As TechWire enters its 20th year of operation, we’re celebrating another year of growth for our exclusive Triangle Startup Guide.

Since the guide launched in March 2019, WRAL TechWire has been incrementally expanding its wealth of resources. Throughout 2020, we added over 150 new resources to the guide, averaging three new listings per week.

A signifcant amount of that growth – but certainly not all- stems from the COVID-19 subsection of the guide, featuring sources of pandemic information, financial relief and other support for local businesses. That section has grown substantially over the past 10 months as we keep up with the latest grants, loans and other funding programs.

Beyond the COVID relief section, every other area of the guide expanded significantly in 2020 as well—reflecting an ever-vibrant startup community that’s coping well with pandemic challenges.

Comprised of seven sections, the Triangle Startup Guide gives local founders access to all the resources they need along their startup journey.

We’ve summed up the trends below. (Click on the subheadings to view each section in the guide.)

Accelerators and Mentorship Programs

This section of the guide includes accelerators, mentorship programs and business development training for early-stage entrepreneurs.

While this section didn’t grow as much as others in 2020, we did add several new programs, including First Flight Venture Center’s FAST and Propeller programs, and the Council for Entrepreneurial Development’s GRO online incubator, the six-month Figure Your Sh*t Out (FYSO) accelerator, and Pax Momentum, an eight-week accelerator targeting mid-Atlantic startups that expanded its reach to the Triangle last May.

Map of Incubators and Coworking Spaces

The Triangle’s base of startup incubators and coworking spaces has seen steady growth this year, as evidenced by recent news of growth from leading players Raleigh Founded and American Underground.

Map of incubators and coworking spaces in the Triangle

We added several spaces to our map, including Intelligent Office and Industrious (Wells Fargo Capitol Center) in downtown Raleigh, Office Ours spaces in Raleigh and Cary, Hatch64 in Knightdale, Coworking Station in Apex, Perch Coworking in Pittsboro, and Building1, Cornerstone Workspace and Carolina Coworking in Chapel Hill.

Competitions, Grants and Other Funding Sources

This section of the guide includes a list of COVID-19 resources for local businesses. Below that, you’ll find many sources of funding for early-stage startups, from pitch competitions to private grants to university funds and more.

New additions to the list in 2020 include: Black Girl Ventures (which opened a chapter in Durham last year), Durham SOUP, Launch Chapel Hill’s Microgrant Fund (which launched last November), NC IDEA Black Entrepreneurship Council ECOSYSTEM Grant (launched last October), the One North Carolina Small Business Program (which returned in 2020 after a hiatus), and the upcoming program, Pitch: A Competition for Black Student-Founders (applications are due on Jan. 29).

Venture Capital and Angel Groups

This section of the guide features more than 50 venture capital and angel investors in the Triangle, including several university-affiliated funds. The list grew significantly this year. You can read about the latest updates in this post from December.

Need funding? Triangle Startup Guide now features 55 VC & angel investors

Communities, Networks & Memberships

This part of the guide includes startup-focused organizations, networks and membership-based groups. Over the last year, we added #BlackDollarNC (a network of Black-owned or operated businesses across North Carolina), the NC Life Sciences Virtual Networking Group (which launched virtually in 2020), and Pitch Space (a new pitching and networking platform from Winston-Salem’s Flywheel Coworking).

These groups join over a dozen more names, such as the Council for Entrepreneurial Development, RIoT, NC TECH, the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, local Chambers of Commerce, and more.

Free Events and Meetups

This section features meetup groups that serve to connect the Triangle’s tech and startup communities. New entrants to the list include Durham’s Momentum meetup (run by local code school Momentum), Triangle Women in STEM, Women in Tech Allies, and the All Things Open RTP meetup.

Inspiration, Advice and More Resources

By far the most-packed section of the guide, this page features a mix of podcasts, thought leadership, blogs, video series, market data and other things produced by (and for) local entrepreneurs. Some of the latest additions to this list include Raleigh Founded’s new Founded Connect podcast, Hutchison PLLC’s Founder Shares podcast, Oak City Productions’ From Scratch! web series, IDEA Fund Partners’ Medium page, and the 3 Sips of Advice podcast from Jim Roberts.

We make weekly additions to the Triangle Startup Guide. As always, if we missed a resource you’d like to add, please feel free to submit it for inclusion. You can email me directly, tweet me @shannoncuthrell or use this contact form.