a dozen Fortune 500 headquarters, the densest concentration of data centers on the planet, and a founder base that increasingly builds for the hardest customers in the world: the U.S. government and the companies that serve it. This is a refreshed lay of the land for anyone building here, or thinking about it.

This guide focuses on Virginia and largely leaves aside D.C. proper and Maryland, though the lines blur constantly across the DMV, and the area is in of itself a very dynamic ecosystem.

Why Northern Virginia?

Customer proximity to the world’s biggest buyer. The federal government is the historical anchor tenant of the ecosystem, and it changes how companies get built. Founders here can sell to agencies, the intelligence community, and the defense primes without relocating, and a first government contract can be more transformative than a Series A.

A deep, cleared, and highly educated talent pool. More than half of NoVA adults hold a bachelor’s degree, well above the national average, and the region has consistently ranked among the top tech-talent markets in North America. Add one of the largest concentrations of security-cleared workers in the country, and you have a labor pool built for defense, cyber, and govtech that’s hard to replicate anywhere else.

Data Center Alley, the physical home of the internet (and increasingly, of AI). Loudoun and Fairfax counties form the largest data center market in the world, with roughly 4,900 megawatts of commissioned capacity as of early 2025 and the densest fiber connectivity anywhere. Ashburn routes an enormous share of global internet traffic.

Corporate and capital anchors. Northern Virginia hosts one of the country’s highest concentrations of Fortune 500 headquarters, well over a dozen, including Boeing and RTX (both Arlington), General Dynamics, Leidos, and CACI (Reston), Northrop Grumman (Falls Church), Capital One, Freddie Mac, Hilton, and Booz Allen (McLean/Tysons), and Amazon’s HQ2 (Arlington), alongside the services giants Deloitte, SAIC, and others. That base means enterprise pilots, corporate venture arms, and an executive talent bench within a short drive.

Connectivity in every direction. Two major airports (Dulles and Reagan National), Metro’s Silver Line now running all the way to Dulles, and the interstate spine of I-95, I-495, and I-66 keep the region tied together internally and connected to the rest of the country.

How We Got Here

Northern Virginia’s startup DNA was forged by the federal government and the fiber that followed it. The early internet was quite literally built here, with ARPANET’s roots running through Arlington, and the Dulles Technology Corridor grew up in the 1990s and 2000s around companies like AOL, MicroStrategy, and later the low-code platform Appian, education company Blackboard, and events-software company Cvent. That generation established the pattern that still holds: deeply technical companies solving problems for government and large enterprise, often in security-adjacent categories.

The 2018 announcement that Amazon would put “HQ2” in Arlington’s National Landing (spanning parts of Arlington and Alexandria) was supposed to be the region’s coming-out party, a promise of 25,000 jobs and a futuristic campus anchored by a spiral tower called the Helix - though progress has been mixed. Phase 1, the Metropolitan Park campus, opened in June 2023 with two 22-story towers and now houses roughly 8,500 employees, with room for about 12,000. However, Phase 2 (featuring PenPlace and the Helix) has been paused since 2023.

Two forces have mattered more to the actual startup scene over the last five years. First, the data center history in the area and modern boom turned NoVA into the infrastructure capital of the internet. Second, the region leaned hard into defense technology and applied AI, as a new wave of founders, many of them veterans or ex-intelligence, built companies squarely aimed at national security.

Resources for Startups

Investors

In addition to a broad set of early-stage venture capital firms in the area, public capital and corporate venture capital play a significant role in the Northern Virginia ecosystem.

• The prior Center for Innovation and Technology was restructured into the Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation (VIPC), the nonprofit operating arm of the Virginia Innovation Partnership Authority. VIPC runs the GAP Funds, the Virginia Venture Partners co-investment vehicle, the Virginia Founders Fund for underrepresented founders, and commercialization programs like Lab-to-Launch with the state’s research universities.

• Northern Virginia is also home to many Fortune 500 headquarters- which means that venture arms set up alongside those parent companies. RTX Ventures, Capital One Ventures, Booz Allen Ventures, and NextEra Energy Investments are all investing out of, or into, this region, alongside In-Q-Tel, which is effectively the intelligence community’s venture arm.

Corporate & strategic investors

• In-Q-Tel (Arlington) — the intelligence community’s strategic investor, and the original model for mission-driven venture | National security tech | Strategic

• RTX Ventures (Arlington) — the CVC arm of RTX, launched in 2022 | Aerospace, defense, dual-use | Seed to Series B

• Booz Allen Ventures (McLean) — a $100M corporate venture arm; portfolio includes NOVA’s Corsha and Shift5 | Dual-use, cyber, AI | Strategic

• Capital One Ventures (McLean) | Fintech, data, enterprise software | Growth

• NextEra Energy Investments — energy and infrastructure capital, increasingly relevant as power becomes the binding constraint on AI | Energy, infrastructure | Strategic

Venture firms & studios

• QED Investors (Alexandria) — one of the most prominent fintech VCs in the country, founded by Capital One co-founder Nigel Morris | Fintech, financial services | Seed to growth

• Razor’s Edge Ventures (Reston) | National security, defense tech, cyber | Seed to growth

• Motley Fool Ventures (Alexandria) — a $150M fund launched in 2018, built on The Motley Fool’s brand and member community | Fintech | Early stage

• Red Cell Partners (McLean) — a venture studio that incubates and launches its own companies in healthcare, cyber, and national security | Incubation

• FedTech (Arlington) — venture studio and accelerator pairing entrepreneurs with federal lab technology; alumni have raised more than $5.7B | Deep tech | Pre-seed, studio

• Blu Venture Investors (Vienna) | Cybersecurity, healthcare, dual-use tech | Seed, Series A

• Sands Capital Ventures (Arlington) | Life sciences, technology, consumer | Series A+

• Columbia Capital (Alexandria) | Telecom, media, enterprise infrastructure | Agnostic

• Blue Delta Capital Partners (McLean) | Federal government services | Growth

• Route 66 Ventures (Alexandria) | Fintech, digital health | Seed

• SineWave Ventures (Arlington) | Enterprise, bridging commercial and public sector | Seed, Series A

• Lavrock Ventures (McLean) | Enterprise, data/analytics, cybersecurity | Seed to Series B

• Outpost Ventures | National security, dual-use technology | Early stage

Incubators & Accelerators

• Refraction (McLean) is a nonprofit innovation community that hosts startups and scaleups, runs programming and an apprenticeship pipeline with Northern Virginia Community College, and has drawn direct investment from Fairfax County to expand.

• MACH37 (Tysons, operated by VentureScope) is one of the oldest cybersecurity-focused accelerators in the country, running a multi-month program for early cyber-product companies since 2013.

• FedTech (Arlington) runs equity-free startup studios and accelerators that match entrepreneurs with technology out of federal labs, including the Homeland Security Startup Studio with DHS and programs with NASA, DOE, and Northrop Grumman.

• Mason Enterprise at George Mason University operates a network of incubators and Small Business Development Centers across Northern Virginia, plus the ICAP commercialization program.

• NSTXL (National Security Technology Accelerator) connects companies building dual-use and defense technologies to government acquisition pathways.

• National Innovation Quarter (National IQ), announced in early 2026, is a new innovation district spanning Arlington and Alexandria, backed by Amazon, Virginia Tech, and Arlington Economic Development, that will host accelerators and investor summits.

Coworking

Arlington and Alexandria both offer a wide breadth of coworking spaces.

Arlington

• Industrious — multiple locations including Ballston and Rosslyn

• Carr Workplaces — Clarendon and other locations

• Venture X — Courthouse Metro

• Life Time Work — Ballston, coworking attached to the gym

• TKO Suites — Arlington

• Three Whistles — an independent favorite

• Regus and Spaces — several locations

• Virtus Innovation Hub — opened in National Landing in spring 2026, aimed specifically at startups and investors

• WeWork — 1201 Wilson Blvd, Rosslyn

Alexandria

• ALX Community — the homegrown, dog-friendly anchor, with four Old Town locations (Founders Hall, the Atrium, the Waterfront, and 101 N. Union)

• Saltbox — Eisenhower Avenue, geared toward companies with physical products and logistics needs

• The Link — independent, wellness- and community-oriented space with on-site coffee

• Carr Workplaces and Regus — several locations

Reston/Tysons

• Refraction (McLean) — the community hub above, with space as well as programming

Community Organizations

• NVTC (Northern Virginia Technology Council) remains the region’s flagship tech membership organization, with roughly 500 member companies employing hundreds of thousands of people. Its events and awards programs (Tech100, the Cyber Summit and Cyber50, the Data Center Awards) are fixtures on the regional calendar.

• EO (Entrepreneurs’ Organization) maintains an active peer network for founders and business owners in the region.

• Local economic-development groups, Arlington Economic Development, the Fairfax County EDA, and Loudoun Economic Development, are extremely active as ecosystem builders, not just site-selection offices.

Talent Pipeline

• George Mason University is Virginia’s largest public research university and a significant engine for tech and entrepreneurial talent, anchoring much of the Mason Enterprise programming above. Its new Fuse at Mason Square tech hub in Arlington is a fresh anchor for research and startup activity.

• Virginia Tech’s Innovation Campus in Alexandria’s Potomac Yard opened its first academic building in early 2025, an 11-story, 300,000-square-foot facility for graduate computer science and engineering.

• Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA), Marymount University, and nearby institutions round out a deep and accessible pipeline.

Notable Annual Events

• DMV Deep Tech Week is a newer region-wide series connecting founders, investors, and public-sector leaders across emerging technologies, with Arlington hosting kickoff activities at JBG Smith’s Concorde Conference Center in National Landing.

• Accelerate Investor Conference (George Mason University’s Arlington campus, each fall) convenes early-to-mid-stage DMV startups, students, and investors for pitch competitions and programming, organized through Mason Enterprise with VIPC and regional EDAs.

• NVTC’s signature events, the Tech100 celebration, the Cyber Summit and Cyber50 awards, and the Data Center Awards, are among the best-attended gatherings of the regional tech community.

• Ecosystem-wide programming from Refraction, National IQ, and the county EDAs fills out a steady cadence of pitch nights, demo days, and founder meetups.

Startups to Watch

We’ve retired the 2021 list of startups to watch (see “Since 2021” below for what happened to those companies) and focused on companies that reflect where the region is actually building in 2026: AI infrastructure, defense tech, cybersecurity, space, and applied AI in logistics. Funding figures below are point-in-time.

AI & Data Infrastructure

• Emerald AI (Clarendon/Arlington) — Software that lets data centers flex and reduce their power draw during peak grid demand, directly addressing the energy bottleneck now strangling NOVA’s own data center growth. Launched in July 2025 with $24.5M in seed funding and Nvidia backing; founder and CEO Varun Sivaram. Since named a 2026 World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer.

• Trase (McLean) — An agentic operating system and AI agent suite built for high-stakes, heavily regulated environments where compliance and governance are non-negotiable. In June 2026 it raised a $107M seed round led by ARCH Venture Partners, with Red Cell Partners and Virginia Venture Partners participating, bringing total funding to $117.5M.

• Seekr Technologies (Reston) — A trustworthy-AI platform building tools to evaluate and ground large language models for high-stakes government and enterprise use.

• Rune Technologies (Rosslyn/Arlington) — AI-driven military logistics software (its TyrOS platform), closing a $24M Series A in August 2025. A clean example of the defense-tech-plus-AI wave.

Cybersecurity & Defense Tech

• Cape (Arlington) — A privacy-focused mobile carrier that minimizes the personal data collected on its network. Raised a $100M Series C at roughly a $900M valuation in early 2026, led by Bain Capital Ventures and IVP.

• Quartermaster (Arlington) — Maritime intelligence. Its “SmartMast” system equips ships with sensors and AI analytics to build real-time visibility across global waterways. Raised a $43M Series A in May 2026.

• Rilian (McLean) — An AI-native cybersecurity and defense systems integrator. Its Caspian platform is an agentic security orchestration layer that automates cyber and defense tooling across sovereign cloud, on-prem, and air-gapped environments. Raised $17.5M in seed and seed extension funding in April 2026.

• Shift5 (Arlington) — Operational-technology cybersecurity for military and commercial transportation systems (planes, trains, tanks). One of the region’s more prominent venture-backed defense-tech companies.

• Corsha (Vienna) — Machine-identity and API security, with backing from Booz Allen Ventures.

• Kovr.ai (Reston) — AI for cyber compliance and authorization paperwork (ATOs), launched in 2025 with $3.6M. A very NOVA problem to solve.

Space & Geospatial

• Scout Space (Reston) — Space domain awareness. Scout builds sensors that fly aboard customer satellites, from cubesats to GEO birds, and turns that data into services for rendezvous, proximity operations, and collision avoidance. Closed an $18M Series A in May 2026.

Applied AI & Logistics

• GenLogs (Arlington) — Freight intelligence built on roadside sensors, satellite data, and analytics to track truck movements nationwide, fight cargo fraud, and improve highway safety. Closed a $60M Series B in early 2026.

• CLEATUS (Arlington) — An AI platform that automates government contracting workflows so small businesses can find, manage, and win federal contracts. Raised $4M in seed funding in 2026. A textbook example of a company that could really only start here.

Scaling

• Interos (Arlington) — AI-powered supply-chain and business-ecosystem risk monitoring, and Arlington’s first startup unicorn (2021). Still one of the region’s marquee growth-stage names.

• MarginEdge (Arlington) — Restaurant management and bill-payment software, now a large platform that’s still expanding via partnerships and acquisitions. A genuine homegrown scale-up.

• HUNGRY (Arlington) — The chef-driven catering marketplace from the original guide is still independent and scaling, with a 2025 partnership with Sodexo and roughly $77M raised to date. Not a fresh name, but a genuine local success-in-progress worth keeping on the radar.

Since 2021: Exits & Milestones

Part of the reason to retire the old list is that the region has actually produced outcomes. And 2026 has been one of the biggest years yet for the region, headlined by two major deals in the exciting space industry.

Rocket Lab is acquiring Iridium Communications (McLean) in a roughly $8 billion deal. Announced in June 2026, Rocket Lab (Nasdaq: RKLB) will acquire Iridium for $54 per share in cash and stock, an enterprise value of about $8.0 billion, in one of the most consequential transactions in the commercial space industry. The combined company would be fully vertically integrated, designing, building, launching, and operating its own constellations.

HawkEye 360 (Herndon) went public. The radio-frequency signals intelligence company priced its IPO at $26 per share on May 6, 2026, selling 16 million shares to raise $416 million at roughly a $2.4 billion valuation. HawkEye 360 operates a constellation of more than 30 satellites that detect and geolocate RF emissions, selling to U.S. defense and intelligence agencies and allied governments. It had raised over $580M privately from backers including Reston’s own Razor’s Edge Ventures, GIC, and Insight Partners.

Other earlier outcomes worth remembering:

• Neustar (Reston) — TransUnion acquired its marketing, fraud, and communications business for $3.1 billion in 2021.

• Clarabridge (Reston) — Qualtrics acquired the customer-experience analytics company for roughly $1.1 billion in 2021.

• Cvent (Tysons) — Went public again via SPAC in December 2021, then was taken private by Blackstone in a $4.6 billion deal in 2023.

• Interos (Arlington) — Reached unicorn status in 2021 on a $100M round, the first private Arlington company to do so.

• Rize Money (Arlington) — The embedded-payments fintech from our 2021 list was acquired by Fifth Third in 2023.

• Upskill (Vienna/Tysons) — The AR company that led our 2021 list was acquired by TeamViewer in March 2021, essentially the week the original guide went out.

Tech Media & Where to Follow the Scene

• Build In SE — our own coverage of startup ecosystems across the Southeast, including guides like this one

• Technical.ly (DC) — the most consistent day-to-day coverage of DMV startup funding and news

• Virginia Business and its annual StartVirginia issue — the best statewide startup lens

• DC Inno (via the Washington Business Journal) — regional innovation coverage

• ARLnow and its sister sites ALXnow and FFXnow — great sources on local company news, and often first to report Arlington raises

• Axios — worth knowing that Axios is headquartered in Arlington, VA. It covers national news rather than the local startup beat, but it’s a genuine Arlington-born media success story, it spun out Axios HQ as its own software company, and its events (including Axios AI+DC) regularly convene the region’s tech and defense crowd.

• Hypepotamus — broader Southeast startup coverage, useful for regional context

Startup Jobs & Public Initiatives

• Work in Northern Virginia (Fairfax County EDA) — a centralized hub for NOVA jobs, resources, and training

• Arlington Economic Development and the county EDAs — job boards, incentives, and founder resources

• Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP) — relocation, expansion, and incentive resources at the state level

• VIPC — the state’s front door for early-stage grants and investment (see Investors, above)

• Wellfound (formerly AngelList Talent) — the startup job platform that replaced the old AngelList; the location-specific AngelList links in the 2021 guide are dead and have been dropped.

What’s Next for Northern Virginia

Northern Virginia is in the middle of a genuine identity shift. For decades the story was government contracting, a stable, unglamorous engine that quietly made the region one of the wealthiest and most educated in the country. That engine is now being retooled in real time: defense tech and applied AI are pulling a new generation of ambitious founders into national-security problems, and Data Center Alley has made the region indispensable to the AI buildout even as it fights over the land and power that boom requires.

It’s not all tailwinds, though. HQ2’s second phase is on ice, federal spending cuts have introduced real uncertainty into the contractor base that so much of the local economy rests on, and the data center backlash is reshaping what gets approved and where.

But the fundamentals that made this a great place to start a company haven’t gone anywhere: proximity to some of the largest customers in the world, one of the deepest technical and cleared talent pools in the country, real institutional capital from VIPC to In-Q-Tel to a dense bench of corporate venture arms, and a physical concentration of internet and AI infrastructure that exists nowhere else. If you’re building in defense, cyber, govtech, AI, or the infrastructure underneath all of it, there may be no better address in the country.

If you’re a founder, investor, or operator building in Northern Virginia, or thinking about it, I’d genuinely like to hear from you. Reach out any time at ryan@buildinse.com, and if you know of a company, fund, or organization that belongs in this guide, send it my way.

• A new Build In SE website and brand refresh

• A heavy South Florida funding month, with a wave of Miami fintech, medtech, and climate rounds

• Five Southeast states in CNBC’s national top 10 for business

• Federal and state capital landing across the region, from a new NSF grid engine in the Carolinas to pharmaceutical manufacturing in Virginia and a quantum commitment in Tennessee

• A packed August and September calendar of conferences, accelerator deadlines, and pitch competitions

Dive in for this month’s highlights, and be sure to subscribe below.

From Build In SE

We’ve got a new look - Build In SE launched a new website and a refreshed brand this month.

Build In SE started as a small gathering of founders and ecosystem supporters. It has grown into something bigger: research, storytelling, ecosystem mapping, events, and a community of founders, investors, and ecosystem builders across the region. The new site and identity reflect that.

The refresh gives us a cleaner home for our Southeast Capital Landscape, City Guides, research reports, and other content - and makes it easier to find what you are looking for without digging through the archive.

Take a look, tell us what you think, and let us know what you want to see next. As always, you can reach us at ryan@buildinse.com.

Funding & M&A

Spur Intelligence (Central Florida) secured a $200M investment led by Insight Partners, the largest Southeast round we tracked this month. Spur builds infrastructure-aware IP intelligence that shows security and fraud teams when a connection is being deliberately obscured behind a VPN, residential proxy, or bot network. citybiz

Higharc (Durham, NC) raised a $95M Series C led by Insight Partners, bringing total funding past $170M. The company generates homes as spatial databases, capturing code requirements, construction standards, and geometry so builders can automate design, estimating, and sales work that used to take weeks. Woodworking Network

RapidPulse (Miami, FL) closed an oversubscribed $48M Series B co-led by Medtronic, TechWald Next S.p.A., and S3 Ventures, with SBI Investment Company and the Florida Opportunity Fund joining previous investors. The Syntheon spinout is developing a cyclic pulsed aspiration system for acute ischemic stroke, and will use the capital to complete its TURBO study across US and European stroke centers. GlobeNewswire | Refresh Miami

Flex (Miami, FL) raised a $70M Series B1 led by Halo Fund, co-founded by Qualtrics founder Ryan Smith and Accel partner Ryan Sweeney. It comes seven months after a $60M Series B and brings total equity funding to $180M. The AI-native private banking platform serves middle-market business owners whose company and personal finances are inseparable in practice but split in two at every traditional bank. Refresh Miami

Pediatrica Health Group (Coral Gables, FL) raised a $28M Series B led by Valspring Capital, with existing investor M33 Growth participating. The pediatric primary care network runs 21 locations across Florida and Texas and will use the capital for new clinics, acquisitions, and value-based care infrastructure. Refresh Miami

Cyclops (Miami, FL) raised a $20M Series A led by Nava Ventures, joined by Castle Island Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Circle Ventures, Global PayTech Ventures, and Lasagna Ventures. Rather than building another wallet, Cyclops consolidates settlement, FX, compliance, licensing, payouts, and treasury behind one API for payment companies launching stablecoin products. Refresh Miami | cyclops.io

Kind Designs (Miami, FL) closed a $10M Pre-Series A at a $70M valuation, doubling an original $5M target after demand approached $20M. Mark Cuban and former DC mayor Adrian Fenty returned, joined by NBA forward Kyle Kuzma. The company 3D-prints Living Seawalls that protect shorelines while supporting marine life. Refresh Miami

Cordant (Miami, FL and Tel Aviv) emerged from stealth with $8M in seed funding co-led by Motive Partners and Oak HC/FT. Founded by a team out of fintech unicorn Rapyd, Cordant sits above existing bank technology, pulling payment rails, accounts, compliance platforms, treasury systems, and ledgers into a single view for operations, risk, and audit teams. Design partners include Bitso, Paxos, OpenReserve, and Transcard, with Bitso and Paxos also investing. Refresh Miami

Skillmaker (Carolina Beach, NC) closed an oversubscribed $4.5M seed round to scale its AI and XR-based technician training platform, built alongside NAPA Auto Care. Investors include FullCircle, Greenwave Ventures, IDEA Fund Partners, Impact Assets, Potencia Ventures, the NC Tweener Fund, and NC State’s Wolfpack Investor Network. WilmingtonBiz | GrepBeat

Freight Hero (Durham, NC) raised $5M to automate freight brokers’ back-office operations, at a $22M+ valuation. Axios Pro

ARTAN Bio (St. Petersburg, FL) closed a $1M Seed round led by co-founder Michael Torres, following his exit as CEO of CrossBridge Bio through its acquisition by Eli Lilly. The company is developing engineered suppressor tRNA therapies designed to read through disease-causing nonsense mutations and restore full-length protein translation. PR Newswire

American Growth Insurance (Atlanta, GA) launched with nearly $70M in committed equity from Rockbridge Growth Equity and venture studio Atomic. Led by insurance veteran Brian Morgan, AGI is building an AI-first retail brokerage platform in the specialty market. PR Newswire

New & Notable Funds

Measured Capital (Birmingham, AL) launched the Measured Angel Collective, a program bringing together Birmingham residents interested in making their first angel investment. Founder Douglas Watson, a University of Alabama alum whose path ran through management consulting, SoTech Ventures, and a gener8tor healthcare accelerator, launched the firm in 2022 and has invested in 14 US companies with a deliberate Southeast lens, working to connect every portfolio company back to Alabama through customers, partnerships, or hires. As Watson framed it: “The capital is here. It’s just the knowledge of what angel investing is.” The firm is currently raising Fund 1. AfroTech

Startup Milestones

City Labs (Miami, FL) put the world’s first commercial nuclear-powered satellite into orbit. Its Betavoltaic Orbital High-Reliability (BOHR) CubeSat flew aboard SpaceX’s Transporter-17 rideshare as one of 81 payloads, demonstrating City Labs’ NanoTritium technology as a payload power source that runs independent of sunlight. World Nuclear News

SCRA (Charleston, SC) is a founding partner in the new NSF Grid Modernization Engine in the Carolinas, one of just 12 NSF Regional Innovation Engines selected nationally. The award unlocks an initial $15M with potential for up to $160M over the next decade across a 36-county region spanning both Carolinas. Led by UNC Charlotte with SCRA, Clemson, and 100-plus partners, it is projected to generate over $2B in economic impact and create or retain 20,000-plus jobs. SCRA

Virginia’s Advanced Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Tech Hub secured a $15.97M investment from the US Economic Development Administration for its End-to-End Commercialization Project, led by Civica with support from Phlow Corp. and Occam Systems. The Alliance for Building Better Medicine, which leads the Tech Hub, spans 55 partners and is building a domestic pathway connecting innovation, manufacturing, and patients. PR Newswire

National Innovation Quarter (Arlington and Alexandria, VA) was awarded nearly $4M in GO Virginia funding for programming at the innovation district, which launched in February. National IQ exists to solve a specific Northern Virginia problem: extraordinary concentration of technical talent, research capacity, and federal expertise, and comparatively few startups to show for it. National Landing

LaFayette Main Street (LaFayette, AL) was named to the Innovate Alabama Network and received a $45K grant to launch a downtown entrepreneurial hub with shared equipment and meeting space. Valley Times-News | WTVM

Ember Sports (Huntsville, AL) landed an official partnership with the Atlanta Braves, distributing its training technology through the Braves Country Baseball and Softball network of youth leagues across the Southeast. Ember’s app analyzes swings, pitching mechanics, and movement from a phone, with no wearables or cameras required, at $12.99 per month. Hypepotamus | PR Newswire

Tennessee committed $3M to support NSF X-Labs quantum teams, announced by Gov. Bill Lee and TNECD Commissioner Stuart McWhorter. X-Lab awardees that relocate to the state, and companies emerging from the program, get priority consideration for LaunchTN’s SBIR/STTR Matching Fund and for direct investment through InvestTN. Teknovation

Askera (Tuscaloosa, AL) is a good look at how a student company finds its market. University of Alabama founders Julian Woods and Lars Griffin built TappedIn to connect students to campus events, sharpened it through the Emerging Innovation Scholars (BIG Ideas) contest with Innovate Alabama, and won the 2024 Sloss Tech Student Pitch Competition. Then listening sessions with hundreds of parents reframed the problem: families were not short on information, they were short on information they could trust. That became Askera, which lets institutions serve verified answers from approved sources while showing administrators where confusion actually sits. The pair took third and $5,000 at Sloss Tech 2026. Innovate Alabama

Events & Programming

Upcoming Events

Invest Fest 2026 (Atlanta, GA) runs August 7-9 at the Georgia World Congress Center, drawing 40,000+ attendees. The Open Pitch Competition finals put five finalists in front of a judging panel that includes Paul Judge, with a $125K investment from the Open Opportunity Fund on the line. Invest Fest

ConvergeSouth (Winston-Salem, NC) returns August 27-28 for its 10th year, now one of the largest expositions of investable startups in the Southeast. Expect 500+ attendees, 150 exhibiting growth-stage startups, and 125+ investors across three tracks: HealthTech/BioTech, AI and B2B SaaS, and Food/Beverage/Agtech. Exhibitors also pitch in the Startup World Cup regional competition for a shot at a $1M investment from Pegasus Tech Ventures. ConvergeSouth

Investor Buzz In (Wilmington, NC) takes place September 10, “910 Day,” at the CFCC Union Station Auditorium. Hosted by Jim Roberts and the Network for Entrepreneurs Wilmington, it is the largest annual startup and investor event in a city that StartupBlink and Startup Genome have ranked the world’s top small startup city. Expect startup pitches, investor panels, and regional business leaders. Investor Buzz In

3686 (Nashville, TN) returns September 14-16 for its 13th year, hosted by Launch Tennessee in a new multi-venue Germantown footprint anchored at Brooklyn Bowl. Tickets move quickly for one of the region’s marquee events. 3686

Venture Atlanta (Atlanta, GA) returns September 27-28 at the Woodruff Arts Center and Atlanta Symphony Hall, one of the region’s largest founder-investor gathering with roughly 1,600 attendees and 450 funds. Company applications for the pitch stage close in August, and organizers are looking for tech-enabled, Southeast-based companies planning to raise within 18 months. Venture Atlanta

Opportunities

Ambition Accelerated (statewide, FL) opened applications for its 2026 cohorts. The program is built around direct access to enterprise customers, with more than 75 CEOs from major Florida companies serving as mentors and advisors.

Four tracks, ten startups each, across an eight-week hybrid program:

• FinTech (Gold Coast / West Palm Beach)

• HealthTech (Tampa Bay, anchored at Embarc Collective)

• Dual-Use & Defense Technology (Gold Coast / Miami)

• Resilience (Southwest Florida, at Babcock Ranch)

Embarc Collective is a Statewide Platform Partner, coaching founders across all four tracks while anchoring the Tampa Bay HealthTech accelerator. Participants also get a complimentary one-year Embarc membership for 2027. Applications close August 21. If you know founders building in these sectors, send this along. Ambition Accelerated | Florida Council of 100 | Refresh Miami

RevTech Labs (Charlotte, NC) is accepting applications for Class 25 through August 2. The 12-week hybrid accelerator works with post-revenue fintech and insurtech founders and includes a capital investment of up to $120K, a customized roadmap rather than a fixed curriculum, and access to RevTech’s mentor and advisory network. RevTech Labs

SBA Women’s Business Center Modernization Initiative opened a national $6M grant competition limited to states where WBC funding has not kept pace with the number of women entrepreneurs. Florida and Tennessee are both eligible, alongside Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Texas, the US Virgin Islands, West Virginia, and Wyoming. The program establishes State Lead Centers supported by local Service Centers. Proposals are due August 10. SBA

SBA SCALE Program opened proposals for $9M in grant funding under its new Supply Chain Acceleration and Logistics Enablement initiative, awarding 20 grants of up to $500K each over a two-year performance period. Eligible applicants include public and private entities, nonprofits, and institutions that can deliver accelerator programming, technical assistance, or industry engagement for small suppliers entering strategically important supply chains. Southeast organizations should look hard at this one given the region’s logistics density from Memphis to Savannah to Chattanooga. Proposals are due August 7 at 4pm ET. SBA

NC IDEA opened its Fall 2026 SEED grant cycle on July 27, with $50,000 non-dilutive checks for North Carolina founders. Applications are due August 24 at 5pm ET, with semi-finalists notified September 18. NC IDEA

Alabama Launchpad (Birmingham, AL) has an August 13 final deadline for Cycle 2 of its startup competition, with up to $100K in non-dilutive funding plus mentorship through the Launch Prep program. Alabama Launchpad

Regions Foundation Entrepreneurial Fellows Program opened applications, powered by HudsonAlpha Wiregrass and the Regions Foundation, the nonprofit funded primarily by Regions Bank. The year-long fellowship is built for early-stage agriscience, agbio, and agtech founders and includes up to $20,000 in funding, mentorship, business and technical workshops, and access to the broader innovation network around it. Applications close August 10.

