Launch-Chapel-Hill-New-Cohort-Conversation

Carolina Startup Connect offers students and startups two meet-and-greet events. These events give students learning and career development opportunities with high-growth startup companies and social ventures in the Research Triangle region. Both sessions bring students together with local companies and nonprofits that are eager to work with talented students through internship and job opportunities.

The first event is a focused discussion panel that showcases underrepresented startup founders, offering students an opportunity to hear from successful entrepreneurs from a variety of backgrounds. The second event is a broad networking meet-and-greet session that gives students a chance to hear from and meet a variety of startup companies from across the region. Innovate Carolina offers funding support for a select number of internships.

Register: Carolina Startup Connect 2023

Carolina Startup Connect events:

  • Introduce students to internships and employment paths that help them to develop entrepreneurial skills.
  • Increase awareness about the variety of jobs for all academic majors within startup companies.
  • Engage students in Innovate Carolina’s 1789 student innovation community, which offers mentoring, events and networking to all students interested in innovation and entrepreneurship.
  • Keep talented Carolina students local by immersing them in the extensive learning and employment opportunities the Triangle region’s growing community of collaborators, creators, entrepreneurs and mentors.
  • Demonstrate to students that the startup path is available to them no matter their race, ethnicity or gender.
  • Educate and inspire students through the stories of diverse founders.
  • Allow startups to go beyond traditionally expensive and corporate-dominant career fairs to engage with UNC students in a startup-focused environment.
  • Provide guidance on developing internships experiences that are well-organized and mutually valuable to students and startups.

Students seeking startup internships and entrepreneurial inspiration. These sessions will give you chances to meet UNC-affiliated startup leaders and make connections that could land you an internship or potential job. These events are best suited for students who:

  • Are currently enrolled at UNC-Chapel Hill.
  • Want to learn more about entrepreneurship and what it’s like to work at a startup.
  • Are interested in making connections with a diverse group of startup founders.
  • Seek internships working at a startup company or social venture during 2023 or 2024.

Startup and small business founders who want to connect with talented students and/or apply for internship funding. While this event is open to all startups and small businesses, it is best suited for and will provided more enhanced participation opportunities for organizations that:

  • Have fewer than 100 employees or are not public
  • Are located in the central region of North Carolina or offer well-structured virtual opportunities
  • Have completed customer discovery and are preferably revenue generating.
  • Exhibit high-growth potential.
  • Can offer valuable learning experiences to students (clear goals, a supervisor and preferably paid internships).

If you’re a student, these events give you chances to hear directly from founders about their startup work cultures. You’ll make connections with business leaders who may give you an opportunity to jump in and start living the startup life yourself. Students who have interned with high-growth startups in the past report that they appreciated working in small, collaborative teams that gave them opportunities to lead, apply technical skills and gain experiences across a variety of business functions.

If you’re a startup founder or small business owner, you’ll enjoy meeting talented students from UNC-Chapel Hill and Central Carolina Community College who are curious to learn more about your world. These students are ready to start applying the management, scientific and technical skills they’ve learned in the classroom to help solve some of your most pressing business problems. Plus, with the chance to apply for internship funding through Innovate Carolina, you may be able to gain the financial resources to hire one of them as an intern. You’ll also learn about how you can get involved with the 1789 student innovation community at Carolina and build ongoing connections with student entrepreneurs.

Yes. After attending these events, your startup company is welcome to offer internships to any students with whom you connect.

Beyond paid internships offered directly by startups, there are also many summer funding options for students who connect with a startup that doesn’t offer a paid internship. Specifically, Innovate Carolina offers special funding opportunities that help startups and students afford the costs of a select number of summer internships – creating a win-win partnership for growing companies and aspiring young entrepreneurs. Student can learn more about these funding options during the Carolina Startup Connect events. In addition, startups that can offer valuable learning experiences but do not have paid opportunities should still attend.

