News & Insights

Podcast introductions to VentureSouth portfolio companies and their ambitions to change the world for the better.

VentureSouth is proud to announce a major milestone, as the firm and its investors have now invested in 100 early-stage companies. Earlier this month, VentureSouth invested in Darby, a healthcare technology startup, marking the 100th company in the firm’s portfolio. Darby is based in Greenville, SC where VentureSouth got its start 15 years ago with the launch of the Upstate Carolina Angel Network. Since then, the early-stage investment group has deployed nearly $75 million across those 100 companies. Darby is working to simplify at-home care delivery for providers and vendors with a modern and efficient order flow platform, drastically reducing time, friction and errors in the process. The company is led by founder Charlotte Lawson, who was previously an Attending Physician and Champion for Innovation at Prisma Health, then went on to Harvard Business School where she recognized the need for Darby’s solution as she continued practicing medicine while pursuing her MBA. “It has been a pleasure working with VentureSouth on our recent capital raise and we are honored to be the 100th company in their portfolio,” said Lawson. “We look forward to working with the group and their investors who will provide both capital and insight as we tackle a big problem in the healthcare space.” VentureSouth Co-Founder and Managing Director Matt Dunbar added, “We are thrilled to announce our investment in Darby, and we’re equally proud that we have now been able to support 100 companies over the years.  It is a privilege to partner with entrepreneurs like Charlotte who are working tirelessly against long odds to solve challenging and meaningful problems in the world.” We are delighted to reach this “first century” milestone, and we’re already hard at work seeking out the next one hundred startups to add to our portfolio. To learn more about VentureSouth - and perhaps invest in some of our next 100 companies -  please visit our pages.

To celebrate one of our favorite entrepreneurs – Gabby of Confidence – appearing recently on the South Carolina Business Review (episode link here), here is a quick list of our favorite episodes on VentureSouth-related subjects from the last few months for you. Portfolio companies:Greenville’s Frank Greer of Zipit Wireless - https://www.southcarolinapublicradio.org/show/south-carolina-business-review/2022-04-20/internet-of-things-company-still-growing-in-upstate-scAiken’s own Scot Wingo of Spiffy - https://www.southcarolinapublicradio.org/show/south-carolina-business-review/2021-09-15/car-wash-entrepreneur-receives-sc-fundingBill West at Ellipsis (Human Presence) on “Humans vs Bots” - https://www.southcarolinapublicradio.org/show/south-carolina-business-review/2021-04-28/humans-vs-botsEducational effortsLaura Corder discussing the Palmetto Venture Fellowship - https://www.southcarolinapublicradio.org/show/south-carolina-business-review/2022-02-17/growing-scs-venture-capitalistsAnd lastly our own Paul Clark on VentureSouth’s continuing growth across the southeast - https://www.southcarolinapublicradio.org/show/south-carolina-business-review/2021-10-06/upstate-venture-firm-becoming-more-visible. Enjoy!

VentureSouth is pleased to announce that it has led the $2.5M seed round financing of Gradient Health, a Durham, NC-based Health AI technology platform.Check out the interviews with Josh Miller on Venture In The South Episode 55 and Episode 110.Gradient Health aims to accelerate automated AI diagnostics by labeling the world’s medical imagery, one pathology at a time. It brings over 300 million medical images from around the world, labels them, and delivers them to healthcare A.I. companies and researchers. “We’re excited to be working with world-class AI companies at the forefront of automated diagnostics,” Josh Miller, CEO of Gradient said.“VentureSouth's investment in Gradient Health will allow us to continue building out our platform for ML and Research-ready healthcare data. We are happy to be growing Gradient with their support. We’re grateful to have VentureSouth in our corner once more.” VentureSouth led the round and its members and funds invested nearly $1M into the company. We are excited to be working with frequent partners like the Charlotte Angel Fund and new co-investors including WaveMaker360, Bessemer’s Scout Fund, and Twenty5Twenty.VentureSouth’s investment in Gradient included the first investment from the VentureSouth Angel Fund V sidecar fund, as well as the first funding into a Triangle-based company since the launch of VentureSouth Triangle in late 2021. Paul Clark, Managing Director of VentureSouth, added: “VentureSouth members are grateful to Josh Miller and his team for a positive return on the first investment that we made with them. We are even more excited about the opportunity to invest again in a dynamic and proven team.” To learn more about Gradient Health, please visit https://gradienthealth.io/.