Resources & Reads

Three Rockers - Our friend Joe Mancini of Front Porch Venture Partners makes a sharp argument: only about a third of founders send investor updates with any regularity, and that habit is one of the strongest available proxies for the qualities investors are actually underwriting. Vision, accountability, coachability, self-awareness, operational discipline. Mancini’s point is that the update itself is the signal, which makes consistent communication a real competitive advantage heading into a Series A rather than an administrative chore. Three Rockers

Front Porch Venture Partners also led a keynote with Peter Marsh and Flywheel Coworking, laying out the factors that make the Southeast one of the most promising regions in venture right now. Joe posted the slides publicly, and they are worth a look if you are pitching regional investors or making the case for the Southeast to LPs. LinkedIn

CNBC released its 2026 America’s Top States for Business rankings, and the Southeast took half of the national top 10:

• No. 2 — North Carolina

• No. 3 — Virginia

• No. 7 — Georgia

• No. 8 — Florida

• No. 9 — Tennessee

Ohio took the top spot for the first time. CNBC scored all 50 states across 138 metrics, weighting infrastructure most heavily this year as companies prioritize speed to market, transport access, water, and abundant power. That weighting is the story for this region. Site readiness and energy availability have quietly become the Southeast’s most valuable recruiting assets, and they will determine whether the data center and advanced manufacturing buildout keeps landing here. CNBC

If you have reactions or feedback, suggestions for future newsletters, or want to get in touch, email ryan@buildinse.com.

• Two new pieces from Build In SE, spotlighting innovation in Alabama and Kentucky

• A blockbuster $107M seed round and a wave of AI, supply chain, defense, and energy financings across the region

• New funds and fresh capital infrastructure launching from Atlanta to Knoxville

• A packed run of summer conferences, accelerator deadlines, and reads on where the Southeast is headed

Dive in for this month’s highlights, and be sure to subscribe below.

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From Build In SE

This month, the Build In SE team published two new deep dives into the region’s ecosystem.

The first, Inside Alabama’s Playbook for Legacy Industry Innovation, examines how the state is building a targeted ecosystem to digitize and disrupt its own historical economic engines—forestry, manufacturing, mining, maritime logistics, and defense—rather than copying the Silicon Valley playbook. From the gener8tor Alabama Forestry Accelerator in Dothan to the EDPA’s “Alabama Puts Founders First” corporate pilots program and Innovate Alabama’s capital programs, it’s a look at why operator-turned-founders and state-backed de-risking may be the region’s deepest competitive moat—and a blueprint for the broader Southeast.

The second, Startup Guide: Covington & Northern Kentucky, dives into the northern tip of the Bluegrass State, where Kentucky ranks first nationally for in-state investor participation. The guide maps the region’s capital infrastructure, the 51,000-square-foot SparkHaus hub in downtown Covington, and a maturing student-to-founder pipeline—a Kentucky-first ecosystem that’s far more than an extension of Cincinnati. Big thanks to Reese Watson at Another Nine for translating her deep experience in the region into this great guide.

As we head deeper into the summer, the Build In SE team continues to track the latest capital deployments and connect founders with the resources, capital, and opportunities they need to scale. We hope to see many of you at programming across the region in the coming months.

Funding & M&A

Iridium Communications (McLean, VA) agreed to be acquired by Rocket Lab (NASDAQ: RKLB) in an ~$8B deal - one of the most significant transactions in the history of the commercial space industry. The combined entity will be a fully vertically-integrated space company that designs, builds, launches, and operates its own constellations — with significant implications for national security, IoT, direct-to-device connectivity, and alternative PNT services where GPS is degraded or unavailable. PR Newswire

Trase (McLean, VA) raised a $107M seed round led by ARCH Venture Partners, with participation from Red Cell Partners. The round—unusually large for an early-stage company, and bringing total funding to $117.5M—will scale the company’s agentic operating system and AI agents for high-stakes, highly regulated environments like healthcare and defense, where its agents already automate workflows inside Duke Health’s Division of Cardiology. Business Wire

Canals (Miami, FL) raised $35M in funding led by Base10 Partners. The AI workflow and operating software company serves the $8.2T wholesale distribution and industrial supply chain markets, automating sales, customer service, accounting, purchasing, and receiving workflows for more than 100 distributors including DSG, The Kendall Group, and Locke Supply. Refresh Miami

Aston Power (Raleigh, NC) raised $20M led by TDK Ventures and Building Ventures, with participation from JLL Spark Global Ventures. The company is building a coordinated private-power delivery platform that helps data centers and large industrial users secure reliable power in two to three years rather than the five to ten typical of utility interconnection queues. Axios

Upside (Fort Lauderdale, FL) raised a $20M Series A co-led by Aquiline and Flare Capital Partners. The company operates a nationally scalable housing-stability platform purpose-built for healthcare, pairing licensed “care guides” with AI-driven housing orchestration to stabilize members before housing instability becomes a costly medical crisis. Fierce Healthcare

Arpio (Durham, NC) closed a $15M Series A co-led by S3 Ventures and Paladin Capital Group. The AI-native cloud recovery and resilience platform helps enterprises rapidly restore critical systems after ransomware, outages, and other disruptions, with planned expansion across AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud. Axios

Red Metals (Charleston, SC) raised $10M in Seed funding led by Gigascale Capital, with participation from Future Ventures, MCJ, and Redwood Materials founder JB Straubel. The next-generation copper manufacturer plans a $70M Charleston facility and a novel refining process designed to reshore the production of finished copper products to the U.S. Business Wire

Askari Defense (Atlanta, GA) raised a $9M Seed round led by Builders VC, bringing the Georgia Tech-rooted startup’s total funding to roughly $11M. Featured in our April roundup when it launched, Askari builds hand-launched, fully autonomous kinetic drone interceptors for dismounted operators, and has already booked more than $2M in procurement contracts with elite military customers. Tectonic

Blulabs (Miami, FL) raised $7M at a $160M pre-money valuation led by Lodestone Capital. The family-led global supply chain, sourcing, and logistics partner—serving airlines, hospitality groups, distributors, and Fortune 500 customers across 10 countries—will use the capital to build out its AI-enabled supply chain intelligence platform. PR Newswire

SubBase (Fort Lauderdale, FL) closed a $7M Series A led by FINTOP, with participation from Fika Ventures, bringing total funding past $15M. The construction material procurement platform gives contractors a single source of truth for their materials supply chain—replacing scattered emails, texts, and spreadsheets with connected pricing, ordering, delivery tracking, and invoice reconciliation. GlobeNewswire

Kalogon (Melbourne, FL) raised $5.75M led by Enable Ventures, with participation from the Florida Opportunity Fund, Castellan Group, and returning investors. Founded by former SpaceX engineers, Kalogon builds smart seating that reduces the stresses of sitting—starting with clinically validated wheelchair cushions and expanding into aviation and beyond. Business Wire

StratusGrid (Chattanooga, TN) raised a $3M Seed round—its first outside capital—led by Atlanta-based Dogwood Ventures, with participation from Market Square Ventures, LaunchTN, VentureSouth, and others. The company’s Stratusphere platform uses AI to close the loop on cloud infrastructure optimization, moving teams from visibility to verified, executed savings across large AWS and Azure environments. PR Newswire

M2 Foundry (Arlington, VA) raised an undisclosed Pre-Seed round led by New North Ventures, with an angel syndicate organized by EnFi co-founder Scott Weller. A current DARPA performer, the dual-use venture studio builds and transitions software and AI-enabled systems for national security and other high-risk infrastructure markets, spanning financial system security, supply chain resilience, and operational decision support. FinSMEs

New & Notable Funds

Sabertooth Capital (Atlanta, GA), founded by University of Georgia alumnus Justin Ernest, publicly emerged this month after quietly deploying nearly $500M across 10 companies—including Anthropic, SpaceX, Databricks, PsiQuantum, and Hermeus—in under two years. Rather than raising a traditional fund, the former Playground Global investor uses a network-driven, SPV-based model to give family offices and smaller institutions access to coveted late-stage cap tables, and says he wants a meaningful share of the portfolio to be Atlanta-rooted over time. TechCrunch

UT Ventures (Knoxville, TN) — the University of Tennessee system’s first angel network — has grown to 20 members and is now open for business, accepting both new investor members and applications for investment. Led by UTRF President Maha Krishnamurthy and inaugural Director Robyn Geron, the industry-agnostic, system-wide network connects UT-affiliated founders (at the Seed to Series A stage) with UT-affiliated capital. Teknovation

Port City Ventures (Mobile, AL) officially launched this month as an independent business platform focused on identifying, supporting, and investing alongside exceptional operators across the Gulf Coast region. Drawing on decades of experience spanning aerospace, manufacturing, global supply chains, technology, and entrepreneurship, PCV sees the Mobile Bay region and broader Gulf Coast as one of the most overlooked economic opportunities in the country—where iconic, durable businesses are built in factories, shipyards, industrial parks, and ports rather than in major financial centers. The firm’s investment focus centers on three areas: industrial manufacturing, vertically integrated service businesses, and strong regional brands. Port City Ventures

Startup Milestones

Launch Chapel Hill (Chapel Hill, NC) wrapped its 2026 Student Summer Accelerator, a three-week sprint that brought together 13 student ventures building across AI, healthcare, aerospace, edtech, media, and smart infrastructure. Hosted at the Innovate Carolina Junction and run by Director Emil Runge, the program continues to develop the Triangle's next generation of founders—part of a broader Launch Chapel Hill footprint that has supported nearly 250 companies and helped them raise a cumulative $134.5M. Innovate Carolina

Events & Programming

Completed Events

Fintech + Insurtech Generations (Charlotte, NC) returned June 10 as the anchor event of Charlotte Fintech Week. Hosted by RevTech Labs, the annual conference convened 400+ global leaders around the theme “From Hype to Reality”—how financial innovation truly scales within real institutions where governance, operating models, and practical AI converge to deliver measurable value, with panels, unicorn spotlights, and a founder showcase. Fintech + Insurtech Generations

DIG SOUTH Tech Summit (Charleston, SC) took place June 11–12, connecting leading brands, founders, and investors for two days of keynotes, networking, and the highly anticipated Wild Pitch event—reinforcing Charleston’s standing as one of the region’s premier tech gatherings. DIG SOUTH

Sloss.Tech (Birmingham, AL) returned to downtown Birmingham June 24–26 for one of the Southeast's marquee tech and innovation events. The three-day program featured mainstage speakers, specialized developer tracks, and the Sloss.Tech/Ideas pitch competition, which this year boosted its grand prize to $100,000 for early-stage startups. Sloss.Tech

The Build In SE team was onsite — including moderating the "Built Here: Alabama's Hidden Startup Advantage" session an audience-scored competition hosted in partnership with Innovate Alabama. Panelists Jackson Pruett (EDPA), Dr. Symone Alexander (Shellulose), Phillip Hansel (Ai-OPs), and Ian Hoppe (Condoit) debated why Alabama's legacy industries — agriculture, manufacturing, mining, and logistics — represent some of the state's biggest untapped innovation opportunities, with the audience scoring each round live.

Upcoming Events

3686 (Nashville, TN) returns September 14–16 for its landmark 13th year as the state's leading entrepreneur conference and one of the largest gatherings of its kind in the Southeast. Hosted by Launch Tennessee and named for Nashville's geographic coordinates, this year's edition moves to a larger, walkable multi-venue footprint in Germantown—anchored at Brooklyn Bowl—and adds a startup & tech job fair, an extended AI-powered matching window, the invite-only InvestTN Summit, a $10K pitch competition, and a "Startup Homecoming" closing celebration. Early-bird tickets are available now, with general admission opening July 13. 3686

NEXT Venture Summit (Greenville, SC): This September summit is bringing startup solutions directly to enterprise problems. After sourcing specific pain points from corporate leaders at BMW, Michelin, GE Vernova, and Current, 20 startups were selected from 54 applicants to travel to Greenville for targeted pitching, speed-dating, and networking. NEXT Venture Summit

Opportunities

Alabama Launchpad (Birmingham, AL) is accepting applications for Cycle 2 of its startup competition. Early-stage founders across tech, life sciences, and consumer goods can apply to win up to $100K in non-dilutive funding, alongside intensive mentorship through their Launch Prep program. Alabama Launchpad

Dynamo Ventures (Chattanooga, TN) released its latest Request for Startups, outlining the specific supply chain and mobility themes their team is currently looking to back. Founders building in these spaces are highly encouraged to review the thesis and apply. Dynamo

gener8tor gBETA / Spark Huntsville (Huntsville, AL) is actively recruiting for its next cohort, offering an equity-free accelerator experience for early-stage startups in North Alabama. Applications are being accepted on a rolling basis. (gener8tor)

Resources & Reads

Technical.ly — GrowthX founder Andrew Goldner argues that startup cities have solved the wrong problem. Regions got good at launching founders — but now face a commercialization gap: too few companies reaching real, repeatable revenue. With AI lowering the cost to build, the new competitive advantage is helping founders find buyers. The failure mode now looks like progress — polished decks and pilots “in discussion,” none of which equals a paying customer. Essential reading for founders and ecosystem builders. Technical.ly

VAStartups.org launched as an open atlas of the Virginia startup ecosystem — a searchable directory of 1,250+ companies, capital sources, accelerators, and coworking spaces across 7 regions, built by Brian Breslin (UVA’s Director of Student Entrepreneurship) through his company Infini. The site pairs the directory with The Commonwealth Dispatch, a weekly newsletter covering Virginia rounds, hires, grants, and deadlines. A compelling model for what an ecosystem knowledge layer can look like. VAStartups.org

Nasdaq’s Economic Institute — A data-driven look at how new U.S. business applications have surged since early 2025 (almost entirely from one-person companies) coinciding with the rise of agentic AI tools. The piece argues AI is unlocking the marginal entrepreneur, lowering startup costs in exactly the high-productivity sectors where economic ripple effects are greatest. A useful framing for anyone thinking about what the next wave of Southeast company formation looks like. Nasdaq

Fast Company — A broader look at the looming copper shortage — demand could grow 50% by 2040 while supply faces a projected 10-million-metric-ton shortfall — and why mining copper from scrap rather than ore may be critical to powering data centers, electrification, and defense systems. Features Southeast-based Red Metals of Charleston (see Funding & M&A above) as a central example of the reshoring opportunity. Fast Company

Hypepotamus — New ADP research ranks Birmingham, AL as the top metro for young college graduates, with Tampa, Raleigh, Nashville, and Charlotte also placing highly. As the job market tightens for young professionals, the South’s combination of hiring momentum, competitive wages, and affordability continues to build a strong talent pipeline for the region’s scaling companies. Hypepotamus

Innovation Portal — Brad Yellock built North Gulf Farms from zero to $1.5M in revenue in just over a year by solving the missing link in Gulf Coast oyster distribution — getting premium product from small farms to the national market. A gBeta Gulf Coast accelerator alum, Yellock covers brand-building, early operational challenges, and how AI tools reshaped his day-to-day workflow. A great listen for founders building in food, agriculture, or regional brands. Innovation Portal / YouTube

Thanks for reading! If you have reactions or feedback, suggestions for future newsletters, or want to get in touch, email ryan@buildinse.com.

But that paradigm is rapidly changing. Today, the Southeast’s deepest moat as a regional innovation ecosystem is the lived experience of its people. Here, entrepreneurs don’t have to search for abstract problems to solve or customers whose pain points they can serve; they have a deep familiarity with the opportunity at hand.

Nowhere is this shift more evident right now than in Alabama.

When you survey Alabama’s economic bedrock and history, you find timber in the Black Belt and the Wiregrass. You find heavy manufacturing, mining, and steel in Birmingham. You find massive maritime shipping logistics in Mobile, and a sprawling, highly advanced defense and aerospace complex in Huntsville. You find agriculture that spans the entire state.

Rather than attempting to copy the Silicon Valley playbook, Alabama is building a targeted ecosystem designed to digitize, modernize, and disrupt its own historical economic engines. This isn’t just about building software; it’s about building solutions to hard problems. It’s about empowering operator-turned-founders who possess the localized, domain-specific knowledge required to sell into risk-averse legacy supply chains. And it’s about a concerted, state-backed effort to de-risk these innovations for the enterprises that need them most.

Here is an inside look at Alabama’s playbook for legacy industry innovation—and why it serves as a blueprint for the broader Southeast.

Modernizing the Map: From the Black Belt to the Rocket City

When we talk about tech hubs, the conversation usually defaults to a single metropolitan anchor. But legacy industries aren’t confined to city centers; they are dispersed across ports, forests, and farmland. Consequently, Alabama’s innovation ecosystem is intentionally decentralized. Significant startup activity is happening in places like Sylacauga, Dothan, Tuscaloosa, and Auburn, acting as vital nodes that support the larger anchors of Birmingham, Huntsville, Montgomery, and Mobile.

Rooted Innovation in Resources

The timber and forestry industry in Alabama is an economic behemoth, representing a $36 billion annual impact. But it is also an industry ripe for technological advancement—from mitigating wildfire risks and managing land utility to addressing data fragmentation across millions of acres of timberland.

To turn this economic strength into a testbed for innovation, the state recently welcomed the inaugural cohort of the gener8tor Alabama Forestry Accelerator. Based in the Wiregrass Innovation Center in Dothan, this accelerator brings together startups applying cutting-edge tech to real-world forestry challenges. By geographically placing the accelerator in the heart of the Pine Belt, founders are given immediate access to the landowners, operators, and industry leaders who will ultimately serve as their primary customer base. The inaugural cohort highlights the diversity of innovation entering the space, with solutions ranging from software app platforms (TreeTracker is streamlining fragmented management operations into a comprehensive web and mobile app platform) to fertilizer development (Chonex, a company upcycling wood and agricultural byproducts into patented biofertilizers).

Shellulose is another accelerator participant, founded by Dr. Symone Alexander, Assistant Professor in Auburn’s Department of Chemical Engineering. The startup is working to scale its innovative approach to converting agricultural waste (like pecan shells) into cellulose nanofibers that can replace traditional petroleum-derived plastics. Dr. Alexander explains the benefits of being located in Alabama:

Shellulose exists because of Alabama’s amazing support for innovative science and technology. Auburn’s IPX office connected me with accelerators across the state and have supported my development of new technology from the beginning. The Alabama Biomanufacturing Labs Program from Arrowpoint Labs gave me much needed funding to hit technical benchmarks and actually start a company. I wouldn’t have taken the leap into entrepreneurship without their support and guidance. Participating in the Alabama Forestry Accelerator from gener8tor helped me think like a business owner and better understand how to scale my business and reach investors. Last but not least, at HudsonAlpha, one spontaneous lunch meeting with Barb Malchow has opened doors to an amazing network of founders and investors in Dothan and across Alabama. With all of their support, I know Shellulose can succeed and achieve my vision of safer manufacturing of food, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical products while also reducing waste in the environment.

In Huntsville, a city internationally renowned for its aerospace and defense capabilities, a different kind of legacy disruption is taking place. The HudsonAlpha AgTech Accelerator (also powered by gener8tor) is investing $100,000 into high-growth startups working at the forefront of agriculture innovation. By leveraging HudsonAlpha’s deep expertise in agriscience, genomics, and plant breeding, alongside Huntsville’s deep talent pool of engineers, the accelerator has attracted startups that are solving critical infrastructure problems. Recent cohorts have featured companies like SouthGen Solutions, which utilizes unmanned aircraft systems for precision agriculture; Agriwater, a company pioneering on-site wastewater treatment technologies for livestock farmers; and Druid, a startup uniquely bridging the gap between these agricultural and forestry hubs.

In Tuscaloosa, Techstars launched their WaterTech & Sustainability Accelerator in 2024 in partnership with the Tuscaloosa County Economic Development Authority and the University of Alabama; the hybrid program targets startups addressing everything from drinking water systems and utility management to hydrologic prediction. Gener8tor and the University of Alabama also recently announced gBETA Innovate UA, a new startup accelerator designed to transform university research into scalable companies with the support of the National Science Foundation.

Further broadening the natural resources and sustainability thesis, Birmingham is scaling innovation in power and clean technology through the Techstars Alabama EnergyTech Accelerator. Powered by Alabama Power, this 13-week program focuses on startups developing solutions in climate tech, clean energy, and smart grid efficiency. By placing founders in close proximity to one of America’s largest energy producers, the accelerator gives startups a crucial testing ground to modernize utility infrastructure and accelerate the transition toward renewable energy sources—a pipeline validated by last year’s acquisition of program alumnus Resilient Power Systems by global power management company Eaton.

Condoit is a Birmingham, Alabama-based technology startup that provides a cloud-based software platform and mobile app for the electrical industry, founded in 2020 by former commercial electrician Ian Hoppe. Ian’s deep background and expertise seeded the idea for his company, but it was the deeply committed organizations and individuals in the surrounding community that made scaling a possibility. As Ian notes:

I grew up around the trades here in the Southeast. My dad is an electrical engineer here in Birmingham, and I learned everything I know from him. When I started Condoit, I wasn’t learning an industry from the outside. I was just building a solution for people I’d known my whole life. For myself. The first version of Condoit was for myself. That kind of proximity to the problem isn’t something you can manufacture, and I think it’s made all the difference in how we approach the work.

Condoit would not exist were it not for Nate Schmidt, Brooke Gillis, Innovation Depot, Techstars Alabama Energytech Accelerator, and Alabama Power. These people and organizations pushed and pulled me when I needed it and supported me and the team through the tough times that come with being a startup. They made vital connections, wrote investment checks, talked to lawyers, gave me pep talks, etc. I don’t know where I would be without them. This ecosystem has done so much for me and I only hope to give back some fraction of that.

Advanced Manufacturing and Defense

While the agricultural and forestry sectors are digitizing the physical earth, Alabama’s hardware, defense, and manufacturing ecosystems are modernizing the industrial floor and securing the nation.

In Birmingham, facilities like Hardware Park are driving physical and medical technology innovation, giving founders the physical infrastructure needed to prototype, iterate, and manufacture without having to outsource to the coasts or overseas. Startups scaling adjacent to new-age industrialization, advanced manufacturing, and supply chain logistics are finding a supportive base not just in Birmingham, but through initiatives spanning the Gulf Coast. Mobile is home to one of the nation’s largest ports and massive shipbuilding operations like Austal USA, and startups are working to modernize the maritime and logistics sectors there. The gBETA Gulf Coast accelerator, hosted at Mobile’s Innovation Portal, actively supports startups adjacent to Industry 4.0, advanced manufacturing, and maritime operations. Recent cohorts have featured innovative “blue tech” startups like EquipSense, which automates heavy equipment tracking and runtime monitoring to reduce operational downtime. Furthermore, resources like the AIDT Maritime Training Center are evolving to ensure the local workforce is equipped with the advanced automation and robotics skills needed to power these next-generation maritime technologies.

Meanwhile, Huntsville is aggressively scaling its aerospace and defense legacy. As the home to U.S. Space Command and massive operations for major primes like Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman, the city offers a built-in customer base for dual-use founders. In partnership with the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber, Treble One, and Innovate Alabama, the Cummings Research Park (CRP) DefenseTech Accelerator provides a 12-week intensive program for early-stage companies with scalable technologies. Hosted at the University of Alabama in Huntsville’s Invention to Innovation Center (I²C), the accelerator connects startups directly with Department of Defense stakeholders, prime contractors, and strategic advisors. By bridging the gap between innovative startups and the federal government’s complex procurement process, the program actively grows the region’s defense industrial base while helping founders land crucial defense contracts and navigate traditional acquisition pathways.

For hardware and defense founders, navigating the complexity of procurement cycles and buyer relationships can be highly challenging, but that’s where these programs offered by public and private entities across the state can be so valuable. Huntsville-based Skyfire AI, a 2025 graduate of the CRP DefenseTech Accelerator and a provider of software and AI platforms for drone systems, recently raised $11M in a seed fund from a range of investors including Mucker Capital, AI Fund, SaaS Ventures, and Halogen.

Matt Sloane, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy of the company, put it clearly:

In many respects, Alabama is the center of the universe for aerospace innovation, and what’s been particularly helpful for us as a small company is the state’s focus on supporting innovation in that sector. From defense-focused accelerators, access to investors that are interested in this space and networking opportunities with federal and defense end users; combined with a business-friendly state in general - Alabama has been an incredibly welcoming environment for us.

The Public-Private Approach for Legacy Industries in Alabama

Despite the startup energy in cities across the state, disrupting legacy industries is not without friction. Building software for consumers is fast; building hardware, deep-tech, or enterprise SaaS for heavy industry is notoriously slow. Legacy corporations are inherently risk-averse. A bug in a social media app is an inconvenience; a bug in a piece of logistics software on a manufacturing floor can halt a multi-million-dollar production line.

To bridge this gap, organizations across the state of Alabama are developing a more structural approach to ecosystem building. The state government, acting in concert with private capital and economic development organizations, is actively stepping in to de-risk adoption for legacy corporations while extending the runway for hard-tech founders.

The “Alabama Puts Founders First” Strategy: Corporate Pilots and EDPA

In late 2025, the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama (EDPA), in coordination with the Alabama Department of Commerce and Innovate Alabama, launched a massive statewide technology attraction strategy. Organized under the banner “Alabama Puts Founders First,” the initiative signaled a mature shift in how the state supports its ecosystem.

Rather than just focusing on top-of-funnel startup creation, the EDPA recognized that the hardest leap for a B2B startup is landing that crucial first enterprise customer. To solve this, the EDPA introduced a corporate pilots program called PilotAL as a core pillar of its new strategy. This initiative actively funds real-world pilot projects between growth-stage startups and established Alabama corporations—specifically targeting legacy sectors like metals, automotive, forestry, and defense.

“This strategy makes it clear that our state is ready to help startups thrive with tailored resources, accessible capital, and a community that welcomes big ideas,” noted Jackson Pruett, EDPA’s Director of Technology Company Business Attraction, upon the launch of the program.

By subsidizing the cost of the pilot, the state completely changes the incentive structure. Legacy corporations get to test cutting-edge technology (like AI-driven predictive maintenance or supply chain logistics software) without absorbing the total financial risk of a failed integration. Simultaneously, the startup gets to prove its value in a live market setting, secure a massive enterprise logo for its pitch deck, and generate revenue.

Phillip Hansel, Co-Founder and CEO of Ai-OPs, spoke about the criticality of support from organizations like EDPA and others, and how those organizations and startups are changing the fabric of the state’s tech ecosystem:

Building a technology company in the Southeast comes with challenges, particularly when it comes to access to early-stage capital and the networks that have traditionally been concentrated in larger financial and technology hubs. We still have work to do as a region to compete with established venture ecosystems and to broaden the perception of who can build and invest in high-growth technology companies.

At the same time, we’ve experienced firsthand the power of a growing support network that is committed to changing that reality. Organizations and partners such as TriNova, Alabama Power Company, C2V Ventures, Techstars, the EDPA, and Innovation Portal have provided capital, guidance, introductions, opportunities, and belief when it mattered most. Rather than simply supporting individual companies, these organizations are helping build the foundation for the next generation of entrepreneurs across Alabama and the Southeast.

What excites me most is that we’re not just building companies; we’re building the ecosystem itself. Every founder, investor, corporate partner, and community leader who contributes to that effort strengthens the region’s ability to create, attract, and scale innovative businesses. That may ultimately become Alabama’s greatest competitive advantage.

State-Supported Innovation at Innovate Alabama

Working hand-in-hand with the EDPA is Innovate Alabama, a statewide public-private partnership that has become the financial engine for the state’s legacy industry transformation. Their strategy relies on deploying massive, highly targeted capital to incentivize both founders and private investors.

One of their most impactful levers is the SBIR/STTR Supplemental Grant Program. Hard-tech and research-intensive startups often rely on federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants to survive the long development cycles inherent in their fields. Innovate Alabama provides non-dilutive matching funds (up to $250,000 for Phase II winners) to Alabama companies that secure these federal grants. Recently, the program awarded $3.3 million to 20 Alabama companies. A look at the recipients proves the state’s legacy thesis: the list includes companies like Accelerate Wind (roof-edge wind turbines), Cosmic Shielding Corporation (radiation shielding for space systems), and Spearstone Solutions (transforming industrial waste like coal ash into valuable products). Since its inception, the supplemental program has injected over $17 million in non-dilutive capital into the ecosystem, ensuring that companies solving incredibly hard, physical problems have the runway to reach commercialization.

Innovate Alabama is also using tax credits to generate private-sector funding for qualifying Economic Development Organizations (EDOs). This has allowed regional banks and corporate players, such as First Horizon, to channel resources directly into accelerators like gener8tor in Huntsville, building the programmatic infrastructure necessary to support these founders. Furthermore, Innovate Alabama is actively recruiting out-of-state capital through its InvestAL program, backed by the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI). Through InvestAL, the state recently partnered with Los Angeles-based Halogen Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on early-stage, female-founded startups. Led by Jesse Draper, the fund brings immense national pedigree, having invested in over 75 startups with a collective market value exceeding $15 billion. This strategic partnership led Halogen to launch a $10 million initiative dedicated to backing women-led companies in Alabama, effectively bridging the local capital gap and bringing national venture networks directly to the state’s most underserved founders.

Recognizing that many legacy corporations are sitting on a goldmine of real-world problems but lack the internal framework to build solutions, the state has also embraced the venture studio model. Innovate Alabama has partnered with Harmony Venture Labs (HVL) - a Birmingham-based venture studio led by Shegun Otulana, who previously built and exited one of the Southeast’s largest software companies - to build a venture studio and fund. HVL operates as an early-stage experimentation engine. They partner with forward-looking corporations to identify high-potential problems in underserved industries, run structured sprints, and build AI-native, capital-efficient startups to solve them. This model essentially spins out high-growth startups that are rooted in corporate reality from day one. It’s a perfect encapsulation of Alabama’s broader strategy: don’t guess what the market wants, but rather partner with the legacy operators who hold the budgets and build the exact tools they are asking for.

A Collaborative Network of Capital and Support

Crucially, this public-sector momentum is being met by a maturing private capital network and world-class physical infrastructure. Organizations like First Avenue Ventures, a Birmingham-based investment firm and private incubator, provide capital alongside hands-on operational support to help founders navigate the specific dynamics of scaling in these markets. They are joined by firms like the Alabama Futures Fund, which strategically deploys seed capital to early-stage, high-growth startups, and Bronze Valley, a non-profit venture capital firm and CDFI dedicated to empowering under-resourced and underrepresented founders.