Carolina Startup Connect 2023

For both students and startup leaders, Carolina Startup Connect 2023 will include two events designed to build relationships among intern-seeking ventures and talented college students in central North Carolina. Brought to you by UNC-Chapel Hill’s Innovate Carolina, this dual-event experience gives both students and local startup companies the chance to network, share mutual professional goals and experiences, and explore internship and skill-building opportunities together. For your convenience, the events are scheduled back-to-back in the same location Wednesday, Nov. 8. Join us at The Junction, located at 136 E. Rosemary St., Suite 100, for these lively, inspiring events.

oct-network-forum-chi-jeff-julia

Panel: Celebrating Diverse Founders

Nov. 8 | 4 p.m. | The Junction, 136 E. Rosemary St., Suite 100

Join this informative, inspirational event that spotlights the wisdom and successful paths traveled by minority and female startup founders. Through a panel discussion and networking, you’ll hear stories and talk directly with founders who are historically underrepresented in this sector and who want to build relationships with talented students. Many of these founders are interested in talking with students about immediate internship and job-training opportunities. It’s a chance to gain inspiration and experience.

Startups and Students: Register Now
sani-showcase-19

Startup Internship Meet and Greet

Nov. 8 | 5 p.m. | The Junction, 136 E. Rosemary St., Suite 100

This session is open to startups located in the piedmont area of North Carolina – and all UNC-Chapel Hill students. During these events, startups describe their missions and employment opportunities. Following these company talks, students engage with companies through casual networking and conversations. As a student, you’ll have the chance to talk directly with startups that are looking to meet students who have entrepreneurial spirits, a passion for problem solving, and computer science and other technical skills. If you’re searching for an internship, a potential job or opportunities to learn what entrepreneurship is all about, this session will jumpstart your professional journey.

Startups and Students: Register Now

Event partners: Central Carolina Community College | UNC Department of Computer Science | UNC Career Services | UNC Black Entrepreneurship Initiative

Which Companies Will You Connect With?

Companies Attending Carolina Startup Connect 2023

We’re your personal bookkeeping and accounting coaches for non-profits in North Carolina. We help your non-profit to stay in great financial shape and stay out of trouble with the IRS and The State of North Carolina. We provide direction and instruction to help you reach your goals so that you can get out from behind your desk and make a real impact in the community. We’ll determine the best long-term financial fitness plan for your non-profit. From gross margin improvement to bottom line profits, Pro Financial Fitness accurately and strategically determines what needs to improve and, like a doctor, prescribes and dissects ways to improve your non-profit’s financial health. We have the aptitude and ability to organize your financials and bring clarity to your Non-Profit’s books. If you want your non-profit to change for the better, we will show you how.

Digital ticketing for carnivals. Small company growing

FluidMemory uses ChatGPT to enhance, streamline, and collaborate your college work, from gathering data to analysis and reporting, all in a user-friendly interface. We help you streamline your college assignments and raise the quality of your work through FluidMemory.
You create; we elevate.

We are an extracurricular program for students in grades 3-12 and college to learn the skills to thrive academically and beyond.

Provide day activities services for adults over age 18 specializing in senior care. Set personal goals and health plan for participants. Also provide a safe environment for cognitive and personal development.

CareYaya Health Technologies is a social enterprise and applied research lab focused on advancing health equity for aging populations. Our flagship product is a free tech platform that connects elders in need of companion care with local healthcare students; elders receive affordable, quality care while students gain valuable direct patient care experience! We’re building intergenerational relationships across America, using technology and human capital innovation to solve the largest problems in healthcare, and exploring new applications of artificial intelligence to help people better manage caregiving, aging and serious illness.

ChicknLegs creates fun running shorts and apparel designed for distance runners.

Carolina Dev Shop (to be). Bringing together students with iOS development knowledge or interest and student entrepreneurs with an app-based start-up in need of a prototype or more, to grow the skills and experience of everyone involved.

Krsor is an online platform that connects travelers with shippers to monetize unused transport capacity while providing a customized, affordable shipping solution.

ImageQuix is a software company based in Raleigh. There are currently 5 brands under the ImageQuix umbrella that are each centered at the intersection of photography and technology.

SenterME creates a clear path to emotional wellness and stress relief for women professionals by providing immersive self-love support.

We are a UNC spin-off company working on commercialize perovskite based solar cells and X-ray medical imaging devices. The product will make solar energy cheaper, X-ray imaging safer and shaper.

Innatrix, Inc., (RTP, North Carolina) is a fast-moving biopesticide firm that is focused on providing growers with eco-friendly, alternative means of crop protection, utilizing our patented peptide & RNAi delivery technology platform. To date, the company has raised over $3 million funds, confirmed the efficacies of some biological products in the field trials and secured two U.S. patents.’

