Southeast Shoutouts | Halogen Ventures partners with Innovate Alabama on $10 million initiative
Orlando has a new accelerator focused on veteran-led companies in the healthcare space.
From Birmingham, AL:
VC Wire reports that Halogen Ventures, a Los Angeles, CA-based venture capital firm focused on early stage start-ups with a woman on the founding team, received a $10 million investment to build the pipeline of female founders in Alabama. Innovate Alabama, a statewide public-private partnership dedicated to advancing entrepreneurship, technology, and innovation in Alabama, made the investment through InvestAL, its venture capital program enabled by the State Small Business Credit Initiative.
The sum will catalyze Halogen’s impact on the Alabama start-up ecosystem, specifically supporting female founders tackling global problems.
Led by investor and entrepreneur Jesse Draper, Halogen has invested in more than 75 start-ups that have collectively achieved a market value exceeding $15 billion. The fund’s portfolio features five unicorns with a widely impactful footprint in Alabama as well as on a national scale including Everlywell, Babylist, Flex, HopSkipDrive’s, Upwards leadership in childcare solutions, and Metropolis.
Another from Birmingham, AL:
Alabama’s inaugural Founder Fest and Innovate Alabama’s State of Innovation combined last week to showcase the strength of Alabama’s innovation economy and its growing tech ecosystem.
For the first time, Alabama incubator programs like gener8tor and Techstars Alabama EnergyTech Accelerator worked along with the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama’s Alabama Launchpad program to hold a combined pitch competition.
Founder Fest saw more than 40 start-ups compete in a Pitch Blitz competition at Innovation Depot. Up for grabs was $10,000 for the most investable pitch (won by Pay4Me App), $5,000 for the most game-changing pitch (won by HydroPhos Solutions) and $2,500 for the best pitch (won by CLEO Education).
Click here to learn more about the event.
From Greenville, SC:
The Upstate Business Journal cast its spotlight on an organization that is appropriately named the Upstate Upstarts Fund.
The fund uses an index approach to investing in start-ups, offering people an easy mechanism to provide capital to Upstate Upstarts companies. Paul Clark, Managing Director, said the goal is to attract people to the Upstate Upstarts Fund who don’t already make a lot of investments in early-stage companies.
“We’d like to bring some new people to the table, some new capital, new ideas, new collaboration partners, and bring new talent to the effort,” he said, adding that the fund is open to anybody, offering avenues of investment for accredited investors along with those who wish to make smaller contributions to their community. Accredited investors wishing to contribute to the fund must make a minimum investment of $2,500. The investors can either choose the individual companies they want to invest in or put their money toward all the Upstate Upstarts companies seeking capital.
We first reported on the group’s Upstate Upstarts List that was launched in July with 60 start-ups and has grown to more than 100 in the ensuing period. Early stage companies are eligible to join the list if they meet to following criteria:
- Based in Oconee (Seneca, SC), Pickens (Easley, SC), Anderson (Anderson, SC), Greenville, Spartanburg, Cherokee (Gaffney, SC), or Union (Union, SC) counties;
- Have a technology basis;
- Have a minimum of $150,000 in annual recurring revenue or a minimum of eight employees; and
- Have a maximum of $50 million in revenue or 250 employees.
Click here to read the full article.
From Orlando, FL:
A new accelerator for veteran-led companies just announced its inaugural cohort of nine start-ups focused on healthcare. Local non-profit Veterans Entrepreneurship Initiative launched the SPEAR Accelerator in May to spur the growth of burgeoning businesses owned by former United States military members.
The program, which is a collaboration with the Center for Bioengineering Innovation and Design at Johns Hopkins University, is located in Lake Nona’s Medical City area, a region that has quickly become known for its research, business, and programming based in health-related technologies.
The cohort will engage in 12 weeks of virtual workshops and one-on-one mentorships with a focus on health tech innovation and business scaling. The program culminates May 7-8 with a demo day, investor matchmaking event, and participation in the 2025 Veteran Business Summit.
Click here to learn more about the inaugural cohort.
From Tampa, FL:
A team comprised of Tampa Bay Wave, Braid Theory, Ocean Exchange, St. Pete Innovation District, Seaworthy Collective, University of South Florida, and World Ocean Council is one of four alliances sharing nearly $55 million for projects focused on supporting U.S. ocean enterprise small businesses and entrepreneurs.
The consortium was awarded $13.9 million as part of the NOAA Ocean Enterprise Accelerators program. They will form a group called The Continuum. It is groundbreaking partnership model is poised to set the national standard for BlueTech and blue economy accelerator programs, serving as a blueprint to advance innovative ocean and environmentally friendly data solutions, making them more scalable, efficient, and interconnected.
The Continuum will redefine commercialization programs by creating a coordinated network of ocean enterprise accelerators to fast-track innovative technologies and data, prioritizing sustainable development goals, economic growth, and innovation leadership to leverage Florida’s position as a coastal and ocean resilience hub. By 2028, this initiative aims to drive advancements in renewable energy, pollution control, hazard mitigation, and ecosystem services while providing a “continuum” of support for hundreds of BlueTech start-ups. The effort bridges collaboration between industry leaders and research institutions, making resources and guidance freely available for startups innovating in a data-driven ocean economy.
Click here to read the full news release.
From Austin, TX:
A new nonprofit called Station Texas is spinning out of Austin-based startup accelerator and investor Capital Factory. Initially envisioned in late 2023 according to a report in Austin Inno, the new organization will take over community tech and entrepreneurship events previously run by Capital Factory, leaders of the organization announced. Capital Factory will focus on its existing accelerator, co-working, and investor activities.
The move is designed to improve statewide connectivity among start-ups, venture capital investors, and larger businesses and government organizations that often partner with or acquire start-ups. The new nonprofit also provides a more sustainable model that will help keep networking events, educational opportunities, and other activations free or cheap for attendees.
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