It may have been a short week with the Memorial Day holiday, but that doesn’t mean we are short of headlines across the Southeast startup scene.
From new accelerator announcements, funding rounds closed, and new executive hires at scaling startups, these are the top headlines you need to know to round out the week:
The BIG Story on Hypepotamus
* SalesTech startup Zinnia has tapped Marco Dell’Olio, a long-time SalesTech entrepreneur and engineer, as its new CTO and co-founder.
* Startups with roots at Emory University and the University of Georgia were on stage in Silicon Valley to pitch at the TiE U event against a global group of entrepreneurial competitors. Read about the TiE competition here.
Funding News
* North Carolina-based Primordial announced this week it has re-invested in its portfolio company Social Cascade. The Raleigh-based SaaS startup provides health organizations with better patient education options. More details on Primordial’s website.
* SmartPM, a real estate technology company that provides a real-time automated analytics platform, announced it raised a $5.5 million Series A funding round. The funding will go towards SmartPM’s initiatives around “enhancing its AI-driven platform, expanding their team, and increasing market penetration,” according to a press release. Read previous Hypepotamus coverage of SmartPM here.
* Tallahassee, Florida-based Switchboard, a blockchain developer API, raised a $7.5 million Series A round, according to Crunchbase.
In Other News
* The City of Charlotte, in partnership with gener8tor, announced today the launch of its new gALPHA and gBETA Charlotte accelerators. The early-stage focused accelerators have details up on their application processes here.
* Mastercard announced the seven high-growth startups selected for its Start Path In Solidarity program. The program is designed to accelerate fintech growth by providing financial tools and connections to a global network. Two Atlanta-based startups, BlinkSky and MedTrans Go, were selected for the cohort.
* The nonprofit WorkMoney has launched a live-chat platform specifically for Atlanta’s looking for money-saving resources that could help them on a daily basis. The platform, designed to help residents combat the rising cost of living, can help people save on utility and energy bills, groceries, federal tax credits, and other monthly household expenses. More details here.
* McCrary Institute for Cyber and Critical Infrastructure Security at Auburn University announced it has added six more senior fellows to its 2024 cohort, adding expertise in cybersecurity and national security across government and the private sector. Full bios can be read here.