FemHealth Insights is a leader in women’s health innovation market intelligence. The cultivate a thriving community of femtech innovators, investors, and physicians. By providing resources and support to the founders of the industry, they are then able to connect pharma, private equity, and late stage healthcare companies to early stage women’s health companies for investment, acquisition, and partnership. Their services include a monthly subscription to their proprietary database of femtech startups, research services, and corporate training programs to elevate women’s health in the workplace.

Jury-X identifies juror biases using human and artificial intelligence (AI). We assign our easy to use X-Bias Score™ to help create a strike-priority list for our clients to eliminate those jurors who are likely to be biased against their arguments. Jury-X has seated more than 700 juries for trial since 2013.

Green Recycle wants to make sure “Recycling is Done Right”. We’ve all heard how only 9% of all recycling is actually recycled. We want to solve that problem.

Centian LLC is a rapidly growing raw ingredient distribution company with an office in Raleigh, which employs 10-15 people, with sales and inventory positions that are of a mid/large company as a result of our innovative and hardworking team. With extensive experience in the dietary supplement and pharmaceutical industries, Centian LLC has maintained customer trust and respect and is the foundation of ingredient needs for our customers. Our service includes but is not limited to strong inventory, quality materials, transparent documentation and all-around superior customer service.

Centian is a company with a strong culture of performance, organization, and efficiency. Candidates should take pride in their work, excel in their responsibilities, possess a learning spirit, self-evaluate and be able to perform problem solving without managerial oversight. Candidates should be interested in a long-term career where they can develop their skills and grow with the company.

BatteryXchange is revolutionizing engagement by enabling organizations to share information and resources with captive audiences through innovative sharing economy amenities.

We are a dynamic and inclusive business ecosystem, meticulously crafted to empower and support underrepresented entrepreneurs. At the heart of our venture lies a co-incubator and coworking space (1 of only 70 black-owned in the US) that serves as a vibrant hub for cultivating a culture of growth, collaboration, and success.

Globalstratos develops inclusive, integrated socioeconomic districts that span health, education, mining, agriculture, forestry, ICT, energy, environment, and infrastructure sectors in developing countries.

The Wakaboomee Program 501(c)3 is a STEAM & Wellness Non-Profit that provides a new approach to teaching and learning by combining Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math to guide inquiry, discussion and problem solving.

VA Tutors is a free tutoring organization from North Carolina aimed to help students all around the world. We provide free online K-12 Tutoring and SAT Tutoring along with videos and walkthroughs of practice exams. Our tutoring courses and videos are made by the top 1% scorers. We strive to give every student the opportunity to learn and succeed.

Tom & Jenny’s was founded by two candy-lovers – Dr. Jenny, a dentist, and her husband Tom, both UNC Alumni. We make indulgent, better for you candy! And now we are growing our team. We’re looking for a motivated, fast learner, eager to be part of building and growing an ecommerce and digital marketing machine. Why would a dentist make candy? For years, Dr. Jenny heard the frustrations of her patients and their parents. Sugar-free and low-carb candies and snacks usually don’t taste great or they’re chock full of artificial ingredients. So Tom and Jenny found a way to make sugar-free caramels with nothing artificial that actually taste great and happen to reduce the risk of cavities! Together they cooked countless batches of candy to create the perfect combination of healthy ingredients and amazing flavors. Tom & Jenny’s is growing fast. We’ve become one of the top three best selling caramels on Amazon. We frequently appear on QVC (and sell out!). And we are in hundreds of brick and mortar retail stores!

TruLab, Inc. is an RTP-based mobile technology company that provides biosample tracking and management solutions for clinical trials. TruLab’s mission is to eliminate loss of samples provided for research by patients. The TruLab solution empowers drug developers to track biosamples from the point of collection in real-time and ensure protocol compliance and data integrity in clinical studies. Founded in 2018, TruLab has a vision to bring much needed innovation to biosample tracking to advance the research and development of new medical therapies.

Brand consulting and advertising firm serving a wide range of industries in North Carolina including startups.

Past Companies

More than 30 startup companies visited the UNC-Chapel Hill campus for Carolina Startup Connect 2021 to meet with Carolina students. Here’s a look at just a few of these fast-growing ventures that joined us last year.

Advantageous

Advantageous provides wellness education to individuals in low-income communities through youth enrichment services and community programs.

Contact: Jasmine Ruffin, Director, Advantageous (jasmine.ruffin@goadvantageous.com)

3DFS

3DFS is an engineering, manufacturing, and research and development company founded in Pittsboro, NC. We pride ourselves on delivering resources and expertise required in every step of the electronic manufacturing process.

