As Monday morning rolls in, we’re providing TechWire readers with a quick recap of the past week’s news headlines.
Notable local news stories from last week included: Cary-based medtech startup NeuroVice, backed by NBA Legend Charles Barkley, raised $300,000 in new funding; CrowdfundNC acquired online startup community The FENX; NC schools can apply for $500,000 cybersecurity grants from IBM; the Triangle is among the top beneficiaries of the Silicon Valley exodus, welcoming new transplants in droves. Several Triangle-area companies secured new funding last week, including Cary-based NeuroVice ($300,000), Durham-based Pairwise ($90 million), Durham-based Deep Blue Medical ($3.44 million), Raleigh-based Clinetic ($6.4 million) and Durham-based Vindara ($1.9 million). Read more local startup news in our weekly Startup Rewind edition.
And, in national news: Even as GameStop shares dropped, the Reddit stock-trading mania continued through the week; Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos announced he’s stepping down; Amazon unveiled a helix building design for its HQ2 project; SpaceX’s second Starship test flight ended in another fiery crash; GSK committed $181 million to new COVID-19 vaccine research as new strains of the virus emerge.
Keeping with our Monday “TechWire Rewind” tradition, here’s a look back at 81 local, state and national headlines as reported by WRAL TechWire last week:
MONDAY | Feb. 1 Headlines:
- Apple will crack down on privacy – but is that really good for you?
- Can light stop COVID-19? Positive clinical trial boosts Durham firm’s efforts
- Elon Musk: ‘I do at this point think bitcoin is a good thing’
- Feb. headliners, part I: 68 events & program deadlines coming up in Triangle
- Feb. headliners, part II: 51 upcoming events/webinars happening across our state
- Google CEO talks to NC A&T, HBCU leaders after dispute over alleged discrimination
- How to raise over $475M in biomedical startups: insight from serial entrepreneur Daniel White
- Judge: Apple’s Tim Cook must sit for 7-hour deposition in Epic lawsuit
- Looking for a local tech or business meetup to join? Here’s a list
- Mavericks CEO Cynt Marshall, Hillsborough’s Kizzmekia Corbett make Black leaders shaping history list
- NCSU researchers knit together conductive yarns for soft sensor system in prosthetic limbs
- Now it’s #silversqueeze: Reddit mania spreads to precious metals
- On the NC horizon: 51 events & program deadlines to add to your March calendar
- Pssst! Did you know Tesla’s profits don’t come from car sales? Here’s the source
- RISE 29: ECU program responds to regional entrepreneurial needs
- Startup Guide adds NCSU Sweat Equity Challenge, UNC Black Entrepreneur Initiative, more COVID relief info
- Startup Rewind: From funding to acquisitions to jobs, here are 22 stories covering NC startups
- Startup Spotlight: Pandemic hit ’20 M&A exits but dealmakers are excited entering ’21
- TechWire Rewind: Inside GameStop short squeeze; $1B innovation district; NC tech jobs + 78 more headlines
TUESDAY | Feb. 2 Headlines:
- After a fight, Tesla recalls 135,000 vehicles due to touch screen problems
- Booze to your door: Uber buys alcohol-delivery platform for $1.1B
- Cary smart utilities firm Trilliant acquires analytics company with international footprint
- Check out Amazon HQ2’s wonder ‘The Helix’ – this could have been in the Triangle
- Digitial apps developer MobileSmith strikes $53M debt exchange
- Even as GameStop falls, Reddit’s microphone + young investors mean ‘social investing is not going away’
- FTC: Amazon didn’t pay full tips to drivers, will pay $61.7M to settle case
- Google news: Giant will pay $2.6M to settle discrimination claims, shutters game studio
- Google parent Alphabet earnings climb to $15B but cloud business losses increase
- Hoping jobs market will return soon to pre-pandemic levels? Forget it, report says