VentureSouth is pleased to announce that it has successfully exited one of its portfolio company investments following the acquisition of Atlas Organics by Generate Capital. Atlas Organics is a developer and operator of commercial composting solutions based in Spartanburg, SC. Atlas Organics recently completed a transformational transaction aimed at expanding its operations nationwide in partnership with Generate Capital, a leading owner and operator of organic waste processing solutions and sustainable infrastructure in North America. VentureSouth first invested in Atlas Organics by leading the company’s seed round in late 2015, when Atlas was an early-stage startup with a team of fewer than five people. Including four additional funding rounds over the next six years, approximately 200 VentureSouth members invested nearly $2 million in Atlas Organics as the company grew to over 135 people across five states. Three VentureSouth sidecar funds (VentureSouth Angel Funds I, II, and III) also invested in Atlas. Terms of the partnership remain undisclosed, but all of the VentureSouth investors and funds realized significant investment returns across each of the investment rounds. VentureSouth Managing Director Paul Clark commented: “It has been a pleasure and privilege to invest in Joseph McMillin, Gary Nihart, and the Atlas Organics team; to watch them mature and grow as entrepreneurs and leaders; and to generate positive returns for VentureSouth members from investing in local companies. We’re grateful for the partnership, proud of the part VentureSouth and its members have played in its growth, and excited to see how Atlas continues to grow its business nationwide with the new capital from Generate Capital.” CEO of Atlas Organics, Joseph McMillin, added, “Thanks to the VentureSouth team and members who have provided invaluable capital, advice, board contributions, and support over several years to help Atlas grow to where we are today. In the next four years, we will continue to grow Atlas, from our home in Spartanburg, SC, to the premier organics recycling company in the nation.” To perhaps be a part of the next Atlas Organics, please join us here.

VentureSouth is pleased to announce its recent Series Seed investment in OneDigitalTrust, a McLean, VA-based estate planning platform.OneDigitalTrust allows users to digitally create and update their personal estate plans through all of life’s stages. The company's solutions are offered directly to financial institutions, making it easy for them to deliver to their customers and employees. OneDigitalTrust offers services in all 50 states, plus Washington, DC.“VentureSouth’s investment will help us accelerate delivery of the OneDigitalTrust EstateTech solution to financial, wealth management, and insurance companies seeking to meet growing demand from their clients for affordable, digital, easy-to-use-and-change Wills and Trusts,” said Sonny Kapoor, Co-founder and CEO, OneDigitalTrust.  We’re grateful to VentureSouth for their clear vote of confidence in our vision, direction and early successes.”OneDigitalTrust will use the new funding from the Seed round to enhance its platform’s capabilities and expand its business development, marketing, and customer capture programs. The funding is expected to help power the company's growth and uptake among financial, insurance and estate planning professionals to help them meet the needs of a rapidly growing market for individual and family estate plans.VentureSouth led the investment round with co-investment from its VentureSouth Angel Fund IV. We are delighted to be joined by State of Virginia’s Center for Innovative Technology GAP Funds, Portfolia’s Active Aging and Longevity Fund, and RTP Capital.This marks the third VentureSouth investment in a Virginia startup since the formation of VentureSouth Richmond earlier this year. VentureSouth entered the market in partnership with Startup Virginia, a nonprofit high-growth business incubator and entrepreneurial hub dedicated to advancing businesses that build a long-term, sustainable economy for Virginia. In just a few months, the VentureSouth Virginia group has gained over 30 new members.Richard Wintsch, market director of VentureSouth Virginia commented, "Funneling early-stage companies in Virginia to the VentureSouth angel network is one of many reasons we launched the VentureSouth Virginia chapter earlier this year. It’s great to have the full force of the VentureSouth membership available to fund Virginia companies, like OneDigitalTrust, and provide expertise to help them grow and generate jobs in our local community."About OneDigitalTrustOneDigitalTrust is the next generation, DIY (do it yourself) digital EstateTech platform that offers essential human assistance to allow users to update their personal estate plans through all of life’s stages. Its solutions are offered directly to larger financial institutions, making it easy for them to deliver to their customers. Based in McLean, Va., OneDigitalTrust offer services in all 50 states, plus Washington DC. For more information, please visit:  https://www.onedigitaltrust.com/.