This capital is deployed across a statewide network of innovation centers that give founders the physical space to build. In Birmingham, Innovation Depot serves as the epicenter for early-stage technology companies, offering lab and coworking space. In Tuscaloosa, The Edge - a collaborative incubator powered by the University of Alabama, the City of Tuscaloosa, and the local Chamber of Commerce - provides a critical hub for founders driving localized innovation. Across the state, Auburn University and the city recently announced a $22M research facility and specialized advanced manufacturing district in Auburn Research Park. The 100,000 square-foot facility will house the Auburn University Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Lab, which has focused on advancing and implementing RFID and other emerging supply chain technologies in industry settings including retail, aviation, aerospace, and manufacturing. Further north, the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology in Huntsville not only powers AgTech initiatives but offers unparalleled lab infrastructure and an expansive research campus for bioscience and deep-tech founders.

On the venture creation side, groups like Arrowpoint Labs are building targeted infrastructure and running place-based economic development models to launch deep-tech and biomanufacturing startups. Meanwhile, the Alabama Capital Network continues to connect high-net-worth individuals and corporate investors with scaling startups, ensuring that once these founders prove their models through state pilots, local capital is waiting to fuel their expansion.

Where Do We Go Next?

In the highly competitive world of venture capital and startup ecosystem building, regional differentiation is everything. Trying to out-Silicon-Valley Silicon Valley is a losing proposition.

Alabama has recognized that its competitive advantage exists not necessarily in the cloud, but in the dirt, the forests, the factories, and the ports. The combination of historical industry density, operator-turned-founders who intimately understand legacy pain points, and a coordinated approach to supporting startups addressing these problems makes Alabama uniquely effective in the B2B and hard-tech space.

Alabama’s playbook can also serve as a blueprint for the broader Southeast. The same structural thesis can be applied across the region. If Alabama can use state-backed corporate pilots and unique funding and building mechanisms to digitize forestry and manufacturing, other states can be creative in modernizing their own legacy sectors. When regional governments align with private capital to de-risk the adoption of technology for their oldest, largest industries, everybody wins. Corporations gain efficiency, local startups gain enterprise customers, and the region retains its top talent.

The Southeast is not just a collection of isolated tech hubs; it is an interconnected economic engine. And as we see in Alabama, a rising tide can raise all boats.

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Why Covington and Northern Kentucky?

Customer Proximity: Kentucky’s economy is anchored in advanced manufacturing, logistics, and healthcare. Founders here can sell to operators, not just other startups. Landing a hospital pilot, getting in the room with a manufacturer, or closing a procurement deal with a logistics company is more accessible here than in markets where the customer base is primarily other venture-backed companies.

Kentucky Business Environment: No local income tax in most NKY jurisdictions, a cost structure well below coastal markets, and state-backed capital programs designed to keep investment dollars circulating locally. These include a transferable angel tax credit worth 25–40% of qualified investments of $10,000 or more (carriable for up to 15 years), and the Kentucky Small Business Credit Initiative 2.0 — a $117 million federal allocation, with roughly 70% directed to early-stage venture and managed in part by Keyhorse Capital.

Cincinnati’s Networks, Kentucky’s Address: The Ohio River functions less as a dividing line than as a connector. Founders in Covington access Cincinnati’s Fortune 500 base, research institutions, talent pools, and other sources of opportunity while operating in Kentucky’s tax and business environment — a genuine two-for-one that few ecosystems can match.

Regional Convergence Point: Covington sits at the center of a four-metro corridor — Lexington (75 min), Louisville (90 min), Indianapolis (2 hrs), Columbus (2 hrs) — giving founders access to enterprise customers, talent, and capital across multiple major metros without leaving the corridor. The town has the unique ability to tap into elements of the Midwest, Appalachia, and the Southeast.

CVG Airport: Direct national routes and a 90-minute flight to more than half the US population. International cargo hub anchored by DHL and Amazon Air.

SparkHaus: 51,000 square feet of venture firms, startups, and support organizations under one roof in downtown Covington, operating near capacity and hosting 200–300 people daily.

Talent Pipeline: A student-to-founder pipeline anchored by NKU, UC, Xavier, and regional K–12 schools, with programs spanning middle school through post-graduate residency. The corridor extends that reach: the University of Kentucky, Ohio State, Purdue, Indiana University, and the University of Louisville sit within a two-hour drive.

How We Got Here

Before the current momentum of early-stage company-building, Northern Kentucky’s economic DNA was forged by its legacy industries: advanced manufacturing, global logistics, and enterprise services. The region’s geographic advantage established it as a national supply chain nerve center, anchored by the massive operations of DHL and the Amazon Air Hub at CVG, while also supporting a dense concentration of manufacturing and consumer goods operations. This corporate footprint, paired with immediate access to Cincinnati’s Fortune 500 stalwarts like Kroger, Procter & Gamble, and Fifth Third Bank, gave early local founders a distinct structural advantage: the ability to build, iterate, and pilot solutions directly alongside massive enterprise customers.

Northern Kentucky’s startup infrastructure traces to state-level policy. In 2001, Kentucky’s legislature passed the New Economy Act, funding a hub-and-spoke entrepreneurship network that seeded the region’s first organized startup support. Through the early 2010s, a locally run accelerator called UpTech provided structured early-stage programming, producing a generation of founders and operators who remain active in the ecosystem today, now running funds, leading support organizations, and mentoring the next wave of companies.

In 2025, Blue North, the region’s central entrepreneurship organization, opened SparkHaus, a $16 million renovation of a historic building on Madison Avenue in Covington that brought five venture capital firms, dozens of startups, and regional support organizations under one roof for the first time. SparkHaus is not an incubator in the narrow sense; it’s a density play. The premise is that when fund managers, founders, university partners, and operators share a coffee bar, capital moves faster and companies get built. Less than a year in, the building is operating near capacity.

This physical density is aggressively backed by Kentucky’s strategic deployment of the federal State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) 2.0, which awarded the state a $117 million allocation to expand capital access. By deliberately directing roughly 70 percent of these SSBCI funds toward early-stage venture capital (deployed primarily through state-backed entities like Keyhorse Capital) Kentucky has engineered a robust, institutional funding continuum designed specifically to keep high-growth companies rooted in the Commonwealth.

Resources for Startups

Investors

Keyhorse Capital — Kentucky-based early-stage venture firm investing state-backed capital in homegrown founders. More than $100 million deployed across 600+ companies; portfolio companies have raised over $3.3 billion in follow-on capital and created more than 800 jobs.

eGateway Capital — Kentucky’s largest venture capital firm with $120 million raised, focused on late-stage venture and early growth-stage technology companies with global potential.

Commonwealth Seed Capital — Kentucky-based venture fund with more than $40 million invested in early-stage technology companies across the Commonwealth.

Connetic Ventures — Covington-based firm operating as VCAFX, the first SEC-registered venture mutual fund in the country, with roughly $30 million under management across 45 states. Uses proprietary AI to remove bias from the startup evaluation process.

Fireroad Ventures — Pre-seed fund backing applied AI and automation startups with a hands-on, founder-first approach.

Kentucky Angel Collective — Angel investor network launched June 2025, providing early funding and mentorship to Kentucky entrepreneurs.

Incubators & Accelerators

BRINK — Early-stage funding program and structured mentorship for the earliest-stage founders. Has served as the first institutional check for multiple NKY companies.

Shinkle Fellows — 12-week summer residency for recent graduates providing housing in Covington, a $10,000 stipend, weekly mentorship, and a Demo Day at SparkHaus. Designed to anchor early-career founders to the region.

LifeSciKY — Kentucky’s only nonprofit life science incubator, operating a 15,000-square-foot wet lab at the OneNKY Center in Covington. Presenting sponsor Thermo Fisher Scientific; partnership with the University of Kentucky aimed at building a statewide life sciences ecosystem.

Governor’s School for Entrepreneurs (GSE) — Statewide program hosting Kentucky’s largest intercollegiate pitch competition, Collegiate Pitch, at SparkHaus.

Coworking

SparkHaus (727 Madison Ave, Covington) — 51,000 square feet across three levels. More than 170 desks, 34 private offices, event hall (70–80 capacity), podcast studio, classrooms, gym, café, and the Covington Industrial Club boardroom. Home to five venture capital firms and dozens of startup and support org tenants.

LifeSciKY / OneNKY Center — Wet lab and coworking for life sciences startups near the Roebling Bridge in downtown Covington.

Community Organizations

Blue North — NKY’s primary entrepreneurship resource and advocacy organization. Operator of SparkHaus, BRINK, Shinkle Fellows, Startup University, the Student VC Summit, the Collegiate Founders Summit, and Brand Fusion.

StartupCincy — Regional umbrella organization connecting NKY to Cincinnati’s broader startup ecosystem across 397 tracked companies and $8.2 billion in reported ecosystem value. Shared programming, events, community, and resource hub.

Talent Pipeline

Northern Kentucky has invested heavily in building a student-to-founder pipeline, with programs spanning middle school through post-graduate residency.

Square1 — Entrepreneurship programming for high school students across Greater Cincinnati, including curriculum, coaching, pitch competitions, and mentorship.

NKU INVENT Program — Collaboration between NKU’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and Kentucky Commercialization Ventures, funded by nearly $1 million from the National Science Foundation. Provides hands-on commercialization training followed by paid internships at regional startups.

Startup University — Semester-long weekly speaker series co-produced by Blue North and Fireroad Ventures at SparkHaus. Open to college students from all universities; sessions recorded and livestreamed for regional campuses.

Student Venture Capital Summit — Annual Blue North convening for university students interested in venture capital, featuring panels, live pitch sessions, and cross-campus networking. Held each March at SparkHaus.

Collegiate Founders Summit — Annual one-day immersion into the startup ecosystem for regional university students. Held each fall at SparkHaus during StartupCincy Week.

Covington Works Internship Program — City of Covington and NKADD collaboration placing students into Covington-based startups, with funding that offsets the cost disadvantage early-stage companies face competing against larger employers for talent.

Junior Achievement (OKI Partners) — Financial literacy, career readiness, and entrepreneurship programs reaching students from middle school through high school across the region.

Notable Annual Events

Brand Fusion (October 6–7, 2026) — Now in its second decade, Brand Fusion brings 50 venture-backed startups and 40 major brand marketers including P&G, Kroger, Ford, and Fifth Third together for two days of curated meetings. Co-hosted by Blue North, Cintrifuse, and StepStone Group, the event has facilitated nearly 3,300 individual startup-brand meetings over its history. The welcome dinner is held at Opal Rooftop in Covington.

StartupCincy Week (October 5–8, 2026) — The region’s flagship community celebration spanning Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, with a growing concentration of programming hosted in Covington at SparkHaus. Includes the Blue North Student Summit on October 8–9.

Mainstrasse Oktoberfest (September) — One of the largest Oktoberfest celebrations in the country outside Munich, held in Covington’s Mainstrasse Village.

Startups to Watch

Recent Milestones

Definity — Healthcare labor platform pulling data from nine sources to help health systems match the right clinician to every open shift; closed a $14 million venture round following its November 2025 launch.

Lyceum AI — AI-native corporate learning platform acquired by Perceptyx in March 2026 less than two years after launch; the first exit from Cintrifuse’s Venture Velocity program, with customers including HP Enterprise and a pilot with Procter & Gamble.

Illume — Business intelligence platform built for the wellness industry with an AI analyst that lets owners query their data conversationally; closed a pre-seed round in February 2026 and grew 2,000% in active locations from December to January.

Scaling

Narratize — AI-powered product innovation platform serving Boeing, HP Enterprise, and Nvidia; closed a $1.76 million round in 2025.

Nichefire — AI platform predicting emerging cultural trends for enterprise brands including Walmart, Kraft Heinz, and Nestlé; closed a $2.6 million round in January 2025 and grew 107% in 2024.

Builder Backed — Home services platform connecting homeowners with vetted providers while maintaining a full property maintenance history; raised nearly $2 million in angel funding and partnered with Fischer Homes, the 32nd-largest homebuilder in the US.

Flamel.ai — AI-powered marketing platform for franchise and multi-location brands enabling localized social ad campaigns across hundreds of locations simultaneously; clients include DivaDance.

Another Nine — 24/7 staffless indoor golf simulator operating on a self-service access model; signed franchise agreements for 12 locations across three states within its first year of operation.

Early-Stage to Watch

Proximity — Parking management platform that lets municipalities modernize payment systems while enabling nearby businesses to reach customers with real-time promotions; live in Covington and Lexington.

Beltways — Developer of a modular accelerating walkway reaching speeds up to 10 miles per hour; in discussions with CVG Airport for what would be the world’s first active commercial deployment.

EmpathEQ — AI-powered video simulation platform training nursing and healthcare professionals in soft skills through interactive scenarios using emotion recognition technology; 13 nursing school deans and simulation center directors have signed letters of intent to pilot.

SYRV.ai — AI consulting firm led by Fortune 50 veterans, including a former IBM Watson leader and a CIO Review Top 10 AI executive, delivering functioning enterprise prototypes in days through a proprietary rapid-deployment framework.

Life Sciences

Simbryo Technologies — Develops endometrial organoids to improve IVF success rates through personalized treatment protocols; relocated from Houston to Covington and is already working with Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.

Bexion Pharmaceuticals — Clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing BXQ-350, a first-in-class therapy targeting solid tumors while addressing the neuropathic pain caused by standard cancer treatments.

Local Favorites

Covington sits a bridge-walk from downtown Cincinnati but has its own gravity: Mainstrasse Village’s 19th-century streetscapes, nine stops on The B-Line bourbon trail, a riverfront amphitheater, the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption modeled after Notre Dame, and a restaurant and brewery scene that has earned national attention. It’s the kind of place where a visiting founder’s post-meeting evening is as compelling as the meeting itself.

Carmelo’s — Italian-American comfort cuisine in an 1850s downtown Covington building, voted the second-best new restaurant in the country by USA Today readers in 2026.

Braxton Brewing — Covington’s first craft brewery, born from a family garage and now operating four taprooms across the region. The original Covington location has a rooftop bar with skyline views of both cities and doubles as a gathering place for the startup community.

Starter Coffee + Better Blend — The ground-floor café at SparkHaus, where Better Blend serves smoothies and acai bowls alongside Starter Coffee, a locally roasted brand originally created by Braxton Brewing and revived for SparkHaus.

Hotel Covington / Coppin’s — Voted Best Hotel in Kentucky by U.S. News & World Report. A restored 1914 department store on Madison Avenue with a Kentucky-regional restaurant, a bourbon-forward bar, and a stop on The B-Line. Where you put visiting investors.

For a deeper look at Covington’s neighborhoods and what’s happening week to week, check out meetNKY or the City of Covington’s weekly events calendar.

Why This Matters

In Covington, lifestyle and ecosystem aren’t separate. Braxton’s rooftop is where founders run into investors after pitch nights. Hotel Covington is where visiting fund partners stay, and Coppin’s is where the post-dinner bourbon meeting happens. The density that makes SparkHaus work extends a few blocks in every direction.

What’s Next for Northern Kentucky

Northern Kentucky is at an inflection point. SparkHaus is operating near capacity less than a year after opening. LifeSciKY’s wet lab is drawing biotech companies from Houston, Louisville, and Knoxville. The talent pipeline is being built with intention: Shinkle Fellows, Startup University, INVENT, and the student summits are all oriented toward keeping the region’s best young people here after graduation. Capital depth continues to grow, with BRINK, state-backed angel tax credits, and an expanding network of institutional investors giving founders more paths to a first check than the region has ever had.

Covington is building something distinct: not a satellite of Cincinnati, not a replica of what’s been built elsewhere, but a startup community shaped by Kentucky’s business environment, its proximity to enterprise customers and other sources of opportunity, and a concentration of capital and talent that didn’t exist five years ago. Covington sits at a unique intersection of the Southeast, Appalachia, and the Midwest, and it draws on culture, opportunity, and energy - and creates its own identity.

If you’re a founder, investor, or operator exploring Northern Kentucky, Blue North is the front door to this ecosystem. We connect founders to capital, talent, and the resources that make early-stage building here work. Reach out at hey@bluenorthky.com or visit bluenorthky.com.

This guide was written by Reese Watson for Build In SE. Reese has spent her career immersed in the entrepreneurial ecosystems of Cincinnati and Northern KY across VC and startups, ecosystem connection, and programming - first at Cintrifuse Capital and Blue North, and now at Another Nine.

• Significant funding momentum across space tech, AI, and logistics

• A range of accelerator application and program launches

• Top innovation ecosystem conferences coming up shortly

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From Build In SE

As we gear up for the summer, the Build In SE team is actively mapping the next wave of ecosystem resources and preparing for upcoming regional events - we are excited to be at Fintech + Insurtech Generations, Sloss Tech, and other programming throughout the summer, and hope to see you there!

We also continue to track the latest capital deployments and connect founders with the resources, capital, and opportunities they need to scale. Stay tuned for new content coming soon from our team.

Funding & M&A

Stord (Atlanta, GA) raised a massive $250M round, bringing the logistics and supply chain software company’s valuation to $3 billion. This significant capital injection will further scale their cloud supply chain network and end-to-end fulfillment services. Axios

Star Catcher (Jacksonville, FL) raised a $65M Series A led by B Capital to build the first power grid in space. The funding will accelerate the development of their orbital energy grid, utilizing optical power beaming to deliver on-demand electricity to spacecraft. Star Catcher

Quartermaster (Arlington, VA) secured $43M to develop an AI-powered “hive mind” for ships. The technology creates a shared sensor network that provides real-time situational awareness for fleets, going beyond standard AIS capabilities for commercial and defense applications. TechCrunch

Scout Space (Reston, VA) closed an $18M Series A led by Washington Harbour Partners. The capital will fuel the expansion of its space domain awareness sensors and software, including a new 2,600-square-foot manufacturing facility in Northern Virginia. Payload Space

Optura (Nashville, TN) raised a $17.5M Series A backed by Salesforce Ventures and Echo Health Ventures to scale its healthcare AI platform. The funding will help health systems measure and optimize the financial returns of their artificial intelligence deployments. FierceHealthcare

ReFiBuy (Raleigh, NC) secured a $13.6M Seed round led by NewRoad Capital Partners. The oversubscribed round will accelerate the rollout of its agentic commerce optimization platform, helping brands prepare product catalogs for AI-driven shopping experiences. ReFiBuy

Trillium Renewable Chemicals (Knoxville, TN) closed a $13M Series B led by HS Hyosung Advanced Materials. The capital funds the construction of Project Falcon, a demonstration plant for manufacturing bio-based acrylonitrile at an industrial scale. Hydrocarbon Processing

Psilera (Tampa, FL), a biopharmaceutical company developed neuroplastogens and psychedelic therapies, raised $8.8M in seed funding to advance its lead clinical asset towards human trials. PR Newswire

CLEATUS (Arlington, VA) raised a $4M Seed round co-led by Las Olas VC and REVO Capital. The funding supports their agentic AI platform designed to automate the find, bid, and win workflow for government contractors. LinkedIn

Saltbox (Atlanta, GA) raised a Series C led by Packard Capital. The logistics and operations platform for product-based businesses will use the capital to expand its national footprint, including a new facility in the Atlanta area. PR Newswire

Startup Milestones

NUREAM (Wilmington, NC) secured two major grants this month to advance its research and development. The company won an NC INNOVATION grant in partnership with UNC Wilmington, alongside a competitive NC IDEA Grant. LinkedIn

Embarc Collective (Tampa, FL) launched the Florida Oncology and Radiopharmaceutical Growth Engine (FORGE) Coalition, which brings together partners like Speros, Moffitt Cancer Center, USF, and Pasco-Hernando State College to provide robust life science and manufacturing resources for founders. Embarc Collective

IQExit (Wilmington, NC) is capitalizing on the “Silver Tsunami” of retiring business owners. The startup provides detailed M&A insights and deal ranges through financial advisors to help founders prepare for optimal exits and ownership transitions, and was featured for this work in Hypepotamus. Hypepotamus

Founders Green (Atlanta, GA) had a ribbon-cutting event this month, as the South Downtown startup community continues its evolution. As Atlanta Ventures notes, “With over 100 entrepreneurs already calling the neighborhood home, new storefronts opening up, and the World Cup around the corner, this public-private project is actively supercharging Atlanta’s future.” Urbanize Atlanta

Events & Programming

Upcoming Events

Startups & Standups is bringing a unique blend of entrepreneurship and comedy to the region this June. The hybrid pitch events will take place in both (Atlanta, GA) and (Charlotte, NC), offering founders a lighthearted platform to showcase their businesses. Hypepotamus

Fintech + Insurtech Generations (Charlotte, NC) – Returning June 10th at The Dubois Center as the anchor event for Charlotte Fintech Week, this annual conference convenes 400+ global leaders to explore the theme of “From Hype to Reality: How financial innovation truly scales within real institutions, where effective governance, operating models, and practical AI converge to deliver measurable operational value.” Attendees can expect panel insights, unicorn spotlights, and a founder showcase. Build In SE subscribers use code BUILDSE25 for 25% off. Fintech + Insurtech Generations

DIG SOUTH Tech Summit (Charleston, SC) takes place June 11-12. The region’s premier tech gathering connects leading brands, founders, and investors for two days of keynotes, networking, and the highly anticipated Wild Pitch event. Hypepotamus

Sloss.Tech (Birmingham, AL): One of the Southeast’s top tech and innovation events is returning to downtown Birmingham from June 24-26. The three-day event will feature mainstage speakers, specialized developer tracks, and the Sloss.Tech/Ideas pitch competition, which recently boosted its grand prize to $100,000 for early-stage startups. Members of the Build In SE team will be onsite—we hope to see you there! Sloss.Tech

NEXT Venture Summit (Greenville, SC): This September summit is bringing startup solutions directly to enterprise problems. After sourcing specific pain points from corporate leaders at BMW, Michelin, GE Vernova, and Current, 20 startups were selected from 54 applicants to travel to Greenville for targeted pitching, speed-dating, and networking. NEXT Venture Summit

Opportunities

Bronze Valley Investment Accelerator (Birmingham, AL) is accepting applications from Alabama-based startups until June 7. The 12-week program offers equity investment, access to gener8tor’s network, and structured support to help founders close funding rounds. gener8tor

Techstars Alabama EnergyTech (Birmingham, AL) is closing applications for its next cohort on June 10. The accelerator focuses on startups building solutions in the energy and cleantech sectors. Techstars

Alabama Launchpad (Birmingham, AL) is accepting applications for Cycle 2 of its startup competition. Early-stage founders across tech, life sciences, and consumer goods can apply to win up to $100K in non-dilutive funding, alongside intensive mentorship through their Launch Prep program. Alabama Launchpad

Dynamo Ventures (Chattanooga, TN) released its latest Request for Startups, outlining the specific supply chain and mobility themes their team is currently looking to back. Founders building in these spaces are highly encouraged to review the thesis and apply. Dynamo

gener8tor gBETA / Spark Huntsville (Huntsville, AL) is actively recruiting for its next cohort, offering an equity-free accelerator experience for early-stage startups in North Alabama. Applications are being accepted on a rolling basis. (gener8tor)

Resources & Reads

The Wall Street Journal published its ranking of the best cities for new college graduates, with Birmingham, AL taking the top spot and other Southeast hubs like Tampa and Raleigh scoring highly. These markets stand out for robust early-career hiring, competitive salaries, and housing affordability, providing a vital talent pipeline for the region’s scaling tech companies. This influx of young, educated professionals serves as a vital talent pipeline, fueling the growth and innovation required for the Southeast’s scaling tech companies to thrive in competitive global markets. The Wall Street Journal

McKinsey & Company published “Alabama’s Playbook for Jobs, Growth, and Economic Opportunity,” offering a data-driven strategy for accelerating workforce development and upward mobility across the state. McKinsey

Ember Fellowship (Atlanta, GA) was featured for its unique approach to startup hiring, offering insights into how local founders can better attract and retain early-stage talent. Hypepotamus

And in case you missed it last month, Front Porch Venture Partners released the Southeast VC Pulse Survey 2026, offering critical insights into regional deal flow and valuations. The Raleigh-Durham-based firm, operating a unique “hybrid fund” model across venture funds and direct startup investments, uses the report to highlight the region’s structural uniqueness, trends, and more key information. LinkedIn

Thanks for reading! If you have reactions or feedback, suggestions for future newsletters, or want to get in touch, email ryan@buildinse.com.

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From Build In SE

This month, we are spotlighting the 2025 Southeast Capital Landscape, developed in partnership with our friends at Embarc Collective. Together, we publish the Landscape to spotlight the investment firms shaping the Southeast and highlight the dynamics that set the region apart from other U.S. venture markets. Now in its sixth year, the Landscape has become a trusted reference point for stakeholders across the region. The 2025 edition builds on that foundation, surfacing not only data on firm activity but also the stories and signals that define today’s Southeastern startup ecosystem.

Funding & M&A

HawkEye 360 (Herndon, VA) set terms for its upcoming IPO, planning to offer 16M shares at a $2.3B+ valuation. The radio signals intelligence company previously raised over $580M from firms including Razor’s Edge Ventures, GIC, and Insight Partners, including a Series E extension round in March 2026. HawkEye 360

Golden Child (Miami, FL) emerged from stealth with $37M to launch a science-backed fresh dog food system. Backed by Redpoint Ventures and others, the company features functional, vet-developed nutrition. Business Wire

Sennos (Durham, NC) secured $20M to accelerate its AI-powered intelligent fermentation system, bringing its total funding to over $50M to scale its bio-manufacturing tech. PR Newswire

Rilian (McLean, VA) raised $17.5M in Seed funding led by 8VC. The capital will be used to further develop its agentic AI cybersecurity tools for the defense sector. Axios

Zamp (Atlanta, GA) raised $17M in funding to further scale its AI-driven sales tax compliance and automated accounting platform for fast-growing businesses. Axios

Keebler Health (Durham, NC) raised a $16M Series A led by Flare Capital Partners. The startup is scaling its LLM-native risk-adjustment platform to unlock unstructured clinical data for value-based care. Fierce Healthcare

InsightFinder (Raleigh, NC) closed a $15M Series B led by Yu Galaxy to expand its AI reliability platform, which helps companies automate root-cause analysis and system diagnostics. TechCrunch

SkyfireAI (Huntsville, AL) landed $11M to bring advanced AI autonomy to public safety and defense drones, furthering the city’s reputation as a top-tier aerospace hub. Backers include Mucker Capital LP, AI Fund LP, SaaS Ventures, Halogen, Harvard Business School Alumni Angels and New York Angels Inc. SiliconANGLE

Remission Medical (Richmond, VA) closed a Series A led by Blue Heron Capital to expand its virtual rheumatology clinics and scale its B2B partnerships with major health systems. Remission Medical

Cloneable (Raleigh, NC) secured $4.6M in Seed funding led by Congruent Ventures, with participation from First In, Overline, Bull City Venture Partners, and St. Elmo Venture Capital. The platform clones expert worker knowledge into AI agents for the utilities and heavy infrastructure sectors. Beamstart

Betterness (Miami, FL) raised $2.5M in Seed funding to build an augmented wellness platform and AI life-coaching system. FinSMEs

Maxed (Miami, FL) secured $850K in Pre-Seed funding led by Focal VC to build an AI-native operating system that automates manual back-office workflows for CPA firms. Business Wire

Askari Defense (Atlanta, GA), a startup building low-cost kinetic drone interceptors, formally launched with backing from Overline VC, Knoll Ventures, Brickyard VC, and Blackwing Ventures. The Georgia Tech-rooted team relocated from the Bay Area specifically to be near Southeast national security customers. Hypepotamus

New & Notable Funds

Ridgeline (Memphis, TN) announced the oversubscribed final close of its $180M Fund II. The early-stage firm will continue investing across AI, advanced computing, hardware, and automation to modernize the industrial base and support defense and commercial enterprises. Business Wire

Innovate Alabama (Montgomery, AL) launched the Capital Access Fund, a new $15M evergreen initiative designed to retain early-stage companies in the state. The fund will write $100K to $250K checks from pre-seed through Series A, requiring a 1-to-1 private match for every dollar deployed. Innovate Alabama

Startup Milestones

NC IDEA (Durham, NC) awarded $150,000 in early-stage grants to 15 emerging North Carolina startups during its latest funding cycle. These $10,000 micro-grants are strategically designed to help young tech companies validate their target markets and build initial prototypes, continuing to reinforce the state’s highly robust pipeline of high-growth ventures and diverse founders. NC IDEA

NC IDEA (Durham, NC) also unveiled its inaugural NC Tweener List, a new statewide recognition for companies bridging the early and growth stages. The organization named five inaugural Bold Path Fellows during Raleigh-Durham Startup Week to honor founders taking unconventional entrepreneurial journeys, as well. NC IDEA

George Mason University (Fairfax, VA) launched Einstein Labs, a new initiative specifically designed to accelerate the commercialization of deep tech and AI research. George Mason

CO.LAB (Chattanooga, TN) kicked off its 2026 Energy Innovation Accelerator, bringing four early-stage startups—CubeNexus, OwnWatt, Rassket, and Voltair Labs—from across the U.S. to the city for a six-week sprint. The program is focused on helping founders land real customers by bridging the gap between new tech and legacy industry players like TVA and EPB. This energy-focused cohort marks the first of four planned programs for the year as CO.LAB doubles its footprint, with upcoming accelerators dedicated to Smart Cities, Freight and Supply Chain, and Quantum Tech. Teknovation

Georgia Cleantech Innovation Hub (Atlanta, GA) received a $600,000 commitment from JPMorganChase to fund experiential learning at local universities and launch a feasibility study for the city’s first build-and-test facility for clean tech startups, addressing a critical hard tech space gap. ESG News

Mississippi State University (Starkville, MS) received a $100,000 grant from the Regions Foundation to support its Center for Entrepreneurship and Outreach. The funding fuels the VentureCatalyst and Million Dollar Checklist accelerators, alongside the university’s flagship Startup Summit, which awards over $100K in annual prizes. MSU News

Events & Programming

Upcoming Events

Seed The South (Charlotte, NC) – Innovate Charlotte’s official capital summit returns May 18-19 to facilitate high-powered connections among founders, funders, and support organizations, empowering emerging talent across the region. Build In SE’s Monique Villa Capra will be a part of the event’s Selection Committee for the $100K pitch competition. (Seed The South)

Square One Startup School Showcase (Atlanta, GA): Our friends at Square One Startup School celebrate the graduation of their 10th cohort with their first-ever in-person Startup Showcase. Join us on May 21st at Atlanta Tech Village for a high-energy, free event featuring 11 emerging startups. Attendees can expect real founder insights from a live alumni panel, interactive booths to experience products firsthand, and an evening of networking, music, and lite bites alongside top investors and ecosystem leaders. Luma

Fintech + Insurtech Generations (Charlotte, NC) – Hosted by RevTech Labs as the anchor event of Charlotte Fintech Week, this premier conference on June 10 connects entrepreneurs, investors, and corporate leaders shaping the future of finance and insurance. Build In SE subscribers can use code BUILDSE25 for a 25% discount on registration. (Fintech + Insurtech Generations)

Sloss.Tech (Birmingham, AL): One of the Southeast’s top tech and innovation events is returning to downtown Birmingham from June 24-26. The three-day event will feature mainstage speakers, specialized developer tracks, and the Sloss.Tech/Ideas pitch competition, which recently boosted its grand prize to $100,000 for early-stage startups. Sloss.Tech

NEXT Venture Summit (Greenville, SC): This September summit is bringing startup solutions directly to enterprise problems. After sourcing specific pain points from corporate leaders at BMW, Michelin, GE Vernova, and Current, 20 startups were selected from 54 applicants to travel to Greenville for targeted pitching, speed-dating, and networking. NEXT Venture Summit

Opportunities

eMerge Global Startup Accelerator (Miami, FL) is actively recruiting military-connected founders into its next cohort. Focused on national security, AI, energy, and health, the program offers fundraising training, pitch coaching, and access to $125K in prizes. eMerge Americas

Startup Gulf Coast 2026 Pitch Competition (Biloxi, MS) is currently accepting applications for early-stage founders looking to showcase their startups to regional ecosystem leaders and investors. Innovate MS

Mid-South REACH Technology Development Program applications are open for founders seeking ecosystem support and early-stage opportunities; interested startups can submit their survey details now. RTI International

gener8tor gBETA / Spark Huntsville (Huntsville, AL) is actively recruiting for its next cohort, offering an equity-free accelerator experience for early-stage startups in North Alabama. Applications are being accepted on a rolling basis. (gener8tor)

Alexandria Tech Accelerator (Alexandria, VA) is a new $200K accelerator program by the Alexandria Economic Development Partnership designed to spur tech innovation and keep founders in Northern Virginia. (Washington Business Journal)

Resources & Reads

Front Porch Venture Partners released the Southeast VC Pulse Survey 2026, offering critical insights into regional deal flow and valuations. The Raleigh-Durham-based firm, operating a unique “hybrid fund” model across venture funds and direct startup investments, uses the report to highlight the region’s structural uniqueness, trends, and more key information. LinkedIn

ImpactAlpha published a deep dive on how “scaling down to scale up” is becoming a winning strategy for impact investing and localized growth. Exploring “place-based investing,” the piece argues that successful regional strategies rely heavily on empowering local Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs). Rather than forcing national models, funders must treat CDFIs as vital translators capable of absorbing risk and addressing hyper-local market barriers. ImpactAlpha

Chief Executive analyzed the “State of the States,” highlighting which Southeast hubs are building the future of American business. The analysis points to the emergence of a new economic “Boom Belt”—an 11-state southeastern powerhouse representing a $9 trillion regional GDP. As headquarters migrate away from traditional centers, this southern corridor is consistently outpacing other U.S. regions in population growth, job creation, and capital investment. Chief Executive

Ecosystem Edge published data highlighting the importance of early-stage capital access and its correlation to sustained startup growth. Their scorecard reveals a glaring “81% Problem,” showing most regional ecosystem builders have massive gaps in corporate engagement. The report challenges leaders to map out their “full capital stack”—including philanthropic and community capital—and actively partner with trade associations to bridge the divide between startups and established industry players. Ecosystem Edge

Tractian (Atlanta, GA) is expanding its summer internship program. Backed by General Catalyst, Sapphire Ventures, and others, the industrial AI company plans to hire up to 30 interns across engineering, product, and data to solve real-world problems for enterprise customers like Whirlpool, CSX, and Kraft Heinz. Hypepotamus

Thanks for reading! If you have reactions or feedback, suggestions for future newsletters, or want to get in touch, email ryan@buildinse.com.