Contact: Noelle Utterback, Human Resources Manager, 3DFS (noelle@3DFS.com)

Pendo

Pendo is a rapidly growing startup headquartered in Downtown Raleigh. Pendo was founded in 2013 by former product managers, who combined their heads and hearts to build something they wanted but never had as product managers — a simple way to understand and attack what truly drives product success.

Contact: Molly Corrigan, University Recruiting, Pendo (molly.corrigan@pendo.io)

Enzerna

Enzerna Biosciences, Inc is a pre-clinical stage company that is leveraging its proprietary RNA editing technology to develop long-term curative gene therapies for rare genetic disorders.

Contact: Joseph Ruiz, President and Co-Founder, Enzerna Biosciences (jruiz@enzerna.com)

SBTDC

The North Carolina SBTDC is a business advisory resource for growing and developing businesses. Its highly skilled professionals provide services statewide from offices hosted by campuses of The University of North Carolina System.

Contact: Neil McTighe, Regional Director, SBTDC (neal_mctighe@kenan-flagler.unc.edu); or Rachel Burton, Technology Commercialization Counselor (Rachel_Burton@kenan-flagler.unc.edu)

GameFlo

Black-owned gaming company building communities by empowering people on their own terms and to their own abilities. We design culturally-relevant games from physical card games to digital experiences.

Contact: Chi Nwogu, CEO and Co-Founder. GameFlo (chi@gameflo.io)

Minerva Lithium

Minerva Lithium is a university spinout company based on licensed technology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and the Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering in Greensboro, NC. The first innovative product is a clean energy technology that utilizes a proprietary Nano Mosaic membrane filter system for critical materials extraction from non-traditional water resources.

Contact: Sheeba Dawood, CEO, Minerva Lithium (sheeba.dawood@gmail.com)

BOOMROOM

BOOMROOM simplifies the process for fitness instructors teaching live virtual workouts through an integrated platform that gives them the tools and technology to host high-quality classes, connect with clients, and manage their business. Its mission is to equip fitness instructors to host superior live virtual experiences so they can focus on what they do best.

Explore internship opportunities with BOOMROOM.

Contact: team@boomroom.fit

Jabin Beverage Company

Jabin is a beverage company centered around using fresh, functional ingredients to power athletes and adventurers challenging the status quo.

Contact: Homayoon Ershadi, Founder, Jabin Beverage Company (homayoon@jabinbev.com)

Seal the Seasons

Seal the Seasons is the produce brand of the 21st Century. The brand sells premium locally grown, locally frozen and locally sold fruits and vegetables across the country in over 4,000 retailers.

Contact: Alex Piasecki, Co-Founder and COO, Seal the Seasons (alex@sealtheseasons.com)

Terra Dotta

Terra Dotta’s mission is to empower the next generation of global leaders. Serving its more than 600 customers, Terra Dotta’s Global Engagement Platform facilitates cross-cultural experiences for students, faculty and staff in more than 85 countries–improving the experience for over one million travelers and virtual participants annually.

Contact: Jasmine Oglesby, HR Representative, Terra Dotta (jasmine.oglesby@terradotta.com)

CareYaya

CareYaya is an elder care tech platform, building an online marketplace to connect senior citizens who need help with in-home care, with college student caregivers.

Contact: Neal Shah, Founder and CEO, CareYaya (neal@careyaya.com); Gavry Eshet, CTO, CareYaya (gavry@careyaya.com)

Easy Access

Easy Access creates digital tools that help low income and first generation students access college and careers.

Contact: Vitaly Radsky, Co-Founder, Easy Access (radsky.vitaly@gmail.com)




Resources

1789-mark

Startup Jobs and Internships

Are you a student looking for an internship or job at a startup company? Innovate Carolina’s 1789 student innovation community posts internship and job listings with a variety of ventures that are interested in working with talent Carolina students. Check out the directory and find the right opportunity for you.

Find internships and jobs
subscribe-to-newsletter

Newsletter

Sign up to receive one of our newsletters and stay in the know about all innovative and entrepreneurial activity at UNC-Chapel Hill. Whether you’re a Carolina faculty member, student, alumnus, community partner or part of our regional and international entrepreneurial family, explore our different editions and register to receive regular news and useful information right in your inbox. You’ll find information for all types of thinkers, doers and problem solvers.

Sign up for newsletter