VentureSouth portfolio companies 6AM City and Pass it Down announced big news over the past few weeks. 6AM City issued a press release announcing they will triple in size following the $5+ million they raised in their most recent round. Pass it Down issued a press release announcing a nearly $2 million in investments to create an NFT marketplace for museums and archives called Iconic Moments.  Below are highlights from the full press releases: 6AM City  6AM City, the fastest growing newsletter-first local media company will more than triple in size in the second half of 2021, expanding from eight to 24 cities, and continuing 300% YOY consumer acquisition growth, scaling from 300,000 to one million subscribers and climbing.  6AM City accelerates expansion into 24 markets by Thanksgiving — including five metros on the West Coast, three in Texas, and several in the Midwest, adding to eight existing markets across the Southeast. While many local media companies are struggling to retain talent, 6AM City continues to be on a hiring surge. The company has open positions in editorial, sales, marketing, and creative roles that can be located in any of the cities that the company serves. These hires will increase headcount from 35 employees at the beginning of 2021, to an excess of 100 by the end of the year.  In addition to market expansion and growing the team, 6AM City will launch three new product innovations in the fourth quarter – including a loyalty-based membership platform, a referral program that will be game changing for subscriber acquisition, and a local commerce platform designed to drive economic impact in the cities the company serves. Pass it Down  Digital storytelling company Pass It Down has raised nearly $2 million from investors to create and launch Iconic Moments, the world’s first NFT marketplace exclusively for the world’s museums and cultural institutions. Iconic Moments is the world’s first NFT marketplace for the world’s museums, archives and cultural institutions. Created by the team behind digital exhibit design platform Pass It Down, Iconic Moments gives individuals the opportunity to own a piece of history or art while generating new and sustained revenue for its museum partners.