March brought an incredible wave of momentum to the region, highlighted by a mega fundraising rounds in Miami, startup success stories and opportunities across Alabama, and Virginia startups celebrating a record-breaking $2.9B funding year. Beyond these massive capital raises, the breadth of the region’s innovation economy is on full display this month. We tracked major new fund closes, notable M&A activity in the mobility and digital health sectors, and impressive raises across enterprise AI, robotics, and sports tech. We are also seeing a major uptick in accelerator launches, statewide grant programs, and pitch competitions across the region as we head into the spring—alongside our brand new Startup Guide for Charlotte and fresh insights on the ecosystem’s economic impact.

Dive in for this month’s highlights, and be sure to subscribe below.

Subscribe now

From Build In SE

We published our newest Startup Guide: Charlotte, in partnership Juan Garzón, Executive Director of Innovate Charlotte. Whether you are a founder setting up shop or an investor looking to navigate the Queen City’s rapidly growing tech ecosystem, key players, and capital resources, read our comprehensive breakdown.

We also released a new edition of Builder’s Blueprint featuring Joe Mancini, a co-founder and partner at Front Porch Venture Partners. FPVP is a hybrid investment fund based in Raleigh-Durham that invests in venture firms and startups in the Southeast. Dive into Joe’s unique insights, operator experiences, and valuable lessons learned on building and scaling within the Southeast startup ecosystem.

Funding & M&A

eMed (Miami, FL) raised a massive $200M at a $2B+ valuation, led by AON Consulting with participation from Tom Brady, to scale its digital health and GLP-1 weight-loss programs. (Refresh Miami)

PDW (Huntsville, AL) raised a $110M Series B led by Ondas Holdings to scale the production of its modular, attritable small unmanned military drones. (TAMradar)

Eight Sleep (Miami, FL) landed $50M at a $1.5B valuation to build out its predictive AI sleep tracking and temperature regulation platform. (Refresh Miami)

Cape (Arlington, VA) raised $100M in a Series C led by Bain Capital Ventures and IVP. The fundraise will enable Cape to expand its secure, privacy-first mobile network and communication tools. (Yahoo Finance)

ORAN Development (Arlington, VA) secured $45M from Nvidia, Cisco, Booz Allen and other investors as it builds products that transform standard cell towers into localized mini data centers. (Data Center Dynamics)

Worth (Orlando, FL) raised a $30M Series A led by Fulcrum Equity Partners, TTV Capital, and Amex Ventures to expand its AI-powered onboarding and underwriting platform for financial institutions. (FinSMEs)

HawkEye 360 (Herndon, VA) closed an additional $23M in Series E funding to strengthen its space-based RF signals intelligence capabilities and accelerate recent acquisitions. (FinSMEs)

Lucid Bots (Charlotte, NC) secured a $20M Series B co-led by Cubit Capital and Idea Fund Partners to meet rising demand for its autonomous robotic cleaning drones across the commercial real estate and facility management sectors. (PropTechBuzz)

XFX (Miami, FL) landed $17M to solve cross-border payment inefficiencies, aiming to fix the “messy middle” between traditional fiat dollars and stablecoins. (Refresh Miami)

Levitate (Raleigh, NC) secured $16M led by Harbert Growth Partners (with participation from Bull City Venture Partners and Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures) to bring its AI-powered relationship marketing platform to more small businesses. (PR Newswire)

Racquet 360 (Miami, FL) raised $9M to capitalize on the rapid growth of the racket sport padel across the United States. (Fitt Insider)

Cyclops (Miami, FL) secured an $8M strategic investment from Castle Island Ventures, F-Prime, and Shift4 to build a stablecoin infrastructure platform exclusively for the payments industry. (PR Newswire)

VITL (Nashville, TN) raised a $7.5M Series A led by SignalFire to expand its healthcare operating system, streamlining data operations for medical providers. (Pulse 2.0)

Conntour (Miami, FL) raised a $7M Seed round backed by General Catalyst and Y Combinator to deploy its natural language-queried AI video intelligence platform for security networks. (PR Newswire)

Carecubes (Arlington, VA) raised a $6.5M Series A from Schooner Capital to scale its mobile isolation units for responding to infectious diseases. (Pulse 2.0)

IntelliGRC (Fairfax, VA) secured a $3.5M Seed round co-led by Kyle Hanslovan and Blu Ventures to enhance its cybersecurity governance, risk, and compliance platform. (PR Newswire)

Huper (Atlanta, GA) raised $1.5M to develop a security-first AI chief of staff, aimed at streamlining operations for business leaders. (Business Wire)

Nyad AI (Birmingham, AL) launched its decision-support platform for wastewater treatment operators on the heels of a $1.3M funding round backed by Halogen Ventures. The system uses predictive analytics to help utilities optimize performance and maintain regulatory compliance. (ACCESS Newswire)

QWERKY AI (Columbia, SC) raised a $400K investment from SC Launch to build out faster, more cost-efficient enterprise AI systems designed to rival traditional large language models. (Who’s On The Move)

Health Recovery Solutions acquired Rimidi (Atlanta, GA) to integrate the company’s advanced chronic disease management and continuous glucose monitoring capabilities into its enterprise remote patient care platform. (Rimidi)

Arrive announced its intention to acquire Passport (Charlotte, NC), uniting two significant mobility portfolios to provide cities with paid parking and enforcement technology for an autonomous future. (Arrive)

Skema.ai (Atlanta, GA), a design platform for the AEC industry, closed an undisclosed Seed round led by Robin Bienfait to expand its generative data intelligence capabilities. (SaaS News)

New & Notable Funds

Glade Brook Capital Partners (Miami, FL / Greenwich, CT) closed a new $1B growth fund to continue backing expansion-stage internet and software sectors globally. (PitchBook)

First In (Washington, DC / Hobe Sound, FL) launched a $148M SBIC Critical Technologies fund, focusing its investments heavily on early-stage security and defense technology companies. (Business Wire)

Startup Milestones

Virginia Startups hit a massive milestone, raising a record $2.9 Billion in venture capital investment in 2025—the highest total in the Commonwealth’s history. Fueled by mega-rounds in defense tech, cybersecurity, and AI in Northern Virginia, this surge underscores the region’s growing appeal to national investors seeking deep tech expertise. (PR Newswire)

George Mason University (Fairfax, VA) celebrated its first commercialization success under Virginia’s Lab to Launch initiative. This milestone is a critical proof-of-concept for the program, which is aimed at reducing friction in bringing university IP to market and bridging the gap between academic research and venture-backed enterprise creation. (George Mason University)

Alabama Launchpad (Birmingham, AL) officially announced the 10 finalists for its Cycle 1 2026 pitch competition, continuing its role as a premier source of non-dilutive capital in the state. (Alabama Launchpad)

NC IDEA (Durham, NC) selected 21 semi-finalists from across the state for its Spring 2026 SEED grant cycle. Representing diverse sectors from agtech to SaaS, these startups are competing for $50,000 non-dilutive grants. The cohort features strong representation outside the traditional Research Triangle, demonstrating the statewide impact of grassroots support networks. (NC IDEA)

Hardware Park (Birmingham, AL) launched a Biodesign Fellowship for early-career engineers and designers to pursue medical device work and product development with Birmingham-based startups. (LinkedIn)

RevTech Labs (Charlotte, NC) announced the participants in its upcoming RevTech Labs Accelerator Cohort 24. The program will amplify the fintech and AI startup community through ongoing ecosystem engagement and its open accelerator applications. (RevTech Labs)

City Detect (Tuscaloosa, AL) was highlighted for using AI-powered cameras on municipal vehicles to automatically detect blight. By mounting computer vision systems onto existing fleets like garbage trucks, the company creates real-time, actionable maps of code violations and potholes, allowing local governments to proactively optimize public works resources and maintain neighborhood safety. (TechCrunch)

Events & Programming

Upcoming Events

Edward K. Aldag Jr. Student Business Plan Competition (Tuscaloosa, AL) coming up on April 8-10 will connect University of Alabama student entrepreneurs with capital and mentorship. (University of Alabama)

Mississippi State University Startup Summit (Starkville, MS) on April 10 is approaching, offering cash prizes and widespread recognition to student and community founders pitching new business ideas. (WLBT)

Wiregrass Pitch Competition (Dothan, AL) hosted by Halogen Ventures, BioAlabama and HudsonAlpha will take place April 16 at the new Wiregrass Innovation Center. Top life science founders will compete for up to $50,000 from Halogen Ventures. (Halogen Ventures)

Southeast Venture Showcase (Nashville, TN) – April 20-21. This exclusive showcase empowers research universities and federal labs across the Southeast to present their most promising, investable technology ventures to the nation’s venture community. (Southeast Venture Showcase)

Raleigh-Durham Startup Week (Raleigh-Durham, NC) – April 20-24. A five-day regional movement featuring over 50 sessions designed to connect, support, and celebrate the vibrant entrepreneurial community across the Triangle area. (Raleigh-Durham Startup Week)

Seed The South (Charlotte, NC) – May 18-19. Innovate Charlotte’s official capital summit returns to facilitate high-powered connections among founders, funders, and support organizations, empowering emerging talent across the region. Build In SE’s Monique Villa Capra will be a part of the event’s Selection Committee for the $100K pitch competition. (Seed The South)

Fintech + Insurtech Generations (Charlotte, NC) – June 10. Hosted by RevTech Labs as the anchor event of Charlotte Fintech Week, this premier conference connects entrepreneurs, investors, and corporate leaders shaping the future of finance and insurance. Build In SE subscribers can use code BUILDSE25 for a 25% discount on registration. (Fintech + Insurtech Generations)

Opportunities

The Bean Path Pitch Competition (Jackson, MS) in Mississippi is officially kicking off its 2026 cohort, continuing to accelerate high-growth Mississippi startups. Applications for the program are due April 4. (LinkedIn)

SBCN Startup Showdown (North Carolina) launched a new statewide pitch competition inviting aspiring entrepreneurs to compete for up to $30,000 in unrestricted startup funding. Applications close on April 7. (WNC Business)

Voltage Startup Program (Birmingham, AL) by Innovation Depot is accepting applications for its Spring 2026 cohort, guiding idea-stage founders to their first prototype. Applications are due ahead of the program’s April 8 kick-off. (Innovation Depot)

Sloss Tech Ideas (Birmingham, AL) is actively accepting applications for founders to showcase their innovations at the upcoming summer festival. Applications will be accepted through April 10. (LinkedIn)

gener8tor gBETA / Spark Huntsville (Huntsville, AL) is actively recruiting for its next cohort, offering an equity-free accelerator experience for early-stage startups in North Alabama. Applications are being accepted on a rolling basis. (gener8tor)

Alexandria Tech Accelerator (Alexandria, VA) is a new $200K accelerator program by the Alexandria Economic Development Partnership designed to spur tech innovation and keep founders in Northern Virginia. (Washington Business Journal)

Resources & Reads

NC TECH (Raleigh, NC) released its highly anticipated “State of Tech 2026” report, offering a comprehensive look into the trends shaping North Carolina’s innovation economy. The brief unpacks key metrics on tech job growth, emerging sub-sectors, and the state’s competitive edge on a national scale. (WRAL TechWire)

Innovate Mississippi (Jackson, MS) explored how the mCity innovation hub is successfully connecting university-level academic ideas with local entrepreneurs via tech transfer and other methods. Their new feature details how this collaborative “research-to-revenue” pipeline is translating lab discoveries into viable, high-growth commercial ventures across the state. (Innovate Mississippi)

Gulf South Angels highlighted the rapidly growing startup and angel investing ecosystem in Mobile, AL. Their recent deep-dive proves that early-stage capital is penetrating new markets in the Southeast, showcasing how collaborative coastal communities are cultivating rich environments for tech founders outside traditional hubs. (Gulf South Angels)

The Greater Nashville Private Capital Association (Nashville, TN) shared its comprehensive 2025 Impact Report. The data highlights a remarkable surge in private capital activity across Tennessee, detailing the profound economic ripple effects of local investments and the state’s growing influence on the broader regional economy. (GNPCA)

Our friend Charlton Cunningham reflected on his extensive career in ecosystem building in a compelling new piece. He shares actionable insights on how he is rethinking regional innovation strategies to intentionally drive equitable startup growth and capital access outside of traditional, oversaturated coastal tech hubs. (ESHIP)

Thanks for reading! If you have reactions or feedback, suggestions for future newsletters, or want to get in touch, email ryan@buildinse.com.

Charlotte has become one of the Southeast’s most dynamic startup hubs, combining the infrastructure of a major metro (2.8 million people, 7 Fortune 500 companies, 6th busiest airport in the US) with the collaboration and affordability that larger coastal cities have lost. In recent years, Charlotte has hit milestones that signal real momentum:

• 22,500 tech jobs created in recent years

• 15% tech workforce growth since 2021

• #10 in Milken Institute’s Best Performing Cities (up from #31 in 2022)

• $1.2 billion in startup funding raised in 2023/2024

• The Pearl innovation district opened in 2025, establishing Charlotte as a health innovation destination

• Housing Innovation Summit coming in 2026, positioning Charlotte as a national leader in housing tech and affordability

Charlotte isn’t trying to be Silicon Valley or the Research Triangle. We’re building something different here: a place where banking expertise meets genuine curiosity about what’s next, where you can recruit experienced talent without competing with every tech company for the same people, and where the cost of living lets you focus on building rather than fundraising for basic operations.

Mark your calendar for Seed the South Capital Summit (May 18-19, 2026), Charlotte’s signature venture event bringing together hundreds of Southeast founders, investors, and ecosystem builders for two days of pitches, networking, and community celebration.

This guide will help you navigate Charlotte’s entrepreneurial landscape and connect with the resources that matter, and is part of Build In SE’s broader list of Startup Guides for cities in the region.

Why Charlotte?

Strategic Location: Charlotte Douglas International Airport is the 6th busiest in the US, putting you within a 2-hour flight of 80% of the US population. We’re at the crossroads of the Southeast with easy access to major markets.

Thriving Economy: Seven Fortune 500 companies call Charlotte home: Bank of America, Lowe’s, Duke Energy, Nucor, Honeywell, Brighthouse Financial, and Sealed Air. That means potential customers, partners, and experienced talent all in one place.

Quality of Life: Affordable housing compared to other tech hubs, year-round mild weather, excellent schools, and proximity to both mountains (2 hours) and beaches (3.5 hours). It’s a place where your team can actually afford to live.

Industry Strengths: Fintech (building on banking heritage), health innovation (The Pearl district), housing tech (2026-2027 Summit & Challenge), cybersecurity, enterprise software, and AI.

Talent Pipeline: Over 50,000 tech workers and growing. UNC Charlotte is now an R1 Research Institution. Add Davidson College, Queens University, Johnson C. Smith University, and Wake Forest’s Charlotte programs, plus access to nearby Research Triangle talent (Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill, NC State), and you have multiple recruiting channels.

From Banking Capital to Innovation Hub

Charlotte’s startup ecosystem grew out of decades of financial services leadership. Bank mergers throughout the 1980s-2000s established the city as the nation’s second-largest banking center, creating a deep bench of talent who understood complex B2B sales, regulatory compliance, and scaling operations.

That talent pool became the foundation for entrepreneurship. Doug Lebda launched LendingTree from his Charlotte apartment in 1996. Michael Praeger and co-founders started AvidXchange in 2000. When AvidXchange hit unicorn status in 2017, the ecosystem started to believe. When it sold for $2.2 billion in 2025, that belief became conviction.

Today, Charlotte has moved beyond fintech alone. While financial services still shape the ecosystem, startups now span health innovation, housing technology, cybersecurity, enterprise software, and AI. Initiatives like The Pearl innovation district and the Housing Innovation Summit reflect a deliberate effort to diversify the city’s innovation economy while retaining its enterprise roots.

Why This Matters for Founders

Charlotte offers access to enterprise knowledge without locking founders into a single industry - so whether you’re building fintech, health tech, housing solutions, or B2B software, you’ll find mentors and customers who understand long sales cycles, regulatory environments, and scaling with large organizations.

Charlotte’s Tech Ecosystem in 2025

Charlotte’s entrepreneurial ecosystem continues to mature across a range of sectors, from its long-established financial services strength to other burgeoning industries.

Fintech: Charlotte ranks among the top 10 global ecosystems for fintech startups in regions under 3 million population. Organizations like RevTech Labs and LaunchCLT connect banking veterans with new founders. The decades of financial services leadership created a unique foundation that’s still paying dividends.

Health Innovation: The Pearl opened in 2025, featuring Wake Forest University School of Medicine’s Charlotte campus, IRCAD North America (a world-class surgical training center), research facilities, and space for health tech companies. This is transformational for Charlotte’s ecosystem.

Housing Innovation: Charlotte will host the 2026 Housing Innovation Summit and the Housing Innovation Challenge (2026-2027), establishing the city as a national leader in housing technology and affordability solutions.

Cybersecurity & Enterprise Software: Growing clusters of B2B software companies serving financial services, healthcare, and enterprise markets. The banking background helps here. Founders understand long sales cycles and complex procurement processes.

Artificial Intelligence: Increasing focus on AI-powered solutions across verticals, with support from accelerators like gBETA Charlotte, CO.STARTERS and growing investment activity.

The ecosystem benefits from strong support organizations, a collaborative community, and increasing investment activity. Charlotte Angel Fund has deployed $11 million across 32 investments since 2014, and The Charlotte Fund has become one of the most active local investors with 16 investments in Charlotte metro companies.

Startups to Watch

Charlotte is home to exciting and innovative startups making an impact across multiple industries. Here are some of the most promising companies to watch:

Established Success Stories

AvidXchange: Accounts payable automation software serving middle-market businesses. Acquired by TPG and Corpay for $2.2 billion in October 2025, now private. Proved Charlotte could produce billion-dollar exits.

LendingTree: Online lending marketplace founded in Charlotte in the 1990s, now publicly traded and a pillar of the community.

Passport: Mobility and curb management software serving 800+ cities across North America. Raised nearly $200 million and spawned the “Passport Mafia” – former employees who have launched over a dozen Charlotte startups.

Fast-Growing Companies

Fastbreak: AI-powered sports scheduling and operations platform serving NBA, WNBA, NHL, and SEC. Founded in 2022 by John Stewart (who sold MapAnything to Salesforce), Fastbreak raised $45.2 million and works with clients like Steph Curry, Greg Olsen, and Luke Kuechly as investors. Recently acquired Barcelogic and has grown to nearly 90 employees.

Top Tier Solar: Family-owned residential solar company ranked #4 on Inc. 5000 in 2024 with 41,101% three-year growth. Founded in 2019 by brothers Samuel and Jacob Van Wynen. The fastest-growing vertically integrated solar company in the nation, operating across nine states.

DebtBook: Debt management software for governments and institutions. Inc. 5000 #252 in 2025 (previously #39 in 2024). Raised $20 million Series A across two rounds. Serves over 2,100 state and local governments, higher education institutions, and healthcare organizations.

MedShift: Medical technology platform providing SaaS solutions for aesthetic medical device manufacturers and practices. Founded in 2015, ranked #185 on Inc. 5000 in 2020. Recently secured institutional debt financing after realizing a $45 million investment. Offers Connected Device (IoT), enterprise software (Velocity Technology Suite), device subscriptions, and an online marketplace.

Lucid Bots: Robotics and automation solutions, highlighted by the company’s Sherpa Drone and Lavo AI offerings. Lucid was recognized in the Inc. 5000 as #143 in 2024.

Already Autism Health: An autism and developmentally focused healthcare services platform; recognized in Inc. 5000 as #132 in 2024.

PetScreening: Technology platform for pet-friendly housing management (Deloitte Fast 500 company, based in Mooresville).

RunPod: GPU cloud computing platform for AI/ML with Charlotte office in NoDa. Raised $20 million seed from Intel Capital and Dell. Named to Forbes “Next Billion-Dollar Startups” 2024.

Recent gBETA Charlotte Graduates

gBETA Charlotte is a free, seven-week accelerator from gener8tor focused on early-stage startups. Two cohorts have collectively raised $820,000+ in funding and created 50+ jobs since the program launched in 2024.

2024 Cohort:

• Auditrol: Fintech platform simplifying data compliance for financial services

• Ryse: AI-powered assistance platform helping families navigate K-12 school selection options

• Graphio.ai: Team dynamics and decision-making analytics platform for sales and marketing teams

• Msg2ai (Rethink Labs): AI text message concierge humanizing hospitality and event experiences

• Tada AI: Payroll services platform with customer sentiment analysis for improving retention

2025 Cohort:

• FlightSuite.ai: AI-powered sales automation platform; 40+ users and $7,200+ MRR since February 2025 launch

• Codd AI: Data intelligence platform turning complex data into actionable insights; 15+ demos underway

• Troodie: Restaurant marketing platform connecting restaurants with influencers; 250+ restaurant partnerships

• OpenScope Health: On-demand health check platform; 12K users in 3 months, $1K MRR

• Touio: End-to-end IoT SaaS platform; 20+ SaaS clients with $16K+ ARR since 2025 launch

Resources for Startups

Securing funding is critical for startup growth. Charlotte offers a range of resources for entrepreneurs at every stage:

Private Capital

Provider/Program | Industry Focus | Stage

• The Charlotte Fund | Technology | Pre-seed, Seed

• Creative Co Capital | Creative Industries | Seed, Growth

• RevTech Labs Capital | Fintech | Early-Stage

• TFX Capital | Technology | Growth

• Defiance Ventures | B2B | Early-Stage

• Truist Ventures | Fintech | Early-Stage

• Compass Digital Ventures | Hospitality, Food Services | Early-Stage

• Home Technology Ventures (HTV) | Prop Tech | Early-Stage

• Frontier Growth | SaaS, Tech-enabled Services | Growth

• Pamlico Capital | Middle Market | Growth, Buyout

• Falfurrias Capital | Software, Business Services | Growth

• Equilibrium Impact Ventures | Impact-focused | Seed, Series A

• SJF Ventures | Healthier, Smarter, Cleaner Future | Growth

• Plexus Capital | Various | Acquisitions, Buyouts, Growth

Angel Groups

Provider/Program | Industry Focus | Stage

• VentureSouth | Southeast | Pre-Seed, Seed

• Charlotte Angel Fund | Agnostic | Pre-Seed, Seed (Deployed $11 million across 32 investments since 2014)

• Harvard Alumni Angels of Charlotte | Various | Early-Stage

Incubators and Accelerators

Provider/Program | Industry Focus | Stage

• gALPHA Charlotte (gener8tor) | Technology | Early-Stage

• gBETA Charlotte (gener8tor) | Technology | Pre-Seed

• RevTech Labs | Fintech & Insurtech | Early-Stage

• Joules Accelerator | Cleantech, Energy | Early-Stage

• EO Accelerator | Agnostic ($1M+ revenue) | Growth

Learn more about Charlotte investors and other capital sources across the region at Build In SE’s Southeast Capital Landscape.

Grants & Support Programs

• NC IDEA Seed Grants: $50,000 grants for NC-based startups with growth potential. Charlotte companies have won 18% of grants since 2016, the highest of any city in the state. NC IDEA also offers $10,000 MICRO grants for very early-stage companies.

• SBIR/STTR Grants: Federal grants for research commercialization. Charlotte companies averaged $12.5 million annually from 2019-2023.

• Aspire Community Capital: Capital and support for underserved communities

• Scale Up CLT: A collaborative business accelerator offered in partnership with the CLT Alliance Foundation, Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) Charlotte, and the City of Charlotte.

• The Boost Pad: Early-stage support committed to transforming innovative ideas into sustainable enterprises and enhancing economic mobility in Charlotte

• AMP Up Charlotte: Acceleration programs powered by Interise and the City of Charlotte

Coworking & Innovation Spaces

Collaborative workspaces matter for building community and making connections. Charlotte offers numerous options:

Core Coworking Spaces:

• Tabbris Coworking (South End): Active community hub in Charlotte’s trendy South End neighborhood. Known for strong networking and regular community events. Good place to meet other founders.

• Hygge Coworking (Multiple locations): Over 200 members across South End, Elizabeth, and Plaza Midwood locations. Community-focused with emphasis on connection and collaboration. Danish-inspired design.

• The Mill (South End): Industrial-modern aesthetic across Charlotte. Flexible membership options. Part of South End’s growing tech corridor.

• CoCoTiv (Park Road): Flexible workspace in Park Road Shopping Center. More suburban location.

• Serendipity Labs (Multiple locations): Premium workspace and meeting rooms with professional amenities. More corporate feel.

• Venture X - The Refinery: Flexible office and coworking near uptown. Upscale facilities, great view of the city.

• Alchemy Cowork (Plaza Midwood): Creative community space in the artistic Plaza Midwood neighborhood. Good for creative founders.

University-Based Spaces:

• The Hurt Hub (Davidson College): Innovation and entrepreneurship center about 20 minutes north of Charlotte. Provides programming, mentorship, and resources for Davidson students and the broader community. Strong track record of supporting student founders.

• CO-LAB (UNC Charlotte Center City): Executive education, events, and coworking space in Charlotte’s Center City. Provides access to UNC Charlotte resources in an urban setting.

Innovation Districts:

• The Pearl is an innovation district that opened in 2025. Features Wake Forest University School of Medicine’s Charlotte campus, IRCAD North America (surgical training center), research facilities, and space for health tech startups. This is a transformational development for Charlotte’s ecosystem.

• South End: Growing tech and creative district with numerous coworking options, breweries, and a vibrant startup community. The neighborhood has become Charlotte’s de facto startup district.

• North Tryon Tech Hub: Emerging innovation district in Uptown Charlotte spanning 60 acres across a 50-square-block area. Anchored by UNC Charlotte with focus on AI, ML, cybersecurity, energy, and fintech. Home to organizations like EO Charlotte, gener8tor, RevTech Labs, and The Boost Pad.

Key Organizations

Several organizations play pivotal roles in supporting Charlotte’s startup ecosystem:

Ecosystem Builders:

• Innovate Charlotte: Charlotte’s central organization fostering the innovation-driven entrepreneurial ecosystem. Hosts events (PitchBreakfast, Seed The South, Global Entrepreneurship Week), collects data, connects founders to capital, and tells ecosystem stories.

• LaunchCLT: Connects founders with mentors and resources using MIT’s Venture Mentoring Service methodology. Offers free, confidential mentorship for entrepreneurs with validated ideas and initial traction.

• Charlotte Regional Business Alliance: Economic development and business support across the region.

Entrepreneurship Centers:

• Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation at UNC Charlotte: Student and community entrepreneurship programming, competitions, and resources at Charlotte’s R1 Research Institution.

• The Hurt Hub at Davidson College: Student and community entrepreneurship programming, competitions, and resources at Davidson.

• Wake Forest Charlotte Campus: Student and community entrepreneurship programming, competitions, and resources.

