DURHAM — With blue skies and a crisp breeze blowing through the stands, conditions were pitch perfect when American Underground‘s (AU) hosted its annual Triangle Startup Night at Durham Bulls Athletic Park on Thursday night.
More than 250 people packed the stands behind first base for the event, sipping beer and talking shop as they watched their home team play against the Lehigh Valley Ironpigs.
The event also held extra import as it marked a new chapter — and some new branding — for the Durham-based startup and entrepreneurial hub after it recently merged with Big Top, a Triangle-networking platform and events series.
Rose Oyeneye and Janelle Peterson.
Benjamin Wright, Kelvin Wright and David Baron.
Ryland Atkins, Julie Bryce, John Owens, Vic Oyedeji and Drew Adams.
Among those who came out for the big unveiling was Vic Oyedeji, founder and CEO of Dubata, an online tech school aimed at getting the underrepresented and the underserved with no prior experience tech jobs.
“It’s pretty much a Youtube for education,” said the 33-year-old who founded the company in early 2018. “We want people to learn skills that they didn’t learn in school. Our mantra is, ‘Each one, teach many.”
He arrived solo, but quickly found some local entrepreneurs to hang out with. “I wanted to see people around the Durham area, and see what the scene was like. It’s good for everyone to get together and know each other.”
Nicole Dagostino, Sarah Hord, Adrienne Guthrie.
Ron Seils and Alex Ko.
Crystal Ramirez, Geoffrey Register, Alex Lorey and Mo Glatz.
Another highlight included ArchiveSocial’s founder and CEO Anil Chawla accepting the game ball. Just last Wednesday, the local startup disclosed that it had raised $53 million in investment capital from private equity firm Level Equity, which has offices in San Francisco and New York. and has some $1.7 billion under management.
“Amil started in the American Underground in 2010 in the Startup Factory, and through that time, expanded across over nine offices into their own space,” said AU’s managing director Molly Demarest. “Yet in that growth they’ve stayed incredibly connected to the startup community. We’re so excited for the funding that they raised through their growth equity investment.”