During these unprecedented times of extreme uncertainty related to the Coronavirus’ impact on our health and economic well-being, we believe it’s appropriate to convey messages of positivity by shining the light on a group of VentureSouth portfolio companies that are “Doing Good”. After all, our motto is “Make Money. Have Fun. Do Good.” We are proud of how these companies have reacted and positioned their products and services to make an immediate, positive impact on the well-being of our country. From Coronavirus testing to homeschooling tools, these companies epitomize the type of company that any investor would want in their portfolio, and we are proud to support them.COMPANIES INCREASING THE NATIONAL COVID-19 TESTING CAPACITYAperiomics is a biotech company that utilizes its shotgun metagenomic technology to identify every sequenced bacteria, DNA virus, parasite, and fungus with a single test. Management made the decision early when testing in the United States was extremely limited to offer the COVID-19 PCR test using their expertise, lab facilities, and those of their partners – including the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Aperiomics can run 2,500 tests per week and has been offering the test for only $99 out of pocket, which is refundable by insurance.KIYATEC leverages its proprietary ex vivo 3D cell culture technology platform to accurately model and predict responses to approved and investigational cancer drugs targeting a spectrum of solid tumors.One of the main bottlenecks for the COVID-19 testing capacity is RNA extraction, which is the first technical step in the testing process. KIYATEC has made its high-throughput RNA extraction services available to clinical laboratories that are conducting COVID-19 testing. The company has the capacity to provide 71,000 RNA extractions over April and May.COMPANIES HELPING SOURCE ESSENTIAL MEDICAL EQUIPMENT Kwipped is a B2B marketplace that offers leasing and financing options for a broad set of industries from food services to life sciences.The lack of supply of important medical equipment, such as ventilators has been widely publicized and remains an ongoing issue for the country. Kwipped is uniquely positioned to match supply with demand for life-saving equipment and has taken on the challenge of sourcing ventilators, IV poles, suction pumps, infrared thermometers, and more for healthcare systems from California to Connecticut. Their incredible efforts have no doubt saved many lives.Vendor Registry is a vendor management platform for public purchasers at cities, counties, school districts, utilities, colleges, and universities. LaunchTN, a state-supported organization, has launched a crowdsource platform for medical supplies, PPE, and healthcare tools using Vendor Registry’s technology. Vendor Registry’s generous contribution is helping connect private businesses that can manufacture necessary supplies with the health organizations that are in need. It is amazing to see management repurposing their innovation for the public good during tough times.COMPANIES HELPING WITH PREVENTATIVE HEALTH STANDARDSWellbox is a chronic care management solution that improves the clinical and financial outcomes for high-risk, high-cost patient populations.Wellbox was already critically important for its patients and healthcare providers, but the current crisis has only made more clear the importance of remote medicine. Management has been working hard to onboard more patients as non-essential visits to doctor offices and hospitals are limited.COMPANIES HELPING MITIGATE THE ANCILLARY EFFECTS OF THE CRISISSharpen is a technology platform that that provides mental health resources. Their users include college students, veterans and their spouses, entrepreneurs, and more.As colleges moved their lectures online, Sharpen began offering their Sharpen Colleges platform for free for the remainder of this school year. With many students missing their friends, losing internships, and dealing with stress, mental health is more important than ever. From the University of West Georgia to Furman in Greenville, college students across the southeast can get the mental support resources to navigate these challenging times.We are also pleased to announce that their Sharpen Founder platform is now available free for entrepreneurs in South Carolina.ProctorFree is an on-demand, convenient, and cost-effective online proctoring solution for education and corporate environments.As elementary schools to colleges to corporations moved their education online, ProctorFree made the decision to waive fees and offer discounts to help mitigate the effects of COVID-19. On top of that, the team has been working around the clock to launch new organizations in less than 24 hours.Sprockets (fka Sentio) is a data-driven hiring tool for franchises with a focus on hiring the right employees and reducing turnover.Sprockets' management has turned its technology toward home health services, which have had problems rapidly increasing staff. As the economy begins to open, their tool will be vital for efficiently screening the high number of applicants that will be applying for jobs at quick service restaurants and chains.  ActivEd is an ed-tech company that offers an innovative movement-based platform that accelerates learning while improving health.With the sudden learning environment shift for pre-k and elementary age students, ActivEd has decided to offer their Walkabouts product for free. The goal of the offer is to help minimize the learning disruption caused by the pandemic.