Industry-Specific:

• Housing Innovation Alliance: National housing innovation network headquartered in Charlotte. Hosting 2026 Summit & Challenge.

• NC Biotech: Life sciences support across North Carolina including grants, loans, and industry connections.

Diversity & Inclusion:

• CLT Alliance Foundation: Community and economic development initiatives.

• gWen (growing women entrepreneurs network): Supporting women founders through programming, mentorship, and community. Active and growing organization.

• Carolina Women+ in Tech: Community for women in technology offering networking, mentorship, and career support.

• NAWBO Charlotte (National Association of Women Business Owners): Networking and resources for women business owners.

• Blacks In Technology: Supporting Black tech professionals and entrepreneurs.

• Prospera: Supporting Hispanic/Latino entrepreneurs.

• Operation HOPE 1MBB (One Million Black Businesses): Supporting Black entrepreneurship and financial literacy.

Small Business Support:

• SBTDC (Small Business & Technology Development Center): Statewide support network with Charlotte presence. Free business advising and resources.

Networking Events & Community

Building connections matters in Charlotte. The community is collaborative and welcoming to newcomers. Here’s where to plug in:

Regular Events:

• PitchBreakfast (monthly): Three founders pitch to a panel of investors and receive live feedback in front of the community. Free to attend, breakfast and coffee included. One of the best ways to get oriented with Charlotte’s ecosystem. Register at pitchbreakfast.com

• Founders & Funders Happy Hour (quarterly): Networking for startup community. Mix of founders, investors, and ecosystem supporters.

• Intro to the Charlotte Startup Community (quarterly): Information session for newcomers. Good first stop if you’re new to Charlotte.

• One Million Cups Lake Norman: Entrepreneur presentations and community feedback. Weekly gathering to support local founders.

• PayCLT: Payment industry networking. Leverages Charlotte’s fintech strength.

Membership Organizations:

• Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO Charlotte): Peer-to-peer learning for entrepreneurs with $1 million+ in revenue. Global organization with an active Charlotte chapter.

• Tech Leaders Forum of Charlotte: Technology executive community. Regular meetings and discussions on tech leadership topics.

Annual Signature Events:

• Seed the South Capital Summit (annual, May 18-19, 2026): Charlotte’s premier two-day venture capital event bringing together hundreds of founders, investors, and ecosystem partners from across the Southeast. Features pitch competitions, networking, and community celebration.

• Venture135: A premier venture capital conference focusing on generating quality deal flow and innovation across the fintech and insurtech verticals.

• Charlotte Fintech Week: Anchored by the Fintech + Insurtech Generations Conference, Charlotte Fintech Week will showcase the best of the region’s thriving and long-established fintech ecosystem.

• Global Entrepreneurship Week Charlotte: a week-long celebration of entrepreneurship with dozens of events across the city.

• Housing Innovation Summit (2026): Major national housing innovation event coming to Charlotte. Part of the Housing Innovation Challenge.

Local Media & Information

Stay informed about Charlotte’s startup ecosystem by following Charlotte and North Carolina sources:

Innovate Charlotte Essentials: Biweekly newsletter covering Charlotte startups, ecosystem events, funding opportunities, and resources. Reaches 3,900+ subscribers. Sign up at innovatecharlotte.org

Charlotte Business Journal: Weekly publication covering business news, including startups and tech. Standard business journal format.

Charlotte Ledger: Daily e-newsletter with local business news and insights. Good for staying current.

GrepBeat: North Carolina tech and startup news covering the broader state ecosystem. Excellent reporting on NC startups.

NC TECH: North Carolina Technology Industry Association with news, events, and resources.

Food, Drink, and Lifestyle Highlights

Charlotte combines big-city amenities with Southern hospitality. Here’s what makes the city special beyond the startup scene:

Neighborhoods

South End: Charlotte’s brewery district and emerging tech hub. Home to most coworking spaces, dozens of restaurants, and the LYNX light rail. Where many founders live and work.

NoDa (North Davidson): Arts and creative district. Galleries, music venues, breweries, and an eclectic vibe. Good for creative founders.

Plaza Midwood: Eclectic neighborhood known for dive bars, live music, vintage shops, and diverse restaurants. Young professional crowd.

Uptown: Charlotte’s downtown with banking headquarters, sports venues, and the emerging North Tryon Tech Hub. Increasingly residential with new development.

Dilworth: Historic neighborhood with tree-lined streets, older homes, and local restaurants. More family-oriented.

Coffee Shops (where deals get done)

Undercurrent Coffee: Multiple locations, specialty coffee, good for meetings.

Not Just Coffee: Local roaster with welcoming atmosphere.

Amélie’s French Bakery: 24-hour French bakery and café, multiple locations. Late-night work sessions.

Summit Coffee: Local favorite with strong community vibe.

Waterbean Coffee: Roastery and café in NoDa.

Breweries (30+ in Charlotte)

Legion Brewing: Multiple locations, popular with startup crowd, good food.

NoDa Brewing Company: Established NoDa brewery, community gathering spot.

Wooden Robot: South End brewery with Belgian-style focus.

Olde Mecklenburg Brewery: German-style lagers, biergarten atmosphere.

Resident Culture: South End brewery with strong community following.

Restaurants

Casual Meetings:

• Amélie’s French Bakery: French café, all-day meetings

• Mellow Mushroom: Pizza, casual atmosphere

• Soul Gastrolounge: Upscale Southern, good for lunch meetings

• Fuel Pizza: Local chain, quick and casual

Investor Dinners:

• Stagioni: Italian, upscale South End

• The Cellar at Duckworth’s: Upscale American

• Carpe Diem: Fine dining, Uptown

• Fig Tree Restaurant: Elegant Southern, special occasions

• Good Food on Montford: Upscale farm-to-table

Outdoor & Recreation

U.S. National Whitewater Center: World-class outdoor recreation facility 15 minutes from Uptown. Whitewater rafting, mountain biking, rock climbing, trail running. Unique Charlotte asset.

Lake Norman: 30 minutes north, boating, water sports, lakeside dining.

Mountains: 2 hours west to Asheville and Blue Ridge Parkway.

Beaches: 3.5 hours east to Carolina coast.

Sports & Entertainment

Charlotte Hornets (NBA): Professional basketball at Spectrum Center.

Carolina Panthers (NFL): Professional football at Bank of America Stadium.

Charlotte FC (MLS): Professional soccer at Bank of America Stadium.

Charlotte Knights (AAA Baseball): Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox.

Music Venues: The Fillmore, Amos’ Southend, The Underground, Neighborhood Theatre.

Museums: Mint Museum, Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, NASCAR Hall of Fame.

Why This Matters

Charlotte’s lifestyle creates natural opportunities for relationship building. The brewery scene hosts informal founder meetups. The Whitewater Center is where weekend warrior founders connect. Affordable housing means you can focus on building your company rather than covering basic living expenses. Charlotte offers big-city amenities and fertile ground for startup success, while maintaining an affordable cost of living - a unique blend and advantage.

About Your Guide

I’m Juan Garzón, Executive Director of Innovate Charlotte. I’ve spent years working to strengthen Charlotte’s innovation-driven entrepreneurial ecosystem—building connections, cultivating resources, and creating opportunities that help founders thrive.

At Innovate Charlotte, we take a comprehensive approach to ecosystem building. We host community-wide events like Seed the South Capital Summit and Global Entrepreneurship Week. We convene stakeholders through programs like PitchBreakfast and ecosystem roundtables. We collect data and map ecosystem participants. We connect founders to capital and other resources. We tell stories and promote the ecosystem.

The work matters because Charlotte’s ecosystem has come a long way. We’ve created 22,500 tech jobs, achieved 15% tech workforce growth since 2021, and jumped to #10 in the Milken Institute’s Best Performing Cities ranking (up from #31 in 2022). The Pearl opened in 2025, marking our transformation into a health innovation destination. The Housing Innovation Summit coming in 2026-2027 positions us as a national leader in housing technology.

But rankings and statistics don’t tell the whole story. What I see every day is a collaborative community of founders helping other founders, banking executives mentoring first-time entrepreneurs, and investors genuinely interested in building the ecosystem rather than just extracting returns.

Whether you’re a first-time founder, a relocating entrepreneur, or an investor exploring opportunities in the Southeast, I’m here to help you navigate Charlotte’s ecosystem and connect you with the resources you need to succeed.

Let’s build something amazing in Charlotte together!

Connect with me directly: juan@innovatecharlotte.org

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Ryan and Joe’s conversation covered a lot of ground, including:

• Joe’s upbringing in Virginia and path back to the Southeast

• His origin as an operator in tech, before making the jump to investing and co-founding Front Porch Venture Partners

• Front Porch’s unique hybrid structure, and the reasons for that structure

• The increasing quality of founders and startups in the Southeast, and the drivers of that quality

• How the Southeast was well-positioned to withstand downturns in the venture funding landscape over the last few years, and what comes next

• Pros and cons of building in the Southeast, and how to navigate the region’s innovation economy

• Trends and opportunities that Joe and Front Porch anticipate across regions, sectors, and technologies

To learn more, check out Front Porch Venture Partners.

Be sure to check out the full interview above, and read on for key excerpts from Ryan and Joe’s discussion.

Front Porch Venture Partners’ unique structure and strategy

Joe and his co-founders Nikin and Gregg organized Front Porch as a hybrid fund, investing directly in startups as well as in other venture managers. They viewed this as being a differentiator in multiple respects that would set the firm up for success.

We started a model where we would back funds who would specialize in components of tech, deep tech and healthcare across stages. And then we would leverage those relationships to try to get direct deal flow to cut checks… [We focused on the Southeast because] we really believe in the momentum of the region, the talent pool in the region…

[Gregg said early on], “Guys, if we’re going to do this, we’re going to do it the way that institutions do it. Because institutions are the groups that succeed in venture over the long run. And the way that they succeed is that they back really great fund managers. And then they leverage those relationships to get great deal flow.”…

There are hybrid models throughout New York and the Bay Area and other bigger venture ecosystems. We think we’re one of the few in the Southeast, but that over time, hopefully the connectivity that we provide across founders and funders is going to be valuable to the region.

This hybrid approach has allowed Front Porch to form strong relationships with startups and other investors alike, which positions them well to support other players in the ecosystem and benefit the Southeast - all while delivering great returns to their own LP base.

[We don’t lead rounds] because we don’t want to conflict with the fund of funds side of the business and always want to be viewed as a… complementary and collaborative check… We’ve had good fortune to be the first call for many of the funds that we’re investors in to be that check, but also funds that we have gotten to know… We’re to let the lead do the great work that the lead does, and we’re going to find ways to complement them and add value for the founding team.

There’s a growing appetite from a lot of folks to put more money into early stage innovation in the region… something that feels a little more real and durable and closer to home… The Southeast has the feature of, “Raleigh’s two hours from Charlotte, Charlotte’s two hours from Greenville, Greenville’s two hours from Atlanta, Atlanta’s two hours from Chattanooga.” These places are close to each other, and I think as the light bulb has turned on to how much under-capitalized innovation is present in the region. We’re seeing many more people come to try to both play their part in driving that forward as well as earn a return doing it.

Community and culture in Southeast entrepreneurship

The Southeast’s interconnected ecosystems can be a boon for founders and startups. While hubs like Raleigh-Durham, Nashville, Atlanta, Birmingham, Tampa, and others can sometimes feel disjointed, Joe argued that the region’s commonalities, connectivity, and culture can accelerate success.

Lean into how close these places are. The experience can differ, but I would say it doesn’t have to. It can differ if you’re just kind of building in one of these places and never leaving - and there are reasons to do that if you are heads-down trying to get something out the door. But as you’re building your network of customers and talent and funding partners, lean into the fact that it’s a two hour drive or a $99 flight. You can go same day to some of these places, right?

I think it’s true across the Southeast, it’s a very welcoming place where, if you go knock on somebody’s door, they’re going to have a conversation, try to give you their two cents and see where it goes. You could build in other places and feel very isolated because it’s a four hour flight and a 12 hour drive.

And then you take the sum of all those things and [the Southeast] spikes up the leaderboard that everybody watches around venture activity in the U.S. and even the world, and it certainly spikes up the list of many of the fastest growing venture ecosystems.

Differentiation in Southeast-based founders

While founders across the country faced challenges in a relatively stagnant funding environment in 2021 and 2022, Joe noted that the Southeast’s historically lighter venture scene actually prepared companies to weather that storm well.

The best founders in the Southeast [have] always been able to squeeze every value out of every dime that’s ever sat on their balance sheet. I think it’s almost in the water at this point, because you assume that you’re not going to have some windfall of capital, and you’re really careful with how you invest it. Sometimes people would argue that’s a negative, but I think throughout the last few years, that’s been really positive.

The companies that are coming out of kind of the “downturn” in venture in 2021 and 2022 are incredibly efficient and only getting more efficient with AI in their pocket. Code creation is continuing at a pace we’ve never seen before and at a cost we’ve never seen before. We believe we’re going to look back and just be blown away at the survivors of the last couple years, the value they create and the durability of what they create over the next decade.

Changing value creation and competitive dynamics in the age of AI

Given Joe’s front-row seat to Google’s Fiber business, we dove into his perspective on tech companies becoming more capitally intensive in the AI era, and where Joe and Front Porch Venture Partners see value and opportunity in the tech stack.

Our perspective is that… every kind of major, tectonic shift in terms of technology platforms starts with the system layer, which is a lot of the infrastructure. Then, you have a tools and utility, and then you have an application layer. That was true with electricity, it was true with connectivity, and it’s been true with cloud; and SaaS never happens without cloud, connectivity, electricity. Each of these cycles have tended to kind of stack on each other.

Over time, things that had previously been at the application layer, or at the tools and utility layer, start to smoosh down to the system layer, and benefit the new applications that are built on top of it. Our theory of this is that the system layer is going to get funded by all the big guys… They have every incentive to do so. They have big giant cloud businesses, and there’s going to be a handful of foundational LLMs that become best in class and stay best in class. And there’s all the incentives in the world as well as the balance sheets to fund that.

Things get more interesting as you go up. We see a lot of interesting things at that tools and utility layer, especially around data and how data gets managed and manipulated and controlled and secured... And then we see this really interesting setup where… today’s systems of records start to look a lot more like a utility that’s getting tapped into by all these new entrants. So you’re going to see those systems of record trying to punch up into these new kind AI innovations, and meanwhile some of these [AI newcomers] starting to punch down into the system of record layer.

I think we applaud and we will gladly take the benefit of the gazillion dollars that are going into the system layer. We will not spend a single dollar there. We’ll put all our dollars into the top, betting on some pretty deeply vertical things to emerge as durable, winners on the other side.

Despite tidal changes in modern day technologies, success and defensibility is largely determined by the value perceived by customer. And that is largely based by industry knowledge and familiarity, and customer relationships.

We always talk how “eval is the moat”. What we mean by that is, the customer evaluation of whether something worked well for them at the price they were charged is ultimately the deciding factor on who’s going to win… And being number one in terms of customer evaluation of the value you provide, we think creates something really durable…

Even if I could go create a business for some specific vertical, I’m not probably going to do it in the way that somebody from that vertical could. Nor am I going to have the relationships to go to market and really get off the ground and start to build a customer base that can stick with me and help me improve over time.

Builder’s Blueprint is a podcast series by Build In SE focused on telling the stories of the people bringing the Southeast’s startup community to life. Build In SE is a collaborative network of startup founders, funders, and ecosystem supporters who build in the Southeast.

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If you have thoughts, suggestions for future episodes, or want to get in touch, email ryan@buildinse.com.

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From Build In SE

We are continuing our mission to support and spotlight the organizations and individuals building the future in the Southeast. In our latest episode of the Builder’s Blueprint podcast, Build In SE’s Ryan Pellegrino sat down with Dan Roselli, co-founder of RevTech Labs and Packard Place in Charlotte. In this wide-ranging conversation, Dan shares his transition from the corporate world to startup investing, highlighting the critical role of storytelling for technical founding teams. He also unpacks Charlotte’s evolution from a pure banking town into a diverse, world-class tech ecosystem, his perspective on AI as a mechanism rather than a standalone solution, and the unique framing of entrepreneurship as an economic development “risk mitigation” strategy. Listen to the full interview here, or click the link below.

Funding & M&A

Honest Medical Group (Nashville, TN) raised $140M to advance value-based care solutions for health systems, equipping them with tools and financial models to improve clinical outcomes for Medicare populations. Honest Medical Group

Slate Medicines (Raleigh, NC) secured a $130M Series A led by RA Capital Management, Forbion, and Foresite Capital to develop novel pharmacological treatments for migraines and headache disorders. Axios

ILiAD Biotechnologies (Weston, FL) closed a $115M Series B led by RA Capital Management to further its development of advanced whooping cough vaccines. Fierce Biotech

Ubicquia (Fort Lauderdale, FL) raised a $106M Series D led by 67 Capital and Marunouchi Innovation Partners to expand its smart city and digital infrastructure platforms. Axios

SynthBee (Fort Lauderdale, FL) raised a $100M round led by Crosspoint Capital Partners to build out its collaborative intelligence platform aimed at enterprise innovation. PR Newswire

Urban SDK (Jacksonville, FL) raised a $65M Growth round from Riverwood to expand its civil analytics and mobility software for local governments. LinkedIn

DG Matrix (Morrisville, NC) secured a $60M Series A led by Engine Ventures to scale its solid-state transformer solutions for electrification and data centers. TechCrunch

GenLogs (Arlington, VA) landed a $60M Series B led by Battery Ventures to scale its freight intelligence and supply chain visibility platform. FreightWaves

Matia (Miami, FL) closed a $21M Series A led by Red Dot Capital Partners to enhance its unified data operations platform. Axios

Linq (Birmingham, AL) raised a $20M Series A led by TQ Ventures. Founded by former Shipt executives, the company is pivoting to provide AI messaging infrastructure for businesses via iMessage, SMS, and RCS. TechCrunch

Payra (Nashville, TN) announced a $15M growth investment from Edison Partners to modernize accounts receivable and ERP-native payments for construction and blue-collar suppliers. Business Wire

Croissant (Nashville, TN) raised $14M from Portage, Third Prime, and George Roberts to grow its fashion-focused fintech platform, which guarantees resale value for shoppers at checkout. WWD

Qualytics (Orlando, FL) secured an oversubscribed $10M Series A led by BMW i Ventures to meet surging enterprise demand for its AI-powered, augmented data quality platform. PR Newswire

Neural Earth (Miami, FL) landed a $9.3M Seed round to continue building its geospatial risk intelligence platform for defense and commercial sectors. Finsmes

ConnectMusic (Memphis, TN) announced an oversubscribed $7M Series A led by Rockmont Partners to scale its music rights monetization technology for independent creators. Memphis Business Journal

Dono (Palm Beach, FL) raised $6.5M in Seed funding led by Link Ventures to streamline and automate real estate workflows using its property records platform. Axios

Synply (Wilmington, NC) closed a Seed round and announced a strategic acquisition to fuel the growth of its fintech platform tailored to niche lending. Wilmington Biz

Maestro AI (Parkland, FL) secured $1.2M in Pre-Seed funding led by New Stack Ventures to build a vertical AI-powered platform for mortgage origination.

Hardshell AI (Arlington, VA) announced a $1.1M Pre-Seed round from Blue Ventures, Front Porch Venture Partners, CAV Angels, Mojo Ventures, and others to scale its automated, AI-driven compliance and cybersecurity solutions. LinkedIn

New & Notable Funds

Frist Cressey Ventures (Nashville, TN) announced the oversubscribed close of its $425M Fund IV, pushing total AUM near $1B. Led by former Senator Bill Frist, the firm focuses on early-stage healthcare companies reshaping care delivery through tech and AI-native models. Backed by strategic LPs like The Cigna Group Ventures, MedStar Health, and OhioHealth, FCV also unveiled the fifth class of its “FCV Collective,” an executive network designed to support founder growth and navigate healthcare policy. PR Newswire

Cofounders Capital (Cary, NC) is raising a $50M+ fund specifically aimed at accelerating early-stage AI companies across North Carolina and the broader Southeast U.S. LinkedIn

NC Tweener Fund (Durham, NC) officially launched through a strategic partnership between NC IDEA and the Triangle Tweener Fund. The rebrand signals broader, statewide support for scaling “Tweener” stage startups. The $4 million five-year limited partner investment will enable the Fund to broaden its investment mandate to support companies statewide under the rebranded name “NC Tweener Fund, Powered by NC IDEA.” The NC Tweener Fund will continue to co-invest in early-stage companies in North Carolina using an index-style approach, emphasizing a highly diversified portfolio of approximately $50,000 per investment. NC IDEA

The Dry Dock (Nashville, TN) officially launched as a new deep tech foundry and startup studio through a radical collaboration with Vanderbilt University. The initiative is designed to accelerate dual-use technologies and fuel early-stage defense tech innovation across the region. LinkedIn

Community Equity Ventures (Knoxville, TN) was launched by Community Equity Partners to provide strategic capital and operational support to underserved startups and founders across the “Interior Innovation Corridor”, the region stretching from the Great Lakes to the Gulf Coast and from the Appalachians to the Plains. Teknovation

Startup Milestones

NextGEN (Greenville, SC) announced the launch of SC NEXUS eiX, a new venture creation engine designed to move deep tech and energy resilience ideas from concept to commercialization. Supported by SC Commerce and SCRA, and powered by FedTech, this structured 15-month accelerator pairs local entrepreneurs with breakthrough technologies from federal laboratories. Rather than a traditional short-term program or pitch competition, eiX serves as critical, long-term infrastructure to actively build, incorporate, and scale high-growth companies right in South Carolina. NextGEN

Palantir (Miami, FL) officially relocated its corporate headquarters from Denver to Miami, citing the region’s favorable business climate. The multibillion-dollar move adds immense weight to South Florida’s enterprise AI and defense tech sector, and brings additional tech talent to the region. CNBC

GRVTY (Fairfax County, VA), an emerging defense technology company, announced it will establish its new headquarters in Fairfax County. The move will bring additional defense tech innovation and localized investment to the Northern Virginia ecosystem. Fairfax County EDA

National Innovation Quarter (Arlington, VA) officially announced the founding of its new innovation district, designed to serve as a centralized hub for dual-use and defense technology in the DMV area. The district is strategically positioned to bridge the critical gap between national security needs and commercial tech innovation, bringing together early-stage startups, established defense contractors, academic institutions, and federal agencies. LinkedIn

Events & Programming

Upcoming Events

Venture Connect (Raleigh, NC) – March 24-25. Hosted by CED, this leading conference brings together tech and biotech founders, operators, and investors to scale startups and forge meaningful connections across the Southeast. Venture Connect

Super South (Atlanta, GA) – March 30-April 1. This summit unites global visionaries, innovators, and policymakers to showcase sustainable technologies, foster a circular economy, and accelerate climate action. Super South

Southeast Venture Showcase (Nashville, TN) – April 20-21. This exclusive showcase empowers research universities and federal labs across the Southeast to present their most promising, investable technology ventures to the nation’s venture community. Southeast Venture Showcase

Raleigh-Durham Startup Week (Raleigh-Durham, NC) – April 20-24. A five-day regional movement featuring over 50 sessions designed to connect, support, and celebrate the vibrant entrepreneurial community across the Triangle area. Raleigh-Durham Startup Week

Seed The South (Charlotte, NC) – May 18-19. Innovate Charlotte’s official capital summit returns to facilitate high-powered connections among founders, funders, and support organizations, empowering emerging talent across the region. Build In SE’s Monique Villa Capra will be a part of the event’s Selection Committee for the $100K pitch competition. Seed The South

Fintech + Insurtech Generations (Charlotte, NC) – June 10. Hosted by RevTech Labs as the anchor event of Charlotte Fintech Week, this premier conference connects entrepreneurs, investors, and corporate leaders shaping the future of finance and insurance. Build In SE subscribers can use code BUILDSE25 for a 25% discount on registration. Fintech + Insurtech Generations

Opportunities

gener8tor (Birmingham, AL) is accepting applications for two specialized healthtech programs: gBETA Prosper HealthTech, a free, seven-week, no-equity incubator for early-stage companies, and the Prosper HealthTech Investment Accelerator, a 12-week program offering a $100K investment. Both programs connect founders with targeted mentorship, corporate partners, and a national investor network. LinkedIn

Sloss.Tech/Ideas (Birmingham, AL) is accepting applications for its Southeast Pitch Competition. Startups can compete for $135,000 in prizes, with applications open through April 10, 2026. Apply Here

Singing River Trail Launch Tank (Florence, AL) is accepting applications for its fifth annual “Shark Tank”-style pitch competition. North Alabama entrepreneurs can compete for up to $25,000 in cash and prizes, along with mentorship and regional support. Applications close March 22, 2026. LinkedIn

Arlington Economic Development (Arlington, VA) is currently accepting applications for its latest seed funding and innovation programs. Early-stage tech founders building in AI, cybersecurity or dual-use solutions in Northern Virginia can apply for non-dilutive capital and strategic support to accelerate their growth. LinkedIn

VIPC Entrepreneur in Residence (Richmond, VA) applications are open, offering seasoned founders the chance to mentor emerging tech startups across the Commonwealth. The program embeds seasoned entrepreneurs within Virginia’s research universities to accelerate the commercialization of high-potential innovations.. VIPC

gener8tor North Alabama (Huntsville, AL) is calling all founders in the region to apply for its upcoming accelerator cohort, providing crucial early-stage capital and coaching. Applications close March 8. LinkedIn

Resources & Reads

Revolution (Washington, D.C.) released a comprehensive new report titled “Invest Local: The State of Intra-State Investing,” shedding light on the critical role that regional capital plays in sustaining emerging tech hubs. The analysis details how local limited partners and state-focused venture funds are increasingly anchoring early-stage ecosystems across the country. For founders and investors in the Southeast, the data underscores the growing importance of localized funding mechanisms in bridging the early-stage capital gap and keeping high-growth companies rooted in their home states. Revolution

First Avenue Ventures (Birmingham, AL) released its 2025 Birmingham Ecosystem Annual Assessment. Put together by Principal Mike Goodrich, the report analyzes the health of the local entrepreneurial ecosystem, tracking 66 funded startups and drawing unique insights from a boots-on-the-ground perspective. First Avenue Ventures

Commercial Cafe released its 2026 ranking of the Best Southern Metros for Tech, highlighting the Southeast’s growing ecosystem dominance. Four North Carolina cities secured spots in the Top 20, with Raleigh at #3 overall; Huntsville, Atlanta, and Tampa also featured in the Top 10. Commercial Cafe

Overline VC (Atlanta, GA) Partner Sean O’Brien shared a compelling perspective on the Southeast venture landscape, emphasizing the region’s continued momentum, capital-efficient growth, and why the current market presents a unique opportunity for early-stage founders and investors. LinkedIn

Thanks for reading! If you have reactions or feedback, suggestions for future newsletters, or want to get in touch, email ryan@buildinse.com.

During the discussion, Dan covers a range of topics, including:

• His start in the corporate world and journey to startups and investing

• The importance of story-telling in startups, and how founding team members’ skillsets can complement one another

• How he assessed different opportunities to make an impact on the Charlotte community, and the formation of Packard Place and RevTech Labs

• Charlotte’s origins and evolution as a tech scene, and the upcoming Charlotte Fintech Week

• Trends in the Southeast venture landscape, the role of AI, and more

Check out the links below to learn more about Dan’s work:

• RevTech Labs and the RevTech Accelerator Program

• Charlotte Fintech Week (June 8-12, 2026) and RevTech Labs’ Fintech + Insurtech Generations Conference (June 10, 2026)

• Venture135 (November 19-20, 2026)

• Dan Roselli’s LinkedIn - Connect with him to join his community office hours

See below for highlights of some of the most insightful moments from Ryan and Dan’s discussion.

Emphasis on “founding teams” rather than solo entrepreneurs

Dan and his team at RevTech Labs tend to favor “founding teams”, rather than lone wolf founders, as those teams are able to bring complementary skillsets to the table - particularly as it relates to technical and non-technical skills.

You’ve probably seen some of the stats that talk about founding teams statistically have a much higher probability of being successful because founders bring hopefully complimentary skill sets, right? The classic dynamic of the kind of the front person, business person, and then the tech person. And when we have those kinds of dynamics in a founding team, hopefully at least one person has that ability to be the storyteller about what’s going on. And that [storytelling capability] makes it really successful.

I think we struggle with teams where maybe there’s only one founder and they’re a technical founder by nature or they’re both technical founders and they have to learn that [storytelling] skill a little bit. But at the end of the day, in a startup, the founders have to be able to tell the story.

Starting Packard Place and criteria for evaluating a career change

After spending time in at General Mills and Bank of America, and subsequently launching multiple startups, Dan and his wife Sarah wanted to be very intentional about their next move. They looked for gaps in the Charlotte ecosystem and laid out three criteria for determining what came next.

We really stepped back and said, why is Charlotte, why is the region, why is the country gonna be better for us having been here? And we looked at a lot of different things we could have done from going to teach, doing a nonprofit, doing another startup. And in the end, we had three criteria.

1. It had to be something we were really passionate about doing, because at least for me, I'm not any good at doing something I'm not passionate about.

2. It had to be something we were in a unique position to do; not everyone could go do. Many of the board positions were like that, right? But lots of people could have done it.

3. It had to have a real social incremental value to our community. And that idea of bringing together our community via physical space like Packard Place brought our entrepreneurship and tech community together in a way that just hadn't happened before that. And we often describe Packard Place as Charlotte's largest and most visible social entrepreneurship project in history.

RevTech’s fintech and insurtech origins, and Charlotte’s expansion into new sectors

Charlotte is and has been a banking town for decades - fintech and insurtech were logical starting points for startups looking to flourish in the area, and for RevTech’s accelerator program. But that sector focus allowed Charlotte to build momentum and recognition, which served as “the tip of the spear” as startups in different industries have since grown and thrived in the city.

We asked ourselves, where can we go and compete from Charlotte and win on a national and international level? And the answer for us was focusing on FinTech and InsureTech. Charlotte’s the second largest financial services capital in the US. Tens of thousands of potential mentors or entrepreneurs and the DNA that was in Charlotte was all there. And again, we didn’t create that DNA. All we did is rewire it slightly. So it not only served the big financial services companies, it served a startup financial services innovation ecosystem as well.

I think focusing on financial services was a great place to start… [And then], by 2015-ish, 2016-ish, we had founders in Charlotte complaining that, all people around the world know Charlotte for is Fintech innovation. And I’m like, and startups. I’m like, yeah, but four years ago, they didn’t know where Charlotte was on the map…

I think we've used FinTech as the tip of the spear for startups and technology ecosystem in Charlotte. I think you'll see that continue to expand… There's multiple segments where Charlotte is particularly deep in verticals. And I would argue for every community, one of the first things you should do is assess what does this community have and what's true and authentic to our DNA as a community and how do we build on that? And Charlotte's done a nice job.