- In Alamance County, pandemic sparks innovation and partnership
- Jeff Bezos is stepping down as Amazon CEO; cloud chief to take over
- Jeff Bezos to employees: Invention is the root of our success … Keep inventing, and don’t despair
- Jim Goodnight plays reporter: Watch him quiz Microsoft CEO about SAS deal
- LimeLight: Wake County, Research Triangle development execs crack top 50 list
- Power company shutting down two plants in NC, laying off workers
- Robotic surgical firm TransEnterix wraps up $79M capital raise that hurt stock price
- SAS deepens partnership with Microsoft, offers analytics through cloud
- ‘Sharp short squeeze:’ Reddit army is crushing Wall Street hedge funds in war over stocks
- Siemens Energy, which has big operation in Charlotte, to cut thousands of jobs
- Teaching Startup: Here’s how to get a venture capital investor’s attention
- UNC researchers unravel mystery of a key to fighting autoimmune disease
WEDNESDAY | Feb. 3 Headlines:
- CED names IBM cloud exec as chair, life science CEO as chair-elect
- GSK commits $181M to new COVID-19 vaccine research as virus evolves
- FAA to investigate SpaceX Starship’s fiery crash – watch the video
- In his own words: Lenovo CEO spells out reorg, says aim is to ‘sharpen our execution’
- Innovate Carolina launches effort to boost minority, female entrepreneurs
- Lenovo’s big news day: Profit and revenue records; No. 2 exec retiring; new service group
- Massachusetts-based CRO Charles River Laboratories is expanding its NC footprint
- Microsoft vs. Google down under: Taking opposite sides in paying for news
- NC IDEA receives $100,000 gift to support NC Black Entrepreneurship Council
- New investors pour $300,000 into Cary medtech backed by NBA legend Charles Barkley
- Pest control for crops: That’s new agritechnology target for Novozymes
- RIoT picks 7 startups for accelerator program in Wilson – here’s a look at each
- Shock! Elon Musk acknowledges quality issues in talk with Tesla’s harshest critic
- Wall Street: Amazon likely to keep right on rolling even as Jeff Bezos plans to step aside
- You can’t be what you can’t see: Who’s making Black History Now
THURSDAY | Feb. 4 Headlines:
- 5 challenges awaiting Amazon’s new CEO
- COOP by Ryder truck-sharing platform expanding in NC
- CrowdfundNC acquires online startup community, The FĒNX
- Deutsche Bank just posted its first profit in years
- Durham biotech fertilizes gene-editing creation of new fruit and veggie varieties with $90M funding
- How NC schools can apply for IBM $500K cybersecurity grants
- IBM to make $3M in-kind grants to help schools harden cybersecurity
- Life, Better: Holly Springs
- NBA legend Charles Barkley: Cary founder is a ‘burgeoning example’ of what’s possible
- Nokia profit dips as it sees challenges in US market for 5G
- Parler CEO fired, service offline
- Reasons for cautious optimism amid Covid-19 crisis: ‘The news about the future’ is really promising
- Welcome to the Triangle: Investors, execs ready to capitalize on Silicon Valley exodus
FRIDAY | Feb. 5 Headlines:
- A week later, Robinhood removes trading restrictions on GameStop and AMC
- Can war against cancer be won? ‘We see hope’ says Triangle oncology exec on ‘World Cancer Day’
- Deep Blue Medical Advances lures $3.44M in equity for hernia repair tech
- Durham’s SMT technologies will be enhancing your Super Bowl viewing
- GM, Ford and other carmakers can’t get enough chips. It’s a huge problem
- Kuaishou video app stock soars 160% in world’s biggest IPO since 2019
- NC State names innovator and entrepreneur of the year winners
- ‘Silicon Valley exodus’ is real: Why these recent transplants now call the Triangle ‘home’
- SJF Ventures launches $175M fifth fund
- So why move to the Triangle? These tech execs share their stories
- Tiverton Advisors fund climbs to $130.4M for Agtech investments
- Two Triangle biotech companies raise cash