KIYATEC, Inc. today announced that it will present data characterizing in vitro response to checkpoint inhibitors in solid tumors, a capability that addresses an important need in preclinical development of immuno-oncology (I/O) therapies. The data will be presented at the 2019 Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) Annual Meeting, to be held November 6-10 in National Harbor, MD.  Biologically relevant replication of complex interactions of human immune cells with tumor cells is an ongoing challenge using traditional preclinical models. Evidence presented by KIYATEC will highlight the utility of its in vitro 3D cell culture technology platform to characterize the tumor biology and immune activation and infiltration that precipitates response to checkpoint inhibitors across multiple solid tumor types. Data includes: Complex 3D cultures derived from tumor cell lines or primary tumor tissue, incorporating allogeneic or autologous immune cellsHigh-throughput spheroid models used to detect dose-dependent response to checkpoint blockade and correlate with immune cell activationComplex microtumor models that mirror immune cell infiltration, therapy-mediated reduction of microtumor growth and secretion of cytokines“KIYATEC is pioneering advances in 3D cell culture technologies to address the unmet needs of biopharmaceutical companies engaged in pre-clinical testing of their I/O compounds,” said Matthew Gevaert, CEO of KIYATEC. “Our emerging I/O models are currently being productively deployed across a number of pre-clinical initiatives and we anticipate that activity to increase as more drug developers become aware of our unique capabilities.”Presentation DetailsFollowing are key details of the SITC poster presentation:Poster: P3Title: Predicting patient response to checkpoint blockade therapy using in vitro3D culturesDate and Time: Friday, November 8, 12:30 – 2:00 pm, 6:30 – 8:00 pm, ESTAbout KIYATEC, Inc.KIYATEC leverages its proprietary ex vivo 3D cell culture technology platforms to accurately model and predict response to approved and investigational cancer drugs targeting a spectrum of solid tumors. The company’s Drug Development Services business works in partnership with leading biopharmaceutical companies to unlock response dynamics for their investigational drug candidates across the majority of solid tumor types. The company’s Clinical Services business is currently engaged in the validation of clinical assays as well as investigator-initiated studies in ovarian cancer, breast cancer, glioblastoma and rare tumors, in its CLIA-certified laboratory. To learn more about KIYATEC, visit www.kiyatec.com.

By: Kevin Meinecke  [Editor's note: Kevin left VentureSouth in June 2022 for the big city, and is now Senior Manager of Mergers & Acquisitions at Milton Industries]During my process of interviewing with VentureSouth, I spoke with a person I interned for who runs a venture capital firm. I have a massive amount of respect for him, which is why I asked for his advice about joining VentureSouth. The warnings he gave me were about the deal flow in the Southeast, the deal quality in the Southeast, and that running an angel network is more of a side hobby. Here are my thoughts after two and a half months working in the Southeast. Deal Flow: I wasn’t sure what the deal flow would look like in the Southeast as anywhere outside of California, New York, and Boston aren’t typically known for having robust startup scenes. There will obviously be a few good ones, but there can’t be too many. I can now gladly say I couldn’t have been more wrong.  There are 2,250 rounds recorded in our database, and I have at least seven more in my inbox that need to be added. I am constantly surprised by how many young and exciting companies from every industry are in this region. Right when I’m starting to feel we must know about all the companies, I’ll see a newsletter or a local event talking about 10 more I’ve never heard of. Deal Quality: Before digging through the VentureSouth portfolio, I couldn’t have named a startup company out of the Southeast. All the “famous” startups seemed to be in Silicon Valley, so that must be where all good startups are. I was wrong again. Turns out, I did know a few Southeastern startups, I even knew a few in the VentureSouth portfolio (Farmshots, Proterra, and Spiffy). All it took was digging a little deeper. I had no idea a company trying to become the “Airbnb for the outdoors” was located in the Southeast. Or that Raleigh-Durham is an innovation hub for medicine and science. Or that a company in Greenville was revolutionizing cancer treatment, which is way cooler than most of the “cool” startups in Silicon Valley. Professionalism: Most angel groups are a side project that a couple volunteers in the group run. I repeatedly heard this. I knew VentureSouth wasn’t like this, but I had no idea how large the gap was. Almost every entrepreneur who has been through our process since I’ve been here has made a comment about how refreshingly professional VentureSouth is. Given I have no leverage in terms of funding, I believe their comments. From new members and potential members, I have heard the same word, “professional.” While I haven’t had the opportunity to visit other angel groups to compare, going through investments in Crunchbase, nearly all the angel groups I find made a couple investments and went defunct. And that’s not an insult to them; it has been an eye opening experience seeing what it takes to manage a portfolio of nearly 50 companies, in between running meetings and looking at new deals.There has been no shortage of exciting, new companies so far. I’ll report back in another two and a half months.