Framing AI as the mechanism, not the solution

Given the rapid proliferation of AI tools, many founders are eager to call their startups “AI companies”. But Dan emphasizes that AI is a means to an end, and shouldn’t necessarily be the defining attribute of those startups.

When blockchain took over the fintech space and people were saying, “We have a blockchain company”. I’m like, “No, you don’t. You have a payments company that’s using a blockchain technology to enable a better way of getting it done.” The same is true with AI. There are very few true AI companies, like your ChatGPT or someone like that. But your regulatory compliance company is using AI as a more efficient method to spotting fraud in compliance. So we try and teach founders to talk in that language, versus coming out and saying they’re an AI company when they’re really not.

Current state of venture investing in the Southeast

Following a fervent venture landscape in 2021, things felt frozen in 2023 and 2024. Dan highlighted what that ebb and flow felt like, and how 2025 and 2026 have felt like more of a well-balanced steady state with high-quality, ready founders getting funded.

We came off an historic funding bubble in 2020 into 2021, and then came back down… I think things are flowing again. It had really felt like it had frozen up for a while, especially in liquidity events, but certainly sometimes in funding as well…

One of the things that happened during that timeframe when funding was a little tighter is a flight to quality. You saw fewer deals being done, but a little bit larger deals. So the companies that were highly investable were still getting funded… The founders that were ready to be funded still got funded. [Funding] went down 10 or 20 percent - it's not like funding decreased 80 percent, it just felt like that to founders. So I think we're… back to a normal steady state, which is great to see.

And there’s a correlation between how many deals are getting done and how many people are looking at it and how long people look to take in a deal. If there’s a lot of pressure and there’s a lot of money flowing, venture capital firms magically find a way to get deals done faster. If there’s not a lot of deals getting done, they kind of just drag out… I think we feel like we have [a] better supply and demand balance in the funding space than we did two years ago.

FIG, Charlotte Fintech Week, and Showcasing the City

RevTech Labs’ Fintech + Insurtech Generations event will serve as the anchor programming for the new Charlotte Fintech Week. Dan outlined those programming updates and how Charlotte has come into its own.

We’re actually making a pretty big change coming up here in 2026. We’re hosting our first holistic Charlotte Fintech Week, based off what some great communities like Boston and New York and others have done. So we’re taking our Fintech and Insurtech Generations event … and we’re using that as the anchor event on Wednesday, but then creating room in the week for other groups to host events…

With Charlotte Fintech Week and the events that we’ve done, you can really put Charlotte on an equal playing field with some of the best financial services ecosystems around the world - which [Charlotte] is. Sometimes it’s interesting, because we’re not the Valley. The Valley has its own culture, but sometimes in Charlotte and also even in the Southeast, we need to have a little bit more swagger in our step than we do and be a little more proud about the things that we’ve done as a community because we should be, and they are world-class. We want to show that off to the world in Charlotte Fintech Week.

Reframing entrepreneurship as an economic development “risk mitigation” strategy

Given Charlotte’s backdrop as a banking town, the city and its leaders had to take a different approach to spurring entrepreneurship - reframing that entrepreneurship as risk mitigation.

Charlotte had to have a different entrepreneurial journey than other cities, like maybe a Nashville or Detroit where there was more urgency. One of the things that really turned a corner for us… the Charlotte Chamber took a trip to Seattle and they saw that most of Seattle’s big companies weren’t around 50 years ago. This is around 2012, after the financial crisis, [when people were] willing to understand there’s some need.

We started presenting entrepreneurship and startups as a economic development risk mitigation strategy… So another leg of the economic development stool [is] growing organically these companies. And all of sudden, if you just use the language of the community, “entrepreneurship is risk mitigation”, which almost sounds like an oxymoron. But it resonated with the community in Charlotte. That’s part of how we were able to do what we needed to do. It’s finding the right story to tell that will resonate with the people you needed to resonate with.

Builder’s Blueprint is a podcast series by Build In SE focused on telling the stories of the people bringing the Southeast’s startup community to life. Build In SE is a collaborative network of startup founders, funders, and ecosystem supporters who build in the Southeast.

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The region wasted no time jumping back into action, with January delivering some of the largest funding headlines we’ve seen in recent months—including a massive $250M round in Miami, a $140M raise in Tennessee, and a $40M Series B in Virginia. From new ecosystem infrastructure in Alabama and Kentucky to major grant cycles opening in the Carolinas, the momentum is already building. Dive in for this month’s highlights.

From Build In SE

We are kicking off the year by updating our 2025 Southeast Capital Landscape database to ensure founders have the most accurate information on active investors in the region. If you missed the launch last month, you can access the full report and database here.

Additionally, we are deep in planning mode for our 2026 programming slate. Do you want us at your event? Or do you want to partner on bringing an event to life? Reach out to us at ryan@buildinse.com and we would love to connect!

Thanks for reading Build In SE! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support our work.

Funding & M&A

OpenEvidence (Miami, FL) raised a massive $250M Series D co-led by Thrive Capital and DST Global to scale its AI-powered medical search engine, which is already used by physicians at over 10,000 institutions. (The SaaS News)

Standard Nuclear (Knoxville, TN) secured $140M in new funding to accelerate the production of advanced nuclear reactor fuel, positioning the company as a key player in the nation’s clean energy supply chain. (NucNet)

AnswersNow (Richmond, VA) raised a $40M Series B led by HealthQuest Capital to double its clinician headcount and expand its virtual autism therapy services. (HLTH)

Thread Bank (Nashville, TN) secured $30.5M in funding led by Portage Ventures, with participation from Rockmont Partners, to continue scaling its embedded banking platform for small businesses and vertical SaaS companies. (SuperbCrew)

Biller Genie (Orlando, FL) secured a $22M Series B led by Radian Capital to accelerate the global expansion of its accounts receivable automation platform. (SuperbCrew)

Interos (Arlington, VA) raised $20M in new funding from Blue Owl Capital and Structural Capital to enhance its AI-powered supply chain risk management platform, bringing its total funding to over $300M. (Technical.ly)

Gridline (Atlanta, GA) raised an $18.5M Series A led by FINTOP Capital to expand its alternative investment platform, which simplifies access to private market funds for wealth managers and their clients. (LinkedIn)

Definity (Covington, KY) secured a $14M venture round to scale its SaaS platform, further solidifying Northern Kentucky’s reputation as a growing hub for enterprise software. (Hypepotamus)

One to One Health (Chattanooga, TN) received a $12M investment from Frist Cressey Ventures to scale its AI-enabled primary care platform for employers. (Business Wire)

MATERIAL (Miami, FL) raised $7.1M in Seed funding co-led by Outlander Ventures and Harpoon Ventures to revolutionize battery manufacturing with its 3D printing technology. (Refresh Miami)

Pull Logic (Atlanta, GA) landed a $3.3M Seed round to help manufacturers and retailers reduce lost sales through its AI-driven inventory optimization platform. (Pull Logic LinkedIn)

Titl (Miami, FL) raised a $2.5M Seed round led by Cofounders Capital and FIT Ventures to modernize property title verification using AI and blockchain technology. (Mann Publications)

Simparo Surgical (Mobile, AL) raised a $1M Seed round to advance the development of its novel surgical devices, marking a significant win for the Alabama medical device sector. (PitchBook)

Cloud Guidant (Lawrenceville, GA) closed a $500K Seed round to continue building its cloud computing solutions for enterprise clients. (Hypepotamus)

Pump for Joy (Davidson, NC) received an anchor $50K seed investment from Winston-Salem-based Equilibrium Impact Ventures via WeFunder. Pump for Joy is a mission-driven company developing biodegradable, single-use breast milk collection kits for working parents. (Equilibrium Impact Ventures)

Shappi (Chattanooga, TN) acquired Comparto Mi Maleta to solidify its position in the cross-border logistics market between the U.S. and Latin America. (Teknovation)

New & Notable Funds

Arlington Economic Development (Arlington, VA) announced its 2026 strategy for the Arlington Innovation Fund (AIF), focusing on scaling the region’s defense and dual-use technology ecosystem through targeted grants and ecosystem building. (Arlington Economic Development)

Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (Virginia) is launching its 2026 CCI+A funding cycle, offering “Catapult” and “Ascend” grants to help university researchers and early-stage startups commercialize cybersecurity innovations. (Virginia Tech)

Riley Capital announced the launch of its new venture fund, targeting early-stage healthcare ventures emerging from academic medical centers and research universities across the Carolinas. (Riley Capital LinkedIn)

Startup & Ecosystem Milestones

EcoLyfe (Atlanta, GA), a Georgia Tech student-founded startup, is partnering with utility providers in The Bahamas to deploy its smart grid technology, helping integrate renewables and reduce reliance on diesel. (Hypepotamus)

Whitecoat (Nashville, TN) announced significant momentum, landing contracts with the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association and securing $1.6M in total funding to scale its clinical workforce platform. (Teknovation)

BE NKY Growth Partnership (Northern KY) released its 2025 annual report, revealing that the region secured 15 major projects representing $425.5M in capital investment and nearly 2,000 new jobs last year. (NKyTribune)

Events & Programming

Upcoming

757 Build Weekend (Norfolk, VA) is returning on February 2-4 to bring together developers, designers, and creatives for a weekend of rapid prototyping and pitch competitions. (757 Collab)

Growth and Innovation Leaders Summit (Tuscaloosa, AL) will convene on February 6, bringing together C-level executives and leadership teams for a data-driven workshop. Designed as an executive education experience rather than a traditional conference, the one-day summit leverages new research, student consulting projects, and expert insights to help leaders drive growth within their organizations. (University of Alabama)

Florida Venture Capital Conference (Miami, FL) will be held February 23-25, 2026, bringing together over 1,000 attendees and 250+ investors for one of the largest venture gatherings in the Southeast. (Florida Venture Forum)

CED Venture Connect (Durham, NC) is set for March 24-25, 2026, offering a premier summit to connect high-growth companies with institutional capital. (CED NC)

Seed the South (Charlotte, NC) is set to take place May 18-19, 2026. The expanded two-day event will feature programming at Bank of America Stadium, bringing together the region’s top founders and investors. The event will feature the “Big Pitch” competition, and selected startups will compete for up to $100,000 in investment prizes from The Charlotte Fund; applications to pitch are open now. (Seed the South)

Completed

Startup Weekend Tuscaloosa (Tuscaloosa, AL) wrapped up on January 25, bringing together students and community members for a 54-hour sprint to build and pitch new business concepts at The EDGE. (The Crimson White)

Opportunities

RevTech Labs (Charlotte, NC) is accepting applications for its Class 24 Fintech & Insurtech accelerator. This 12-week hybrid program offers founders up to $120K in capital, a customized growth roadmap, and deep connections to Charlotte’s banking and insurance leaders. The program is tailored for post-revenue startups looking to scale through mentorship and strategic partnerships. The deadline to apply is January 30. (RevTech Labs)

Square One Startup School opened applications for its virtual pre-accelerator program, and is prioritizing pre-seed tech startups based in the U.S. Southeast. The 10-week, virtual-first program is designed to help early-stage tech founders build their first product, land their first customers, and secure their first investment. Founders have until February 13 to apply. (Square One)

NC IDEA has opened applications for its Spring 2026 Grant Cycle, including the MICRO ($10K) and SEED ($50K) grants. These non-dilutive grants are a critical source of early capital for North Carolina founders. Applications are open until February 23. (NC IDEA)

Startup Virginia (Richmond, VA) is accepting applications for its Idea Factory, a six-week program designed to help early-stage founders validate their business concepts through rigorous customer discovery. The hybrid program, running from March 16 to April 28, combines interactive workshops, mentorship, and real-world assignments to ensure solutions are grounded in actual customer insights rather than assumptions. Applications are due February 20. (Startup Virginia)

gener8tor (Huntsville, AL) is accepting applications for its SPARK program, a free, seven-week virtual accelerator designed to help early-stage founders validate their ideas and build their first product. The Spring 2026 cohort will run from March 10 through April 28, offering workshops, mentorship, and a clear pathway to future funding opportunities. Applications are due February 8. (gener8tor)

The University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa, AL) is partnering with Techstars to host two “Founder Catalyst” programs in 2026, focusing on water tech and sustainability, further integrating the university with the global venture network. (The Crimson White)

Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (Virginia) is accepting proposals for its commercialization funds. Researchers and founders in the cybersecurity space can apply for funding to move their technologies from the lab to the market. (Virginia Tech)

Resources & Reads

Nashville has been named the fastest-growing startup ecosystem in the world by PitchBook, ranking #1 globally for ecosystem growth between 2019 and 2025. According to the Q4 2025 Global VC Ecosystem Rankings, Nashville achieved a growth score of 68.2, outpacing international hubs and other U.S. contenders like Sacramento and Austin. This top ranking reflects the Music City’s surge in deal count, deal value, and exit momentum over the past six years, cementing its status as a premier destination for high-growth ventures. (Teknovation)

WilmingtonBiz published a thought-provoking piece on whether Wilmington can become the “Silicon Valley of the East Coast,” emphasizing the need for sustainable growth. (WilmingtonBiz)

Inc. Magazine highlighted how Alabama is fueling its startup boom through community-led initiatives and strategic investment, showcasing the state’s model for public-private partnership. (Inc.)

Virginia Economic Development Partnership spotlighted the Commonwealth’s efforts to become “America’s top state for talent”, citing its leading concentration of tech workers and education system. (VEDP)

Arlington Economic Development published “Building What’s Next,” a look at how the Arlington Innovation Fund will evolve in 2026 to better support founders in the defense and tech sectors. (Arlington Economic Development)

Carta’s Peter Walker continues to examine startup fundraising trends and geographic breakdowns, as highlighted in two new posts:

• Startup Ecosystem Rankings 2025, examining city-by-city capital investments overall and by sector

• Startup Ecosystem Maturity 2025, assessing capital raised by state overall and by sector

Thanks for reading! If you have reactions or feedback, suggestions for future newsletters, or want to get in touch, email ryan@buildinse.com.

From a massive $6B pharmaceutical investment in Alabama to a flurry of fundraises across Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, and more, December closed out the year with significant momentum. We also saw major event announcements and accelerator and pitch applications open up, setting the stage for a strong 2026. Dive in for this month’s highlights.

From Build In SE

We are thrilled to release our 2025 Southeast Capital Landscape report in partnership with Embarc Collective. This database is the definitive source on the region’s venture activity. What’s the headline for 2025? The region has matured. While the pace of new fund formation has normalized, the ecosystem is deeper than ever. There are now nearly 600 venture firms and capital providers active across the Southeast. Read the full report here.

And, if you missed our November update last month, you can read that full recap here.

Funding & M&A

Antithesis (Vienna, VA) raised a $105M Series A led by Jane Street (also a customer) to scale its autonomous testing platform, which helps developers find bugs in complex software systems by simulating real-world conditions. (PR Newswire)

Codoxo (Duluth, GA) raised a $35M Series C led by CVS Health Ventures to accelerate the deployment of its AI-driven payment integrity platform, which detects errors and fraud in healthcare claims. (Business Wire)

Thread (Nashville, TN) closed a $30.5M Series E to scale its decentralized clinical trial platform, furthering its mission to modernize how patients and providers participate in research. (Nashville Post)

SpecterOps (Alexandria, VA) secured $30M in Series B extension funding (totaling over $100M) to expand its attack path management platform, reflecting the region’s continued strength in cybersecurity. (BizJournals)

Looma (Durham, NC) raised a $13M Series B led by Staley Capital to expand its in-store digital media network, which brings storytelling and education to grocery aisles across 600+ Kroger locations. (FinSMEs)

Pryzm (Arlington, VA) emerged from stealth with $12.2M in Seed funding led by Andreessen Horowitz to modernize defense procurement with AI, bridging the gap between government needs and commercial tech. (Technical.ly)

AngelEye Health (Nashville, TN) secured a $9M Series C led by Mountain Group Partners to launch AIVision, an AI tool that provides NICU care teams with real-time, predictive patient insights. (Business Wire)

Reditus Space (Atlanta, GA) secured $7.1M in Seed funding to advance its “microgravity-as-a-service” model, developing reusable reentry vehicles for commercial space research. (Hypepotamus)

Feanix (AgTech) raised a $5.3M Seed round led by Initialized Capital to bring a new era of data-driven farming to the Southeast agriculture sector. (LinkedIn)

Opine (Durham, NC) raised a $5M Seed round led by S3 Ventures to build an AI-native workspace for revenue teams, streamlining complex B2B sales cycles from discovery to delivery. (Grepbeat)

BoodleBox (Great Falls, VA) raised $5M in Seed funding co-led by Dogwood Ventures and Osage Venture Partners to bring collaborative AI tools to higher education institutions. (EdTech Chronicle)

Mobius Materials (Richmond, VA) announced a $3M raise to scale its marketplace for surplus electronic components, helping manufacturers recover value and reduce waste in the semiconductor supply chain. (LinkedIn)

Violet (Nashville, TN) raised $2.6M led by founder Gabe Hart to fix pediatric therapy workflows, improving access and efficiency for specialized care providers. (LinkedIn)

FutureProof (Charlotte, NC) secured a strategic investment from Founder Capital and the Triangle Tweener Fund to accelerate its AI-powered financial intelligence platform for startups. (LinkedIn)

Lumexa Imaging (Charlottesville, VA) raised $463M in its IPO, a major exit for the region’s medtech sector and its backer Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe. (Reuters)

OneOncology (Nashville, TN) announced a transaction with Cencora and TPG, further solidifying its position as a national leader in community oncology care. (BizJournals)

Royal Cup Coffee & Tea (Birmingham, AL) entered a strategic partnership with Braemont Capital, positioning the historic beverage company for its next phase of growth. (PR Newswire)

New & Notable Funds

Health Velocity Capital (Nashville) is raising up to $300M for its third fund, continuing its focus on healthcare software and services. (Axios)

Rockmont Partners (Nashville) announced the oversubscription of its first fund, targeting lower middle-market companies with a focus on operational value creation. (LinkedIn)

Startup Milestones

The Huntsville, AL area had a highly active month for announcements, including:

• Eli Lilly announced a massive $6B investment in Huntsville, AL to build a manufacturing site for its weight-loss drugs. The facility will be located near HudsonAlpha, creating massive synergies for the region’s biotech ecosystem. (Yellowhammer News)

• HudsonAlpha & gener8tor (Huntsville, AL) kicked off their sixth AgTech cohort, continuing to drive innovation at the intersection of biology and technology. (LinkedIn)

• MidCity District (Huntsville, AL) unveiled its Arts + Innovation Subdistrict, a major mixed-use expansion that will house the gener8tor accelerator and serve as a hub for the city’s creative class. “The Innovation Campus, developed by the nonprofit Apollo Coalition, aims to provide a launchpad for startups and a home for the city’s tech and creative sectors.” (Axios)

• Titomic (Huntsville, AL) is expanding its footprint with a new manufacturing facility, leveraging the city’s aerospace and defense talent to scale its industrial 3D printing technology. (Axios)

spARK labs (St. Pete, FL), formerly the Tampa Bay Innovation Center, officially rebranded under the leadership of ARK Invest, sharpening its focus on disruptive tech like AI and blockchain. (LinkedIn)

Ryco.io (Tampa, FL) was profiled for its use of AI to build custom educational curricula, illustrating the growing edtech density in the Florida market. (LinkedIn)

LoanBud expanded its southeastern footprint with a new office in Fort Lauderdale, betting on South Florida’s talent pool for its lending operations. (FintecBuzz)

757 Collab (Hampton Roads, VA) celebrated another year of impact, showcasing the startups and founders driving the coastal Virginia ecosystem forward. (LinkedIn)

Events & Programming

Seed the South (Charlotte, NC) will be held at Bank of America Stadium on May 18-19 2026. Early bird tickets are now available for one of the region’s largest gatherings of investors and founders. (LinkedIn)

Women & Tech Conference (Huntington, WV) is set for February 13, 2026, focusing on empowering women leaders in the Appalachian tech ecosystem. (Luma)

Tuscaloosa, AL is home to two notable upcoming events:

• Startup Weekend (Tuscaloosa, AL) is coming to the Edge Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation in Tuscaloosa on January 23-25, 2026, offering students and locals a 54-hour sprint to launch new ventures. (Techstars)

• AEI Growth & Innovation Forum (Tuscaloosa, AL) will gather business leaders and entrepreneurs at the University of Alabama on February 6, 2026 to discuss strategies for scaling in the current economy. (University of Alabama)

BluVentures announced next year’s Cyber Venture Forum will be held May 6, 2026 at Capital One Hall in Tysons, VA. The event covers emerging trends, advanced technologies, and disruptive ideas in cybersecurity.. (Cyber Venture Forum)

Opportunities

RevTech Labs (Charlotte, NC) is calling for fintech and insurtech startups to apply for its next accelerator class, continuing its legacy of connecting founders with major financial institutions. (RevTech Labs)

CED Venture Connect (Raleigh, NC) has opened applications for companies to pitch at their 2026 summit. This is a premier opportunity to get in front of national investors. (CED NC)

Bluegrass AgTech Challenge (KY) is accepting applications for its 2025-2026 grant cycle, offering non-dilutive funding to startups solving critical agricultural problems. (Bluegrass AgTech)

Cox Cleantech Accelerator is seeking applicants for its next cohort, providing mentorship and pilot opportunities for startups in the energy and sustainability sectors. (LinkedIn)

Resources & Reads

Carta released its State of Seed 2025 report, offering critical data on valuations and deal terms that founders fundraising in Q1 need to know. (Carta)

Triangle Tweener Fund (Research Triangle Park, NC) released Part III of its analysis on the Triangle’s venture landscape, highlighting the continued resilience and maturation of the North Carolina market. (LinkedIn)

KSTC published the State of Startups Kentucky (Q1 FY26), detailing the commonwealth’s funding trends and emerging sector strengths. (KSTC)

Fast Company highlighted the landscape and range of programs in Virginia designed to foster entrepreneurship and startups, showcasing why the Commonwealth remains a top destination for tech talent and venture backing. (Fast Company)

CommercialSearch ranked the Top 20 Alternative Job Markets, with several Southeast cities making the list for their affordability and growing tech sectors. Wilmington, NC ranked #1 overall, and 10 other cities ranked in the top 20. (CommercialSearch)

LaunchTN shared their Q3 update, spotlighting InvestTN portfolio founders and providing a look at the diverse range of companies being built across Tennessee. (LaunchTN)

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Thanks for reading, and happy holidays! If you have reactions or feedback, suggestions for future newsletters, or want to get in touch, email ryan@buildinse.com.

The project is a collaboration between Build In SE, a community-driven platform increasing visibility, capital, knowledge, and connectivity for founders and investors, and Tampa-based Embarc Collective, Florida’s fastest-growing startup hub. Together, we publish the Landscape to spotlight the firms shaping the Southeast and highlight the dynamics that set the region apart from other U.S. venture markets. Now in its sixth year, the Landscape has become a trusted reference point for stakeholders across the region. The 2025 edition builds on that foundation, surfacing not only data on firm activity but also the stories and signals that define today’s Southeastern startup ecosystem.

By The Numbers

In 2025, there are nearly 600 venture capital firms and capital providers based or with significant presence in the Southeast. This number has ticked up steadily over time, and though the pace of net new firms has slowed since 2023, the region continues to be well-represented in the startup funding world.

Florida leads the region with 176 firms, followed by Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, and North Carolina rounding out the top five. Atlanta takes the top spot for cities, followed by Miami and Nashville.

View the whole database and interactive dashboards by visiting the Southeast Capital Landscape site page, and keep reading to get a sense of the trends underpinning capital in the Southeast.

Trend 1: From New Fund Formation to Sustainable Deployment

During the boom years of 2021 and 2022, the Southeast saw a wave of new venture firm formation – a rush of first-time micro-VCs, seed funds, and outposts of coastal firms looking to capitalize on the region’s growth amidst the COVID pandemic and other trends. Now, the pendulum has swung from rapid proliferation toward a focus on deploying capital sustainably and supporting existing funds. In short, the emphasis has shifted from “more funds” to “more funding” (from established vehicles) for startups. Data underscores this transition. The 2024 Southeast Capital Landscape report noted well over 100 new firms added since 2020, but in the past year the pace of new fund launches has cooled markedly. Nationwide, first-time VC fundraising has dropped sharply – the number of new U.S. venture funds raised in 2024 fell by 46% year-over-year (and 68% since 2021), and the count of first-time funds sunk to its lowest point in a decade (57% lower than 2023). The median time to close a VC fund has stretched to about 15 months – the longest in over a decade. This tougher climate is challenging for new managers without a track record. However, in undercapitalized regions like the Southeast, it’s become something of a tailwind for proven local firms: LPs are concentrating commitments with the standout players from Funds I/II, rather than spreading bets on brand-new entrants. As a result, leading regional funds (e.g. BIP Ventures in Atlanta, Florida Funders in Tampa, Cofounders Capital in NC, etc.) have been able to raise follow-on funds – albeit more deliberately – even as emerging managers may find it challenging. The net effect is that Southeast investors are prioritizing fund deployment and portfolio support over spinning up new vehicles. Many of the young funds launched in the last 3–5 years are now heads-down, investing their capital and working to demonstrate returns, rather than seeking to spawn the next crop of managers. This maturation is healthy: it means capital raised in 2021 and 2022 is being put to work in startups, and GPs are focusing on sustainable operations (building proper firm infrastructure, cultivating LP relationships for the long term) rather than the frenetic fundraising of the past. The Southeast’s historically conservative investment style – making smaller initial checks and reserving for follow-ons – also positions it well in this environment. Investors who were disciplined during the hype are now able to double down on portfolio winners - BIP Capital highlights in their 2025 State of Startups in the Southeast report that “investors in the Southeast [continue] to eschew hype cycles and mega-deals in favor of supporting the continuity and durability of its businesses, funds, and investor community.” Indeed, by late 2024 the region showed faster follow-on funding cycles than the U.S. overall, indicating capital was actively being redeployed into scaling local startups rather than sitting idle. In sum, 2025 in the Southeast is less about the birth of new VC funds and more about the maturation of the many formed recently – a shift toward proving theses and building durable investment platforms. This trend should ultimately yield a more resilient venture ecosystem, as only the managers who can navigate the tougher fundraising climate and deliver value to startups will thrive, leading to a stronger cadre of long-term regional investors.

Trend 2: Proliferation of Government-Backed Capital

Another defining feature of the Southeast’s startup financing in 2025 is the growing role of government-backed capital programs. Both state and federal initiatives have injected fresh funding into the region’s venture ecosystem, often with the explicit goal of bridging capital gaps in less-served markets. Chief among these is the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) – a federal program relaunched in 2022 that allocated nearly $10 billion to states to boost small business and startup funding. Southeastern states have put SSBCI dollars to work through newly created funds and partnerships.

Alabama’s Innovate Alabama is a standout example: Via its InvestAL venture program (a fund-of-funds under SSBCI), the state has begun seeding local VC firms and co-investing in startups. In April 2025, Innovate Alabama announced investments in two Alabama-based firms – gener8tor Alabama (an accelerator VC) and Measured Capital – designed to “close the venture capital gap for early-stage startups” and keep innovation financing rooted in-state. This strategy requires private co-investment (1:1 matching), effectively multiplying impact. Early results are promising: the partnered funds have already helped hundreds of Alabama startups raise tens of millions in follow-on capital, and demand for funding was so high that Alabama shifted more SSBCI money from loans into equity programs. Innovate Alabama also announced the launch of a venture studio in partnership with Birmingham-based Harmony Venture Labs, demonstrating other ways that government-backed programs can lay the groundwork for startup success stories. Another example is Alabama’s partnership with an external VC: Los Angeles-based Halogen Ventures received funding from InvestAL and in late 2024 committed to invest $10 million into building a pipeline of female founders in Alabama. By 2025, Halogen had already run pitch competitions in multiple Alabama cities and funded 10 startups in a single 48-hour period as part of this initiative – an injection of capital and support that may not have occurred without the state’s efforts.

Other states are similarly leveraging public capital. Tennessee’s InvestTN (part of “Fund Tennessee”) launched in mid-2023 to deploy $60+ million in SSBCI funding via local VCs and direct investments. Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, and others have rolled out venture funds, loan programs, and grants with their SSBCI allocations as well. West Virginia offers a unique model, where capital from the program remains with the funds and companies invested in - further aligning incentives in the ecosystem; notably, West Virginia was ranked in the top 10 nationally for efficient deployment of SSBCI capital in 2024, having approved over 90 investments totaling $23 million and catalyzing $42 million in additional private financing within two years. Beyond SSBCI, state-funded venture initiatives and tax incentives are proliferating. Florida, for instance, set up a new $100 million state-supported venture capital program in 2023 to stimulate tech startup growth. Georgia expanded R&D tax credits to encourage innovation investment, and Virginia and North Carolina have bolstered their state venture funds (Virginia Venture Partners was recapitalized with $173 million for local startups). Even federal agencies are stepping in: In October 2023, the U.S. EDA designated a South Florida Climate Resilience Tech Hub with ~$19 million grant funding, which local organizations are using to foster climate-tech startups in Miami and beyond.

These public-sector catalysts are lowering barriers for founders across the Southeast’s smaller markets. By de-risking early-stage capital (through matching funds, credit guarantees, or co-investments), government programs are crowding in private investors who previously might have overlooked the region, and adding fuel to a growing fire. The result is a significant increase in available capital – “patient” capital with public-purpose objectives – particularly in states and communities that historically lacked robust VC presence. In a region long undercapitalized relative to its population and innovation output, this infusion of government-backed funding is helping even the playing field and seeding the next generation of startups.

Trend 3: Cross-City Collaboration and an “Abundance” Mindset

A defining cultural trait of the Southeast’s startup ecosystem is its spirit of collaboration across cities and states – a stark contrast to the zero-sum competition seen in some other markets. The region’s investors and founders often speak of an “abundance mindset,” wherein success in one metro is viewed as lifting the entire Southeast, rather than detracting from others. This has fostered a high degree of cross-pollination: co-investment syndicates that span multiple states, multi-city networking events, and mentorship networks that readily bridge geographic gaps. As Lisa Calhoun of Valor Ventures (Atlanta) observes, “What’s happening among VCs and startups in the South is not so much competition as cooperation, which is very Southern. It’s creating a lifting mentality around regional innovation that is a joy to be a part of.” Rather than silo themselves, Southeast investors frequently partner on deals (e.g. a North Carolina fund leading a round with co-investors from Georgia and Florida) and share deal flow across metros. The proliferation of regional events such as Venture Atlanta, 3686 in Nashville, and Sloss.Tech in Birmingham also knits the community together, with founders from a broad range of cities getting exposure to capital from larger hubs.

Importantly, this abundance mindset extends to the relationship between the Southeast and outside investors: the region has welcomed increased interest from coastal VCs and corporate venture arms, viewing it as validation of the South’s potential rather than a threat. “There are places other than SF, Boston, and NY where you can find really smart people building meaningful businesses,” notes Santosh Sankar of Dynamo Ventures, highlighting how external investors have come to appreciate the Southeast’s talent. The partnership between Halogen Ventures and Alabama’s state funds is a great example: a Silicon Valley fund is collaborating with local stakeholders to nurture female founders in Alabama, rather than parachuting in competitively. In 2024, Halogen’s team traveled to cities like Birmingham, Montgomery, Huntsville, and even smaller college towns like Tuscaloosa, listening first and then investing alongside local groups. The result is a virtuous cycle – more national funds hunting for deals in the Southeast, more local startups getting funded, and more successes to go around. This collaborative approach, deeply rooted in Southern culture, has been a key ingredient in the region’s resilience and growth. By leveraging a “rising tide lifts all boats” philosophy, the Southeast is building an interconnected network where a promising startup in, say, Birmingham can tap resources and investors from Nashville to Raleigh to Miami almost as readily as if they were local. Alabama’s tech ecosystem, for instance, now spans multiple cities with different sector strengths (aerospace ventures in Huntsville, consumer product startups in Mobile, agtech in Dothan, fintech and SaaS in Birmingham, etc.), and investors see the state as one cohesive market to support. That bodes well for the sustainability of the ecosystem long-term: social capital and trust are often as valuable as financial capital in nurturing innovation. The Southeast’s emphasis on shared wins is helping it weather economic ups and downs better than many anticipated, and it’s creating a more inclusive regional economy. In summary, the Southeast’s collaborative, abundance-minded ethos is turning a once-fragmented landscape into a unified community – one where startups can grow with the help of a collective regional bench of supporters.

Trend 4: Shifting Sector Focus – Deep Tech, Defense, and Climate on the Rise

Beyond the macro shifts in funding dynamics, the Southeast is also experiencing clear trends in industry focus areas for new venture funds. Historically, many Southern investors gravitated toward sectors like fintech (in Atlanta’s “Transaction Alley”), healthcare (Nashville’s health services, Research Triangle’s life sciences), and real estate or logistics (reflecting regional industry bases). While those strengths remain, recent years have seen notable shifts and specializations emerge. In particular, there is a surge of interest in deep tech, aerospace/defense, and climate technology among the region’s venture firms – focus areas that align with national priorities like energy independence, national security, and supply chain reshoring.

One way to see this is through the database of Southeast VC firms: among firms founded since 2020, a significantly higher proportion explicitly list “Deep Tech,” “Aerospace,” “Defense,” or “Climate & Sustainability” in their investment mandates compared to older firms. For example, new funds like AeroX Ventures in North Carolina and AIN Ventures in Northern Virginia were launched with theses centered on aerospace and defense innovation. AeroX’s mandate covers “early-stage companies transforming aerospace, defense, [and] deep tech”, while AIN (short for Academy Investors Network) focuses on “the intersection of deep technology and dual-use (military and civilian) technology”. In Raleigh, NC, BlueLake Ventures launched to back “frontier” startups in robotics, advanced manufacturing, supply chain, security, energy, and aerospace – essentially a deep-tech roster. And corporate players are entering the mix: RTX Ventures (the venture arm of Raytheon, based in Arlington, VA) began seeding startups that “will transform aerospace and defense”, and Booz Allen Ventures (McLean, VA) is similarly targeting cyber, defense, and AI-related tech.

Geopolitical tensions and federal spending trends are likewise driving defense and aerospace tech interest. Venture funding for defense tech startups climbed to $3.0 billion in 2024 (an 11% increase year-over-year), and investors who once shied away from defense are now engaging due to both mission-oriented and financial reasons. “Investors have become far more intelligent about defense in the last few years…dollars are being deployed more efficiently,” said Ethan Thornton, CEO of a defense-tech startup. The Southeast is naturally positioned to capitalize: it is home to numerous military bases, defense contractors, and space infrastructure (from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to the Redstone Arsenal and Space Command in Alabama), and Southeastern venture firms are aligning with this reality. Several funds explicitly mention supporting “technologies critical to national and economic security” – for instance, AE Industrial Partners in Florida concentrates on industrial and aerospace deals tied to national security. In Northern Virginia, funds like Blue Delta Capital and FedTech specialize in government and defense-oriented startups (Blue Delta focuses exclusively on U.S. government services tech). Another Virginia firm, Outpost Ventures, is a veteran-owned fund backing AI, mobility, space, and energy technologies with an aim to capture value from U.S. government innovation mandates. These investors are tapping into DoD’s increased openness to startup collaboration (e.g. AFWERX, SpaceWERX programs) and the larger budgets earmarked for defense R&D. As Daniel Ateya, president of RTX Ventures, put it, the rise in defense tech interest is driven by “an increasingly fraught geopolitical landscape and heightened demand from defense customers and Congress to support new firms”. Key technology themes like autonomous systems, AI, advanced propulsion, and space tech are attracting strong interest – all areas where we see Southeastern startups (from space-launch companies in Florida to autonomy and drone startups in North Carolina) securing capital.

On the climate and sustainability front, the Southeast’s investors are also ramping up. A number of new funds explicitly branding around climate have emerged from Miami to Birmingham. Better Tomorrow Ventures in South Carolina and Z2Sixty Ventures in Atlanta, for example, list Climate Tech alongside fintech or healthtech in their early-stage portfolios. Florida has Clear Current Capital focusing on sustainable food systems (plant-based proteins and climate-friendly foodtech), and Novelis Ventures (Atlanta) was launched by aluminum giant Novelis to invest in low-carbon manufacturing and circular economy startups. The AgLaunch accelerator in Tennessee added a Climate & Sustainability mandate to its traditional agtech focus. Meanwhile, established impact funds like SJF Ventures (Durham, NC) doubled down on climate/energy, backing mobility, solar, and grid startups. The data shows that 14 Southeast-based firms in our database cite “Climate & Sustainability” as a key sector – half of which were founded just in the last few years (2020 or later). In short, climate tech has moved from a niche to a pillar of the Southern venture scene, and the Southeast, with its abundant sunshine, offshore wind potential, and risk of climate impacts, stands to benefit. In South Florida, climatetech was the only sector to see an increase in deal activity in 2023, securing $263 million across 31 deals. And across the region, the push for energy independence has catalyzed massive industrial projects that create venture-scale opportunities: by mid-2024, Southeastern states had attracted $78.2 billion in announced EV and battery manufacturing investments (38% of all U.S. EV manufacturing investment), bringing tens of thousands of jobs. Local venture firms have taken note – many are looking at startups in EV charging, battery recycling, grid resiliency, and clean fuels that can plug into this industrial resurgence. For example, Atlanta-based JTEC Energy (developing a new heat-to-electricity engine) raised $30M in 2022 from regional VCs, and Durham’s energy storage startup FlexGen raised a $100M Series C, signaling that Southern investors will back big climate/energy bets.

The Southeast’s focus on manufacturing, supply chain, and “deep tech” also ties into the nationwide effort to rebuild domestic industrial capacity. The CHIPS Act and bipartisan calls to reduce reliance on foreign supply chains have funneled resources into semiconductor fabs, battery plants, and advanced materials – many of which are landing in Southern states. For example, North Carolina is now home to a major new semiconductor materials plant (Wolfspeed’s silicon carbide fab) and multiple EV battery factories; Georgia is building an EV supply chain around new Hyundai and SK Battery facilities. Venture firms in the region are aligning their theses accordingly. Funds like Atlanta’s Engage and Knoll Ventures have backed startups in manufacturing automation and industrial software, and Tennessee’s Meritus Ventures (an older fund) is seeing renewed interest as it targets rural manufacturing and industrial tech. The Materials & Resources sector, long a tiny sliver of Southeast venture, is now “increasingly strategic…investors are targeting industrial tech, cleantech, and supply chain modernization”, according to BIP’s 2025 analysis. Even traditionally consumer-focused firms are dabbling in “hard tech” when it overlaps with regional strengths – e.g. several Southeast funds have invested in local space startups (such as Atlanta’s Hermeus, building hypersonic aircraft, and Orlando’s Sidus Space in satellite hardware). The overall trend is a broadening of the Southern venture palette: where a decade ago software and healthcare dominated, today there’s far more diversification into frontier industries.

Crucially, these emerging sector focuses are not coming at the expense of the Southeast’s bread-and-butter sectors, but rather augmenting them. Information Technology and SaaS still account for the lion’s share of deals by volume (often enabled by embedded AI), and healthcare/biotech remains a stronghold (especially in NC and TN), as highlighted in BIP Ventures’ 2025 State of Startups in the Southeast report. Fintech cooled slightly after a 2021–22 peak, but continues to see selective investment in infrastructure and “Fintech 2.0” plays (e.g. AI-driven compliance or payments solutions). What’s changing is that capital is spreading into new areas that were previously underfunded in the region. The Southeast’s sector diversity is becoming a strength that mitigates risk, rather than a weakness. The rise of deeptech, defense, and climate funds in the region exemplifies this pragmatism: these are long-term bets on transformations that are well underway nationally. By aligning venture capital with energy, security, and industrial policy priorities, Southeastern investors are carving out a role in the next era of tech. In doing so, they are also helping ensure the region isn’t left behind as innovation shifts beyond pure software. Expect to see more specialist funds and incubators in the South focusing on things like climate resilience, space tech, AI at the edge, and advanced manufacturing – the building blocks of the future economy.

Call to Action: Share the report and database

The Southeast funding ecosystem in 2025 continues to mature, and while the fervor and pace of the early 2020s has slowed, the ability of firms in the region to successfully deploy capital and make a positive impact on startups in the region is as strong as ever. We hope that the Southeast Capital Landscape helps founders, operators, and other individuals in the startup community as they navigate the complexity of building great, world-changing businesses.

View the whole database and interactive dashboards by visiting the Southeast Capital Landscape site page.

Meet the Collaborators

Collaboration, as demonstrated through this project, is vital for the Southeast to become a vibrant destination to grow and retain more high-value companies. Here are the organizations that helped make this report a reality:

Build in SE

Build In SE is a Nashville-based Benefit Corporation building a collaborative network of startup founders, funders, and ecosystem supporters across the Southeast. Our mission is to increase the number of startup success stories by building regional intelligence, bringing together capital, events, and research for founders choosing to #BuildInSE. To learn more and get involved, visit buildinse.com.

Embarc Collective

Embarc Collective, a 501c3 non-profit, is an innovation leader and a central landing zone for Florida’s most driven and focused early-stage tech startup builders. Our globally-recognized startup platform offers founders curated programming, on-demand coaching and mentorship, connectivity to corporates, universities, and investors, and engagement with a peer community of 330+ founders and founding team members that lead 140+ Florida-based early-stage tech startups and growth-stage companies in healthcare and life sciences, cybersecurity and data analytics, AI and deep tech, financial and legal services, and defense and national security, among other sectors within an award-winning 32,000-square-foot startup hub in downtown Tampa, Florida. Since its inception in 2019, member-companies have achieved a 96% survival rate, created 1,200+ high-paying tech and tech-enabled jobs, and secured more than $650M in seed, venture, and growth equity, including more than half from investors outside the state of Florida, while driving almost $200M annually in direct and indirect economic returns to the state of Florida.

In this month’s Southeast Roundup, we are covering everything from billion-dollar manufacturing announcements in North Carolina, to major innovation wins in Alabama and Mississippi, to recognition for the continued growth of the region’s ecosystems. Dive in for this month’s highlights.

From Build In SE

As we head into the end of the year, the Build In SE team is finalizing our 2025 Southeast Capital Landscape report. We are excited to share these insights on the region’s funding environment with you soon.

This week, we published our Startup Guide: Wilmington, NC, featuring insights from ecosystem veteran Jim Roberts. If you are looking to navigate the coastal hub’s key players and resources, read the full guide here.

And in case you missed it earlier this fall, we got to partner with ClimateWiser to help launch the Green Pages, a directory of over 450 stakeholders advancing environmental sustainability across the Southeast. If you are building in climate or energy, or want to learn about the exciting work in the sector, access the directory here.

Funding & M&A

Vulcan Elements (North Carolina) secured $1B in financing to build a rare-earth magnet manufacturing facility, a massive win for the state’s advanced manufacturing capabilities and the domestic defense supply chain. (Axios Raleigh)

Lighter (Miami, FL) announced that it had raised a $68M round led by Founders Fund and Ribbit Capital at a $1.5B valuation to build a high-speed blockchain for decentralized trading, founded by former Citadel trader Vladimir Novakovski. (Fortune)

Range (McLean, VA) raised a $60M Series C led by Scale Venture Partners to accelerate its AI-driven wealth management platform, aiming to democratize access to financial planning for high-earning households. (Range Blog)

Rebel (Charlotte, NC) raised a $25M Series B to expand its fintech-enabled ecommerce platform, which helps brands reduce returns and increase conversions through interactive shopping experiences. (Fast Company)

Sunday (Atlanta, GA) secured a $21M Series B to accelerate the rollout of its restaurant payment technology in the U.S. market, aiming to streamline checkout processes for diners and operators alike. (LinkedIn)

Extellis (Durham, NC) closed a $6.8M Seed round to advance its energy-efficient computing technology, with plans to grow its engineering team and further develop its hardware-software interface. (Hypepotamus)

District Cover (Nashville, TN) raised a $6M Series A led by Brewer Lane Ventures to modernize insurance programs for government contractors, a niche market ripe for digital transformation. (District Cover)

VeroSkills (Birmingham, AL) secured $5.3M to scale its AI-powered staffing platform, which connects blue-collar businesses with pre-screened, ready-to-work candidates from immigrant and underserved communities. (PR Newswire)

Aplós (Miami, FL) closed a $5M round to expand retail distribution and production of its functional, non-alcoholic spirits, meeting growing demand in the “sober curious” beverage market. (Refresh Miami)

BricklayerAI (Arlington, VA) landed $5M in funding to embed AI specialists into security operations centers, helping human teams manage the increasing volume of cybersecurity threats. (The Times Magazine)

AccessGrid (Reston, VA) raised $4.4M to further develop its mobile access control technology, which turns smartphones into secure key fobs for enterprise and residential buildings. (TechCrunch)

Lawrova (Pompano Beach, FL) announced a $3M pre-seed round to bring AI-powered efficiencies to legal workflows, specifically targeting document review and case management tasks. (Hypepotamus)

Poppy Flowers (Virginia) raised a $2.66M Series A to modernize the wedding floral industry, utilizing the funds to streamline their farm-to-aisle supply chain and expand their tech-enabled services. The fundraise featured investment from several Southeast firms, including Virginia Venture Partners, IDEA Fund Partners, and Front Porch Ventures. (Tech Funding News)

Auditocity (Fairhope, AL) closed an oversubscribed $2M Seed round to scale its AI-driven auditing platform, which automates compliance checks and financial reporting for enterprise clients. (LinkedIn)

SiteLabs (Anderson, SC) raised $2M to expand its health-tech infrastructure, helping independent pharmacies and providers deliver localized testing and clinical services. (Boomerang Ventures)

CampusKnot (Starkville, MS) secured $1.1M to enhance its student engagement platform, adding new features to improve classroom interaction and retention rates. (PR Newswire)

New & Notable Funds

Focal (Miami, FL) is launching a Miami Residency for technical founders, aimed at bringing high-caliber engineering talent to South Florida to build the next generation of deep-tech startups. (Refresh Miami)

North Carolina Community College System launched a $60K Startup Showdown fund powered by Wells Fargo, providing non-dilutive capital and mentorship to emerging entrepreneurs across the state’s community college network. (PR Newswire)

Startup Milestones

The Southeast made a strong showing in StartupBlink’s Global Startup Ecosystem Index 2025, with three hubs cracking the global top 50: Miami, FL (#28), Atlanta, GA (#32), and Raleigh-Durham, NC (#45). (StartupBlink)

Kalm Therapeutics (Huntsville, AL) took home $100K as the winner of Alabama Launchpad’s life sciences track, validating their work on a prescription patch for eczema and psoriasis. (Hypepotamus)

LegalEase (Mississippi) won the pitch competition at Accelerate 2025, Mississippi’s premier innovation conference, securing cash to scale their automated record-expungement platform. (MPB Online)

Georgia State University (Atlanta, GA) partnered with Google to launch a $6M AI Innovation Lab, designed to equip students and local founders with cutting-edge AI skills and resources. (CBS News)

UAB (Birmingham, AL) announced the cohort for its second Blazer App Accelerator, continuing to bridge the gap between university innovation and commercial mobile applications. (UAB News)

Events & Programming

Upcoming

Nashville Entrepreneur Day: Winter 2025 is set for Dec 3, bringing together 108 founders, 93 companies, and the full force of the Nashville ecosystem at GEODIS Park. The event features pitches, networking, and a showcase of the region’s latest accelerator graduates. (Eventbrite)

Alabama Founder Fest (Birmingham, AL) is set for Dec 8-9, bringing together startups, investors, and ecosystem partners for pitch competitions and networking at Innovation Depot. (Alabama Launchpad)

ATL Startup Village #102 (Atlanta, GA) returns on Dec 8 for its quarterly gathering, featuring five local startups pitching for community support and feedback at Atlanta Tech Village. (Atlanta Tech Village)

Completed

Accelerate 2025 (Flowood, MS) brought together over 400 founders, investors, and policymakers on Nov 11-12 for a celebration of the state’s “grow and dream” momentum. Hosted by Innovate Mississippi, the event highlighted the ecosystem’s diversity, culminating in a pitch competition win for LegalEase, an automated record-expungement platform. Founders Herron Blackmon and Roger Roman plan to use the prize capital to expand their low-cost legal tech solution into five additional states. (MPB Online)

NC IDEA Ecosystem Summit (Raleigh, NC) celebrated its 20th anniversary on Nov 17-18, gathering hundreds of founders, investors, and policymakers to discuss the future of the state’s innovation economy under the theme “This Thing of Ours.” (Grepbeat)

West Virginia Innovators were celebrated at the Hayhurst Invitational, where established businesses competed for over $175K in prizes, highlighting the state’s commitment to home-grown entrepreneurship. (WV SOS)

Venture 135 (Charlotte, NC) wrapped up last week (Nov 20-21), bringing top fintech and insurtech companies to the region for one of the premier venture conferences in the Southeast. (Venture 135)

Opportunities

NC IDEA is accepting applications for its upcoming grant cycles. Following a successful Ecosystem Summit in Raleigh this month, they continue to be a pillar of early-stage support in the Carolinas. (NC IDEA)

The StartupVerse Fundraising Founder Grant – Innovate Charlotte highlighted this opportunity for founders to secure support in their fundraising efforts. The grant is designed to assist founders as they navigate the capital raising landscape. (LinkedIn)

Resources & Reads

Valor VC published “The Case for LPs to Look South,” a compelling data-driven argument for why institutional capital should be overweight on the Southeast. (Valor VC)

Pitchbook released their Q4 2025 Global VC Ecosystem Rankings - Nashville (TN) claimed the #1 spot globally for growth (covering 2019–2025), outperforming international hubs and underscoring the Music City’s rapid venture expansion. (PitchBook)

VentureSouth released Episode 195 of their podcast, diving into the “State of Startups in the Southeast.” The episode unpacks key data from BIP Ventures’ 2025 report, exploring regional strengths and what the data leaves out. (Venture In The South)

Hypepotamus profiled Wunderfan (Birmingham, AL), a new SportsTech play rewarding fans for engagement, illustrating the region’s unique intersection of sports culture and technology. (Hypepotamus)

Arlington Economic Development released a report highlighting how the defense boom powered $666M in venture funding in Q3, a must-read for founders in the DMV area. (Arlington Economic Development)

Thanks for reading! If you have reactions or feedback, suggestions for future newsletters, or want to get in touch, email ryan@buildinse.com.

Wilmington’s growth story begins with a series of structural shifts. The extension of I-40 into Wilmington in 1990 opened the door to stronger connectivity across the state. Life sciences firms like PPD and Trans 1 Pharma grew substantial local teams, while Screen Gems Studios produced multiple major films, bringing new creative and economic energy into the region. But a key underlying catalyst came from Live Oak Bank, whose technology-forward approach to small business lending helped create a cluster that still shapes Wilmington today. A back-office software tool built inside Live Oak eventually spun out to become nCino, one of the most successful fintech companies ever founded in the Southeast. nCino scaled rapidly, raised more than $200M, and ultimately went public in 2020 — placing Wilmington on the national fintech map and generating a strong pipeline of experienced operators, Salesforce talent, and future founders. Live Oak continued reinforcing this momentum by co-founding Apiture, launching one of the largest tech VC funds in the South in Canapi Ventures (now managing more than $750M), and building a culture of tech innovation that became central to Wilmington’s economic identity.

This momentum has helped contribute to the incredible surge Wilmington is experiencing. Live Oak Bank, nCino, and Apiture have collectively hired more than 1,000 UNC Wilmington graduates, establishing a reliable technical and operational talent base. Healthtech, biotech, and deeptech startups have also gained traction, supported by a collaborative set of ecosystem builders and a quality of life that attracts both young founders and experienced executives; OpiAID, Boreas Monitoring Solutions, NUREAM, Artemis Immersive, CareHome Health Solutions and Predicate AI are just a subset of the exciting names succeeding in Wilmington, and community software provider Vantaca just achieved unicorn status with a $1.25B valuation in October 2025.

UNCW has played a foundational role in this evolution. Under former chancellor Gary Miller, the university launched the Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship (CIE) — one of the region’s earliest dedicated entrepreneurship hubs, which helped lay the groundwork for the now-powerful entrepreneur ecosystem in Wilmington. CIE now serves as a connector between students, founders, mentors, and investors, helping build an ecosystem supported by more than a dozen organizations and partners in the Wilmington Small Business Coalition. Groups like Network for Entrepreneurs in Wilmington (NEW), Genesis Block, WALE Angel Network, VentureSouth and Wilmington Investor Network (WIN) provide resources, programming, and capital that many founders rely on at the earliest stages.

Wilmington’s greatest differentiator, however, remains its quality of place. Entrepreneurs cite the city’s coastal lifestyle, low congestion, and strong sense of community as reasons to build their companies here rather than in larger, more competitive metros. Wilmington also benefits from close proximity to Raleigh-Durham — enabling founders to “borrow” infrastructure, investors, and research support from the Triangle while offering statewide organizations an appealing beach-adjacent destination for programming and retreats.

Today, Wilmington’s economy blends fintech, life sciences, healthtech, and software in a way that is unusual for a metro of its size. Talent from Live Oak, nCino, and Apiture has seeded new ventures; biotech and pharma logistics firms are expanding; and UNCW continues growing its innovation footprint. Together, these forces position Wilmington as a rising coastal innovation hub in the Southeast.

Resources for Startups

Investors

• Canapi Ventures — National fintech fund launched by Live Oak Bank leadership, with $750M+ under management.

• Cape Fear Ventures — SuperAngel-style fund supporting local founders.

• WALE Angel Network — Active angel network often writing early checks for startups in the region.

• Wilmington Investor Network (WIN) — Longstanding coastal angel group.

• VentureSouth – Wilmington — Southeastern angel network with syndicate chapters.

• Live Oak Ventures - Live Oak Bank’s investment arm, investing in fintech companies.

• Eshelman Ventures - Local investment company primarily interested in healthcare companies.

Incubators & Accelerators

• UNCW Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship (CIE) — The region’s central entrepreneurial hub, offering coworking, mentorship, and founder programs, and hosts the IDEA TEST Lab PreCelerator programs

• Elevate CEO Retreat (Cape Fear Ventures) — Three-day immersive bootcamp for scalable startups run by SuperAngel investor

• Hustle + Harvest PREcelerator — Online program supporting early-stage founders with structured guidance.

Coworking Spaces

• UNCW CIE - University-anchored coworking hub with founder programs, mentorship, and a collaborative innovation community.

• Common Desk – Downtown - Modern, amenity-rich workspace in the heart of downtown

• Blue Mind Coworking - Flexible, quiet workspace near the county center, popular with professionals and founders.

• Channel by Live Oak Bank — Vibrant coworking community supporting minority entrepreneurs with programming and resources.

• Elevate Coworking - Women-focused workspace fostering collaboration, mentorship, and supportive entrepreneurship networks.

• Coworx at Cargo District — Creative mixed-use coworking space within Wilmington’s popular Cargo District community.

• 717 MKT Office Collaborative - Boutique workspace offering private offices, team studios, rooftop views, and premium amenities.

Communities & Event Organizers

• Network for Entrepreneurs in Wilmington (NEW) - Active founder community hosting events, pitch nights, and peer networking across the ecosystem.

• Genesis Block - Entrepreneurship hub empowering diverse founders through programming, education, and community building.

• 1 Million Cups Wilmington - Weekly gathering where local entrepreneurs share their businesses and receive community feedback.

• Wilmington Chamber of Commerce - Business advocacy organization supporting local companies through resources, policy initiatives, and events.

• Small Business & Technology Development Center (SBTDC) - Statewide resource providing training, commercialization support, and advisory services for growing ventures.

• Cape Fear Community College Small Business Center - Community-based center offering workshops, mentoring, and early-stage support for aspiring entrepreneurs.

Notable Annual Events

• UNCW CIE Demo Days — Showcasing student and community founders.

• NEW Entrepreneur Events — Regular pitch nights, panels, and networking sessions. Annual events include #910 DAY for Wilmington Entrepreneurs and Wilmington INVESTOR BUZZ IN.

• Genesis Block Showcases — Highlighting diverse founders and local innovation.

• Port City Tech Talent meetups — Tech gatherings such as Wilmington Input Output and Beach Tech Talent Meetup.

• North Carolina Azalea Festival — Concerts, Garden Party, and citywide celebrations every spring.

Startups to Watch

Approve - Tech-enabled equipment financing platform streamlining underwriting and procurement for SMBs; founded by the team behind Kwipped and supported by regional early-stage investors.

Artemis Immersive - Healthtech startup creating 3D medical animations for clinical training and education, founded by UNCW graduates and gaining early adoption among health organizations.

Boreas Monitoring Solutions - Cryotank monitoring system helping fertility clinics prevent failures through real-time weight-based monitoring; backed by early institutional and angel investors.

Brilliant Sole - IoT-enabled smart footwear improving senior fall prevention and enhancing motion capture for gaming; operating across digital health and immersive tech markets.

CareHome Health Solutions- Medication management and care-coordination platform helping seniors and caregivers manage prescriptions safely and effectively, with early traction among home-care organizations.

DuraVax - UNCW biotech spinoff developing improved delivery methods for vaccines and essential medicines; progressing through early commercialization and grant-supported research.

Essential Personnel - Software for First Responder types of organizations for federally required wellness concerns. Founders are military veterans.

Isosceles Pharmaceuticals - A preclinical stage pharmaceutical company, currently developing intravenous formulations of synthetic Cannabidiol, one of the many active chemicals in cannabis, as a non-addictive alternative to opium-derived painkillers

LabLogs - Workflow automation software designed for clinical and research laboratories, improving documentation, compliance, and QA processes for smaller labs.

Lumos Data - Customizable fintech data infrastructure helping lenders better evaluate small business credit risk; scaling through community banks and credit unions.

NxtGen Care - AI and IOT for nursing homes to improve care and reduce caregiver burden.

NUREAM - Sleep-tech company using connected textiles to gather biometric signals and improve sleep quality; building clinical partnerships to validate its technology.

Ohanafy - Beverage-industry CRM and operations platform built by former nCino employees; venture-backed and experiencing rapid national customer growth among breweries and distilleries.

OPIAID - AI-driven addiction recovery platform providing clinics with insight into patient treatment pathways and personalized care recommendations.

Portrett Pharmaceuticals - Biotech specializing in small molecule testing, offering services like stability testing, method validation, compendial testing, and impurity analysis.

Predicate AI - Health analytics company improving early detection of hospital-acquired conditions; secured a major partnership with Mayo Clinic to scale sepsis prediction tools.

Raleon - Customer retention marketing startup founded by a former nCino executive; acquired by Intuit following strong traction in the DTC ecosystem.

Skillmaker.AI - AI-driven workforce training platform recently partnering with NAPA Auto Parts to scale skill development across automotive service centers.

SportBase - Sports club management system built by former directors to streamline youth sports scheduling, payments, and operations.

SynPly - Fintech workflow platform improving loan servicing, documentation, and partnership management for lenders and credit providers.

Vantaca - AI-enabled software for HOA organizations; raised $300 million and earned unicorn status in October 2025.

Local Favorites (Eat, Drink, Explore)

Ocean Grill & Tiki Bar - A quintessential Carolina Beach hangout perched above the dunes, offering fresh seafood, ocean breezes, and a laid-back atmosphere perfect for unwinding after a long day of meetings or beach time.

Beer Barrio - A downtown favorite blending Cali-Mex flavors with a coastal twist. Known for its award-winning burritos, house-made salsas, and friendly service, it’s a go-to for casual lunches and post-work meetups.

End of Days Distillery - One of Wilmington’s standout craft distilleries, serving small-batch spirits in a relaxed indoor-outdoor space. Features rotating food trucks and frequent community events, making it a great spot to gather.

Covey - Covey is a neighborhood restaurant in midtown Wilmington with a focus on exceptional service, fresh and local ingredients, and with a unique atmosphere.

K38 Baja Grill - A long-time regional staple combining Baja-style dishes with local seafood. With several locations across the Wilmington area, it’s dependable for team lunches or casual dinners with visiting founders.

Wilmington Brewing Company - Beloved for its “Tropical Lightning” IPA and easygoing taproom, this family-run brewery draws both locals and visitors. A great place to taste what the city’s craft beer scene is all about.

Seabird - An elevated but welcoming downtown restaurant from one of Wilmington’s most celebrated chefs. Featuring seasonal Southern coastal cuisine, it’s a top pick for business dinners or special nights out.

Live Oak Pavilion - Wilmington’s signature riverfront music venue, hosting national touring acts with scenic views of the Cape Fear River. Ideal for catching a show after a full day of meetings or exploring downtown.

Greenfield Lake Amphitheater - A picturesque sunset venue nestled beside Greenfield Lake, offering a more intimate concert experience with artists across rock, indie, and jazz.

North Carolina Azalea Festival - A beloved Wilmington tradition every spring, filled with concerts, garden tours, local showcases, and the iconic Garden Party — a uniquely Southern blend of style, community, and celebration.

What’s Next for Wilmington

Wilmington is entering a new phase as a maturing coastal innovation hub. Fintech remains a competitive advantage, with a growing number of nCino and Apiture alumni launching new ventures. Healthtech, deeptech, and biotech activities are picking up with additional SBIR and grant funding resources; the concept of water- and ocean-focused bluetech is expanding around UNCW’s research footprint with the annual Ocean Innovation Conference. Angel networks are becoming more active by syndicating deals with other regional funds as more executives and retirees relocate to the coast. And ties with Raleigh-Durham are strengthening, enabling the city to plug into a broader statewide innovation ecosystem without losing its coastal identity.

With strong support organizations, a proven talent engine, and one of the most distinctive qualities of place in the Southeast, Wilmington is well positioned to keep rising as a destination for founders who want to build ambitious companies in a collaborative, coastal environment.

This guide was written by Jim Roberts, a longtime participant in and supporter of the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Wilmington and broader North Carolina. Jim is the founder of the WALE Angel Network and the Network for Entrepreneurs in Wilmington (NEW). Jim was previously the Founding Executive Director of the UNCW Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in 2013; he raised funds to start the Bunker Labs Wilmington Chapter, and started the first Tech Entrepreneur Support Orgs in Charlotte, Asheville and Wilmington. Jim was previously a NC Department of Commerce employee in Raleigh, and worked for the NC Biotech Center with a spinout org called COI for NanoBiotechnology in Durham.

Build In SE is dedicated to spotlighting and supporting startup success stories in the Southeast, and wanted to help tell the story of the region’s financial services surge. This article explores the region’s journey from its historic financial services roots to its current status as a fintech hub, highlighting key subsectors, success stories across multiple states, major players (companies, investors, accelerators), and emerging trends of collaboration and innovation. We’ll also examine what’s happening now in this dynamic landscape and what comes next for fintech in the Southeastern United States.

Historical Roots: Banking Capitals and Fintech Foundations

To understand how the Southeast became a fintech force, it helps to look back at the region’s deep-rooted financial services infrastructure — and how cities like Charlotte, Atlanta, and others evolved from legacy banking hubs into fintech launchpads.

Charlotte’s Banking Legacy: Charlotte, North Carolina has been a hub for banking for decades. After a wave of 1980s and 2000s bank mergers, the city became home to giants like Bank of America, Truist (via BB&T/SunTrust), and a significant portion of Wells Fargo – making it the nation’s second-largest banking center by assets. This “Banktown” reputation laid groundwork for fintech growth. Major banks seeded skilled financial talent and needs for new tech solutions. Decades later, Charlotte’s large finance sector is now fueling fintech innovation; as SnapRefund founder Cody Eddings noted, “Charlotte is a big banking city. A lot of financial services run through Charlotte”. The city’s concentration of banks has naturally attracted fintech startups aiming to serve them, and it now actively brands itself as a fintech and insurtech hub.

Atlanta’s Payment Revolution: The Southeast’s fintech rise is deeply intertwined with its banking history. At one point, Atlanta was the leading bank hub in the region before being surpassed by Charlotte. However, Georgia’s deep expertise in check processing and payment operations became the seed of a new industry. “We had a superior knowledge of [the check processing] process and could envision what it could look like in a digital world,” recalls Larry Williams of the Technology Association of Georgia. As core banking headquarters moved out, Atlanta’s remaining financial operations talent pivoted to building technology services for banks – credit card processing, online banking, bill pay, risk and credit data, and more. This shift in the late 1990s and early 2000s gave birth to a payments processing ecosystem that would earn Atlanta its “Transaction Alley” moniker. Over time, homegrown firms like CheckFree, First Data, Global Payments, Elavon, Fiserv, and Corpay (FleetCor) flourished in Georgia. By the early 2000s, Atlanta had effectively transformed from a regional banking center into a global fintech hub, focused especially on digital payments.

Beyond Atlanta and Charlotte: Other Southeastern states also have deep financial services roots that set the stage for fintech. Florida, for instance, has long hosted major financial technology firms – Jacksonville is headquarters to FIS, one of the world’s largest payment processors and core banking software providers, and was also home to Black Knight (mortgage tech) before its acquisition. Nashville, historically known for healthcare and music, also has financial ties (regional banks and investment firms) and has recently seen fintech growth in areas like payment processing and lending platforms. Alabama is home to Regions Bank and community banks; Virginia hosts a range of leading financial services firms like Capital One and capital allocators like QED Investors, and is home to the highest density of data centers in the world. These communities have financial infrastructure and talent bases that fintech startups can leverage. In short, the Southeast’s strong base of banks, payment networks, and financial back-office operations provided fertile ground for fintech.

Fintech Ecosystem and Success Stories Across the Southeast

The fintech sector is burgeoning across the region, but certain hubs are punching above their weight. Below, we highlight success stories from Georgia, North Carolina, and Florida.

Atlanta

Atlanta stands out as a fintech powerhouse often dubbed “Transaction Alley” – roughly 70% of all U.S. debit, credit, and digital payments flow through companies in the Atlanta area. This payments legacy is anchored by major firms like Global Payments, Fleetcor’s Corpay, and rising stars such as Greenlight. Global payments processors and fintech giants have deep roots here – six of the 10 largest U.S. payment processing companies are headquartered in Georgia according to the AJC, and decades of M&A activity (for example, the $22+ billion merger of Global Payments and TSYS) and a steady churn of startups fuel the ecosystem. According to the Technology Association of Georgia, the state now hosts 260+ fintech companies, supporting ~42,500 jobs, and the top 12 Georgia-based public fintech firms generate roughly $49 billion in annual revenue. Homegrown fintech successes like Kabbage (founded in 2008 and later acquired by American Express) Greenlight (an Atlanta-founded family banking app serving over 6 million users) spotlight how the region nurtures both B2B and consumer fintech innovation, while locally-grown crypto leader Bakkt shows the city’s embrace of new-age technology. Atlanta’s collaborative culture is evident in conferences like Fintech South) and organizations like Fintech Atlanta and the Technology Association of Georgia, which connect entrepreneurs with the city’s rich financial talent pool. The result is a virtuous cycle: established payment firms attract talent and capital, which in turn spin off new ventures and ideas – all reinforcing Atlanta’s reputation as a global fintech hub.

Charlotte

As one of the nation’s top banking centers, Charlotte has leveraged its finance pedigree into fintech innovation. The city is home to Bank of America and Truist and a significant Wells Fargo presence, and it ranks as the second-largest banking hub in the U.S. – providing fertile ground for fintech startups. Local successes LendingTree (online lending marketplace) and AvidXchange (accounts-payable automation) prove that homegrown firms can make it big. LendingTree’s founder, Doug Lebda, kickstarted his online loan business in Charlotte in the 1990s; today the company is publicly traded and still a pillar of the community. AvidXchange likewise grew from a small startup to a multibillion-dollar fintech, recently even attracting a $2.2B private equity buyout offer (a testament to its maturation). Beyond these marquee names, a constellation of newer startups emerged – from Payzer (contractor payments) to Honeyfi (family finance) – often led by banking veterans reimagining financial services, and leading toward further ecosystem building. Charlotte’s strength lies in its supportive network: organizations like Carolina Fintech Hub and accelerator RevTech Labs cultivate local talent and connect founders with industry resources. This communal approach, combined with the city’s deep pool of financial experts, has created a warm, collaborative fintech community. It’s common to see big-bank professionals mentoring startups or local universities partnering on fintech initiatives. In Charlotte, traditional banking and fintech startups aren’t at odds – they’re working together to cement the region’s status as a fintech leader in the Southeast.

Raleigh-Durham (The Research Triangle)

In North Carolina’s Research Triangle (Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill), fintech is flourishing at the intersection of academic R&D and entrepreneurial zeal. This region’s world-class universities – Duke, UNC, NC State – provide a steady pipeline of tech talent and research breakthroughs. Many graduates choose to stay local (about 64% have remained in the area since 2010, according to Lithios and ABC), feeding the growth of the Triangle’s startup scene. Fintech ventures here often spring from campus labs or hackathons and quickly gain traction. For example, Raleigh-based Finmark developed a startup financial planning platform so compelling that it was acquired by BILL (formerly Bill.com) within just a couple of years. Similarly, Durham’s LoanWell offers cloud lending software to help community banks modernize their loan process, an idea that earned it a spot in Google’s Startup Accelerator for Black Founders. These successes underscore the region’s knack for identifying niche problems and solving them with fintech solutions – whether it’s startup budgeting or small-bank lending. Thanks to strong support organizations (NC IDEA, American Underground, and others), founders can tap into grants, coworking spaces, and mentorship right at their doorstep. The Research Triangle’s warm collaborative vibe means a company like Spreedly (Durham-based payments API platform) can raise $75M and scale globally while still engaging with local meetups, and a small startup can find its first investors via a university connection. The result is a tightly knit fintech hub fueled by academic insight, homegrown tech skills, and a spirit of cross-state connectivity – Triangle innovators frequently swap notes with peers in Charlotte and Atlanta, stitching the Southeast’s fintech fabric even closer.

Florida (Miami, Tampa, Orlando and Beyond)

Florida’s fintech landscape is as diverse as its geography – from Miami’s crypto-forward bustle to the steady enterprise fintech of Jacksonville. Miami, in particular, has made waves by blending fintech with crypto hype. Branding itself as the “Wall Street of the South,” Miami has courted blockchain and Web3 startups aggressively. The city’s mayor famously embraced Bitcoin as a salary and launched initiatives to attract crypto exchanges and NFT platforms. Major crypto conferences now make the city a yearly pilgrimage, and startups like MoonPay (a crypto payments unicorn) and Blockchain.com (which moved its U.S. HQ to Miami) underscore the fintech–crypto crossover happening here. This energy, combined with Miami’s role as a bridge to Latin America’s fintech market, has created a hotbed of new finance ideas. At the same time, other Florida cities are thriving on more traditional fintech strengths. In Jacksonville, legacy players like FIS (a Fortune 500 financial software firm) and Black Knight (mortgage tech, acquired in 2023 for $11B+) provide thousands of fintech jobs and often partner with smaller startups. Tampa and Orlando have nurtured their own fintech champions: Orlando’s Stax (formerly Fattmerchant) grew into a payments unicorn, attracting growth investment for its all-in-one payments platform. Tampa, with support from incubators like Embarc Collective and Tampa Bay Wave, has produced companies like Fintech (the beer and wine industry payment processor) and seen Silicon Valley transplants relocate here for the business-friendly climate. The state’s fintech success stories are frequently interlinked across regions: a Miami crypto startup might raise money from investors in Tampa; an Orlando payments firm expands sales into Latin America via Miami’s networks. This cross-pollination creates a narrative of a state unified in fintech growth, and investment in Florida startups has been growing at a double-digit pace.

Fintech Subsector Spotlights

The Southeast’s fintech boom spans a spectrum of subsectors. Below, we spotlight key domains – from digital banking to wealthtech– and highlight how different states in the region contribute to each niche.

Digital Banking & Payments

Digital banking and payments startups are emerging even in states without large financial centers, often addressing the needs of underserved communities. In Alabama, Birmingham’s banking heritage is giving rise to payments innovation. One standout is Prepaid2Cash, a startup that relocated from Silicon Valley to Birmingham’s Innovation Depot after an investment by the Alabama Futures Fund (the AFF has lured multiple fintech startups to the state, often in partnership with investors from neighboring states like Tennessee and Louisiana). Prepaid2Cash turns unused prepaid cards and gift cards into cash in your bank account, and its move exemplifies Alabama’s strategy of attracting fintech talent through regional collaboration. Prepaid2Cash quickly scaled in Birmingham – processing over $25 million in transactions in a year. Meanwhile, South Carolina is making its mark in payments through Charleston’s growing tech scene. Charleston-based startup SnapCap launched an online small-business lending platform that gained such traction it was acquired by Charlotte’s LendingTree for $21 million. That cross-state acquisition not only gave SnapCap’s founders a successful exit, but also tied South Carolina into the region’s fintech web. Across the region, the thread is clear: digital banking and payments innovation often starts at the grassroots, with founders solving local problems, and grows through regional support.

Lending & Financing

Lending and financing tech has seen robust activity in states like Tennessee and Kentucky, where fintech entrepreneurs often focus on specific industry verticals or regional banking needs. Tennessee, anchored by the Nashville metro, has risen as a hub for lending innovation – especially tied to the city’s strengths in real estate and healthcare. Nashville’s own Built Technologies is a prime example: founded in 2014, Built created a platform to streamline construction loans, a traditionally cumbersome niche of finance. By digitizing inspections and draws for construction lending, Built filled a gap in bank technology and grew rapidly; in 2021 it raised a Series D that valued the company at $1.5 billion, making it one of Nashville’s first fintech unicorns. Notably, Built’s investors include venture firms from across the Southeast (and co-investment from a regional bank, Regions, reflecting how incumbent banks in the region support local fintech). Nashville’s lending scene also benefits from its sizable healthcare industry – startups like BerniePortal intersect HR, health, and finance. Moving north, Kentucky is carving out its own niche in lending and financing. For example, Louisville’s startup Repatient helps patients finance healthcare bills with zero-interest payment plans – effectively bringing fintech into healthcare lending to ease burdens on families. Across Tennessee and Kentucky, what stands out is how fintech lending startups often plug into the existing industries: be it Nashville’s music venues getting easier access to credit, Memphis’s small businesses leveraging online loan platforms, or Kentucky farmers using new financing apps. This cross-pollination ensures that lending innovation in the Southeast isn’t confined to one city but is truly a regional effort, addressing financing needs in both booming metros and smaller towns.

WealthTech & Investing

The Southeast’s fintech story isn’t complete without wealthtech – technologies for investing, wealth management, and financial planning – where even smaller markets like Virginia and West Virginia are contributing novel ideas. Virginia, with its mix of financial history and tech talent (especially in the Northern Virginia and Richmond areas), has given rise to startups focusing on alternative investments and retail investing platforms. In Richmond, for example, WealthForge emerged just over a decade ago as a pioneer in online private securities transactions. It built a platform that digitizes the process of raising capital from accredited investors, effectively bringing efficiency to alternative investments. WealthForge has now facilitated nearly $2 billion in transactions through its tools, helping real estate developers, fund managers, and entrepreneurs raise money faster and with fewer paper hassles. This kind of wealthtech bridges traditional finance with tech: WealthForge’s team includes veterans of Richmond’s banking scene as well as younger software engineers from nearby VCU – a blend that highlights regional collaboration between finance and tech communities. Up in Northern Virginia, the presence of major brokerages and advisors (like Ally Financial’s tech center in Tysons, or the large Fidelity and Vanguard offices serving DC-area clients) has spun off talent who start fintech ventures. Meanwhile, West Virginia is boldly positioning itself to attract wealthtech and fintech startups. In 2020, West Virginia established one of the nation’s first fintech regulatory sandboxes, allowing fintech innovators to test new financial products for two years without needing full licensure. This sandbox explicitly aims to draw startups that might otherwise set up in New York or San Francisco to instead try West Virginia, by lowering regulatory barriers. It’s part of a broader push led by Vantage Ventures in Morgantown (an initiative of WVU’s business school) to incubate tech companies that tackle challenges faced by rural and smaller communities. Through Vantage, West Virginia is nurturing fintech solutions for things like community banking, “hollowed-out” pension plans, and even investment in energy projects – all with the idea that fintech can boost economic mobility in Appalachia. And in Nashville, Alto has built out a robust investment platform that allows individuals to participate in private equity, venture capital, real estate, and other alternative assets, all from their IRA accounts. The company now has over $2B in assets under custody, and over 30,000 users - evidence of traction and a meaningful value proposition. The Southeast’s wealthtech scene is defined less by unicorn robo-advisors and more by pragmatic innovation – tools to democratize investments and regional programs to encourage fintech entrepreneurship.

Why the Southeast?

What’s drawing founders, funders, and fintechs to the Southeast in the first place? Several factors have converged to make the region a compelling launchpad for financial innovation, in addition to the history already outlined:

• Founders are finding community in the Southeast. From smaller stops like Greenville and Huntsville to major metros like Charlotte and Atlanta, the region’s emphasis on hospitality, connection, and generosity create a real draw from a quality of life perspective.

• The Southeast boasts a lower cost of living and operating relative to traditional tech and finance hubs, which translates to longer runways for startups and stronger margins for scaled companies. Migration trends continue to favor the region — major metros like Atlanta, Charlotte, Miami, and Nashville consistently rank among the top destinations for talent relocating from coastal cities.

• Access to customers also plays a role. The region is home to hundreds of banks, credit unions, community lenders, and insurance providers — many of which are eager partners for fintech innovation. From Fortune 500 incumbents to regional institutions looking to modernize, this density provides fertile ground for fintech customer discovery and distribution.

• A growing number of investors and support organizations are leaning into the Southeast’s potential, as featured in our Southeast Capital Landscape. Local venture firms (like TTV Capital, Bull City Ventures, QED Investors, and Route 66 Ventures), accelerators (like Embarc Collective, RevTech Labs, and Fintech Atlanta), and university-linked programs are actively supporting early-stage fintech companies.

Taken together, these factors create a uniquely pragmatic and collaborative environment - one where ambition meets access and amiability.

What Comes Next: A Rising Tide of Fintech in the Southeast

As fintech continues to reshape the financial world, the Southeast is not on the sidelines - it’s a key player. From payments in Atlanta to crypto in Miami, lending in Nashville to policy creativity in West Virginia, the region is teeming with innovation that’s both locally rooted and globally relevant - and the cities and companies featured in this piece represent just a slice of the region’s activity. Just as importantly, these people and companies are building with a sense of shared purpose. Capital invested in the sector continues to grow year-over-year, and impact is scaling, too. According to BIP Ventures’ 2025 State of Startups report, fintech remains a well-funded startup sector in the Southeast, accounting for nearly $2 billion in venture capital investment from 2023 to 2025.

Across state lines, entrepreneurs, investors, and ecosystem builders are increasingly working together to create the conditions for long-term success: more capital, more talent, and more transformative companies headquartered in the region. The Southeast doesn’t need to replicate Silicon Valley or Wall Street. It is building something of its own - something pragmatic, collaborative, and transformative. At Build In SE, we believe the Southeast’s fintech future is strongest when it’s a shared one.

Thanks for reading! If you have thoughts or feedback, or requests for future content from Build In SE, comment below or email us at ryan@buildinse.com.

From Build In SE

We are refreshing our Southeast Capital Landscape database and preparing to release the accompanying 2025 Southeast Capital Landscape report in partnership with our friends at Embarc Collective. Keep an eye out for that in the coming weeks.

We are also launching a new interview series, Builders’ Blueprint, where we will sit down with founders, investors, ecosystem supporters, and other all-stars across the Southeast to tell their stories. If you have suggestions for folks you want to see featured, let us know.

Funding & M&A

Vantaca (Wilmington, NC) announced a $300M+ minority growth investment led by Cove Hill Partners at a $1.25B valuation, signaling durable appetite for vertical SaaS from the Carolinas; the company says the capital will accelerate AI-driven product expansion in community association management. (Hypepotamus, William Blair advisory note)

Thyme Care (Nashville, TN) raised a $97M Series D to scale oncology care coordination across payers and providers in the Southeast and beyond. (PR Newswire)

Next Glass (Charlotte, NC) acquired brewery software leader Ekos, uniting two of North Carolina’s leading beverage-tech platforms and expanding reach across producer and retail workflows. (Next Glass; PR Newswire)

Hamperapp (Miami, FL) became the first Miami startup selected for Morgan Stanley’s Inclusive & Sustainable Ventures accelerator, earning a $250K investment and access to the firm’s global network. (Refresh Miami; Morgan Stanley)

Conceal (Augusta, GA) closed a $26M Series B led by Two Bear Capital to scale its browser-native secure access platform—another cybersecurity win from Georgia’s growing infosec cluster. (Press release, FinSMEs brief)

OneImaging (Miami, FL) raised a Series A to build an affordable, consumer-friendly imaging platform, with regional coverage citing $38M; founders say the round will fund rollout and unit-economics improvements in South Florida first. (Refresh Miami, PR Newswire)

PromptWrx (Atlanta, GA) won Venture Atlanta’s Startup Showcase LIVE and the $375K investment prize, underscoring investor enthusiasm for applied-AI + workflow automation emerging from the Southeast. (Venture Atlanta social media)

Plantd (Durham, NC) extended momentum in climate-adjacent manufacturing with a $22M Series B round to expand production capacity for sustainable building materials, continuing North Carolina’s cleantech trend line. (Hypepotamus weekly roundup)

Letterhead (Miami, FL) announced a $34M Series A to build a full-stack newsletter monetization engine, highlighting content-commerce infrastructure as a growing Florida theme. (Refresh Miami)

Karta (Miami, FL) raised a $5.4M seed and launched a premium credit card for non-U.S. residents—part of a wave of fintech plays leveraging South Florida’s international base. (Refresh Miami)

crewOS (Birmingham, AL) secured $1.25M to accelerate growth of its industrial field service management platform, with participation from Far Out Ventures and Alabama operators. (Announcement)

Sprockets (Charleston, SC) was acquired by Humanly (with Qualifi and HourWork) to form an end-to-end AI hiring platform; the Sprockets team remains in Charleston. (Hypepotamus)

AdPipe (Atlanta, GA) closed a $12M Series A and set up a new Atlanta HQ to scale AI-powered enterprise video personalization. (Hypepotamus)

Appy AI (Miami, FL) raised $5M to make building AI-powered businesses as easy as a conversation. (Refresh Miami)

New & Notable Funds

Ascenta Capital (West Palm Beach, FL) closed a $325M inaugural fund focused on development-stage biotech—another sign of South Florida’s maturing life-sciences capital stack. (Refresh Miami)

Thriving Cities Fund (NC) launched with $10M (backed by Flock Safety; managed by Homegrown) to provide flexible, non-dilutive capital for community-anchored growth—bridging traditional venture and place-based finance. (Announcement)

Shore Capital Partners (Nashville, TN) closed Healthcare Fund VI + Search Partners Fund II totaling $850M, reinforcing Tennessee’s role as a healthcare-investing hub. (Venture Nashville)

Startup Milestones

Captain Compliance (Fort Lauderdale, FL) was highlighted among Venture Atlanta presenters as winner of the Early Stage Pitch. The company provides privacy and compliance automation software. (Grit Daily wrap)

Ruth Young-Loaeza (Huntsville, AL) won $750K for NEET SHEETS at the Halogen Ventures + Meet the Drapers pitch in Tuscaloosa—spotlighting meaningful non-dilutive capital flowing through Alabama pitch platforms. (Axios Huntsville, Hville Blast)

Radiant (Oak Ridge, TN) announced its first factory on a historic Manhattan Project site, underscoring the Southeast’s growing advanced-manufacturing footprint. (Hypepotamus weekly digest)

Mercedes-Benz (Atlanta, GA) will invest $34M to build a 60,000-sq-ft Midtown tech hub opening in 2026, adding 160 jobs and deepening ties to Atlanta’s innovation ecosystem. (Hypepotamus)

Events & Programming

Venture Atlanta (Atlanta, GA) took place earlier this month on Oct 15–16, serving as one of the Southeast’s largest investor-founder events and setting the tone for Q4 deal momentum. (Event overview)

The Accelerate Investor Conference (Arlington, VA) is coming up on Nov 5-6, and convenes the Mid-Atlantic’s tech startups, innovative growth companies, and market leaders - all in the bustling Virginia Square neighborhood near Amazon’s HQ2. The conference will feature both startup and student pitch competitions. (Event website)

HACK Memphis (Memphis, TN) will bring together 100 volunteers over 36 hours to develop solutions to three 3 civic challenges for the City of Memphis on
Nov 7-9. If you want to get involved, you can register as a hacker or help out behind the scenes. (Event website)

Innovate Mississippi’s Accelerate conference (Jackson, MS) will take place next month from Nov 11-12, featuring Collab Capital managing partner Jewel Burks Solomon as keynote speaker. The event brings together “founders, funders, builders, and dreamers from every corner of Mississippi”. (Event website).

NC IDEA Ecosystem Summit (Raleigh-Durham, NC) will run Nov 17–18, bringing together ESOs, founders, and funders across the state. (NC IDEA Summit)

Opportunities

Miami-Dade Innovation Authority launched a $300K civic innovation challenge for startups improving emergency response and community resilience. Refresh Miami.

Atlanta Tech Village’s “It Takes A Village” pre-accelerator is accepting applications from under-represented founders; program includes non-dilutive support + mentor network access. ATV program.

The Harbor EC Accelerator (Charleston, SC) applications are open now (due Dec 31) for its spring 2026 cohort—ideal for pre-seed founders seeking validation before raising. Apply here.

River Pitch 2025 (Tuscaloosa, AL) applications are open (due Nov 6) for the quick-pitch competition on Nov 18; founders get 3 minutes to pitch for a chance at ten $1,000 prizes and valuable feedback. (AEI)

Vanderbilt Venture Partners (Nashville, TN) was launched by Vanderbilt’s CTTC; it is an initiative aimed at building stronger bridges with the early-stage venture capital community, with the goal of connecting faculty and staff founders with seed and Series A investors through curated pitch forums and mentorship. (CTTC)

Resources & Reads

BIP Ventures – “State of Startups in the Southeast 2025.” Comprehensive data on deal sizes, sector shifts, and founder sentiment. Report hub / event.

Rise of the Rest + Atlanta Business Radio — Revolution’s David Hall was featured on ABR, where he discussed the firm’s mission to support early-stage startups outside of VC hubs and Atlanta’s future as an innovation center. (Business Radio X)

Hypepotamus – “Southeast Tech News From the Week.” October’s editions (Oct 6–12 and Oct 13–17) remain a great place to track Southeast funding. Oct 6–12, Oct 13–17.

Thanks for reading!
If you have reactions or feedback, suggestions for future newsletters, or want to get in touch, email ryan@buildinse.com.

• Sharing info on Build In SE programming around 3686 - featuring our WISE dinner, Navigating the Capital Landscape panel, and Build In SE Night Cap

• Spotlighting how Halogen Ventures and Meet the Drapers are bringing big-stage opportunities to Alabama founders

• Calls for inputs to the 2025 Southeast Capital Landscape

• Highlighting the launch of Nashville’s Torch Collective

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Join Us Next Week at 3686 in Nashville

We are excited to be hosting three different events alongside LaunchTN’s 3686.

Women Investors in the Southeast (WISE) Dinner

WISE is excited to be hosting the 7th Annual Comfort Food & Conversation, co-hosted by Build In SE and Launch Tennessee and presented by J.P. Morgan. This year’s gathering will take place during 3686 at Pelato in Germantown.
Each year, this dinner brings together 40-50 women investors from venture capital firms and institutions for an evening of good food, curated conversations, and meaningful connection. Attendees travel from across the country to celebrate one another’s contributions and strengthen the fabric of our industry.

This gathering has become a cornerstone for building relationships and fostering a more connected future for women in venture in the Southeast.

Navigating the Capital Landscape - A 3686 Partner Pop-Up hosted by Build In SE

As part of 3686’s Partner Popups, we will be co-hosting a panel discussion with Wefunder on Wednesday, September 10 at 11:30 AM, featuring notable investors from throughout the Southeast. We will cover trends in the capital landscape (particularly in the Southeast), unique elements of raising and investing in the region, and related topics that are top of mind for founders, investors, and ecosystem builders alike.

Learn more and RSVP here: https://luma.com/f3iitck4.

Big thanks to the Nashville Entrepreneur Center, who is facilitating the Wednesday Partner Popups as part of their Brewing Connections series - be sure to check out the rest of the programming.

Build In SE Night Cap

We will also closing out the conference Wednesday night in style! You might feel tired and a bit hoarse from a busy 3686, but come join Build In SE for a night cap at Close Company, right around the corner from our earlier panel.

Learn more and RSVP here: https://luma.com/mjd4ove1

​Let's celebrate the bright future for startups and venture capital in Nashville and the Southeast as a whole. Mini martinis for all!

Halogen Ventures and the Drapers are supporting startups in Alabama

Our friends at Halogen Ventures are hosting two exciting events for startup founders, investors, and ecosystem supporters in Alabama this month.

Huntsville Startup Fun Pitch Event at I²C

​​​Halogen Ventures founding partner Jesse Draper and legendary Silicon Valley investor Tim Draper are coming to Huntsville. Come to I²C for the first ever Huntsville Startup Fun Pitch with Jesse Draper and Tim Draper featuring startups from I²C, gener8tor Huntsville and HudsonAlpha.

The Huntsville event is September 22nd.
Learn more and RSVP here: https://luma.com/f7esrs7f?tk=IpahfI

Meet the Drapers Pitch Competition in Tuscaloosa, AL

​Join Halogen Ventures as they invite Alabama startups to pitch Halogen Ventures founding partner Jesse Draper and legendary Silicon Valley investor Tim Draper!

​$500,000 will be given to the winners of this pitch competition, and the first place winner will secure a spot in the live taping of Meet the Drapers — the world's biggest startup pitch show — and will get a rare opportunity to share their story on the world's biggest startup stage and compete for up to $1,000,000 in investment!

The Meet the Drapers competition in Tuscaloosa will be held September 23rd. Learn more and RSVP here: https://luma.com/wg3rqtw2

Southeast Capital Landscape

We mentioned it in our last post, but we are in the process of preparing the 2025 Southeast Capital Landscape and corresponding report, in partnership with our friends at Embarc Collective.

This tool helps founders and entrepreneurs identify active venture capital firms throughout the Southeast, enabling fundraising efforts and startup origination and growth. It features 400+ funds across the region, and continues to grow year-over-year as investment funnels to the Southeast.

Check out the existing database and the 2024 report below, and if there's a fund or capital source that's missing, let us know at ryan@buildinse.com.

📈 Southeast Capital Landscape
📃 2024 Southeast Capital Landscape Report

We will be sharing the 2025 report in the coming weeks - keep your eyes peeled!

Launch of Torch Collective

🔥Build In SE is a proud ecosystem partner of Torch Collective — a new deal collective for Nashville where founders, investors, and connectors come together to collaborate, opening September 2.

Torch's mission is to make authentic, high-value connections easy, engaging, and routine for founders, dealmakers, and disruptors. With individual, corporate, and non-resident memberships, there are many ways to get involved.

If you are interested in joining, apply at torchcollective.com/application.

Congratulations to Torch's 30 founding members on their launch.

Thanks for reading along and supporting us as we #BuildInSE. In the coming months, we will have team members at 3686 in Nashville, VentureAtlanta, and other great events in the region - keep an eye out for us, and get in touch!

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