On Thursday night, GrepBeat hosted its fifth annual “Startups To Watch” event, showcasing and honoring some of the most promising early-stage startups from around—for the first time—the entire state of North Carolina. We welcomed a crowd of founders, investors, and others from around the statewide startup ecosystem to The Rickhouse in Durham, where festive feting ensued.
Before we delve into the 2025 honorees that were unveiled at the event, it’s important to note that it would not have been possible to hold said event without nominations from the community and support from our sponsors.
The GrepBeat team extends its sincere thanks to everyone who nominated a startup (we received well over 100 such nominations) and to our generous sponsors for the evening: Whitley Recruiting, Aligned Technology Group, Hutchison PLLC, Curious Ant, and EisnerAmper, as well as NC IDEA Engage, which supported the event with a grant.
Special thanks as well to the folks from Rocky Top Catering for their efforts plying us with delicious bite-sized morsels; to Corey Truesdale of One TrueShot Photography for providing outstanding photos (don’t miss the slideshow at the bottom of this article!); and to local artist Isabella Dearr of Raleigh Founded (who incidentally helped muralize* GrepBeat HQ) for adorning the entry with a chalk image of the classic GrepBeat mug.
*It’s nonsense that this “isn’t a word,” so we’re just going to make it one
Of note, before we get to the list: Our Startups To Watch nominees/honorees include only early-stage tech and tech-enabled startups—no agencies, life science, or biotech. There are also no repeat winners (though you can and should take a look back at past winners in our recaps for 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024).
And now—here are GrepBeat’s 2025 Startups to Watch!
HQ: Cary
Year Founded: 2024
CEO: Ryan O’Donnell
Description: Sunlight has a stated mission of strengthening America’s social safety net, with an initial focus on improving the child welfare system. They’re working toward these goals through a flagship product called Your Case Plan—a secure, HIPAA-compliant mobile platform that comprehensively improves communication and legal representation in child welfare cases. The platform is built to reduce inefficiencies and ultimately reduce the length of time children remain stuck in foster care.
(You can learn more in our past feature on Sunlight, and catch CEO Ryan O’Donnell in his Friday Nooner appearance.)
HQ: Durham
Year Founded: 2022
CEO: Gray King
Description: Sizeo is addressing the issue of inventory inefficiency faced by apparel and footwear brands. To tackle this problem, this company is, to quote them, “putting the AI in retail”—providing retail businesses with software that converts historical data into predictive, localized analysis for size-level demand. Essentially, they’re telling apparel and footwear companies which sizes of specific items will be in greatest demand at a given location
(You can learn more in our past feature on Sizeo.)
HQ: Charlotte
Year Founded: 2018
CEO: Andrew Ashur
Description: Lucid Bots (our first-ever Charlotte-based Startups To Watch honoree) has rapidly become a leader in the development of robots and drones that do, as they put it, “the dangerous jobs that humans shouldn’t have to do.” The company’s AI-enabled, autonomous solutions take on tasks such as cleaning, painting, and even applying sealants, often in places, such as the exteriors of tall buildings, that humans can’t reach in a risk-free manner. The startup was the fastest-growing robotics manufacturer in the U.S. in 2024.
HQ: Durham
Year Founded: 2020
CEO: Joshua Miller
Description: Gradient Health was founded to help an ever-expanding population of AI healthcare companies by providing access to the data they need to build equitable and effective programs. In short time, this startup has established a platform enabling it to compile vast troves of diverse, organized medical imaging data, without compromising patient privacy. That data can then be provided in an ultra-efficient manner to researchers who need it for the development of AI medical solutions.
(You can learn more in our past feature on Gradient Health.)
HQ: Raleigh
Year Founded: 2022
CEO: Josh Cooper
Description: Born out of the NC State Engineering Entrepreneurship Program, CN-Seamless is automating steel fabrication to make it faster, easier, and safer. They’re doing this by designing portable, CNC cutting robots that are equipped with intuitive touchscreens and adaptable to users’ existing setups and equipment. The machines’ software effectively enables users to set up automated cutting with lower risk and greater precision.
(You can learn more in our past feature on CN-Seamless.)
HQ: Wilmington
Year Founded: 2023
CEO: Rob Cooley
Description: Nuream, GrepBeat’s first-ever Wilmington-based Startups To Watch honoree, is working hard to help us all get a good night’s sleep—as well as keep us healthier in general. Specifically, the company is pioneering neurosensoring technology within fabrics. If that’s a combination of words you’re not used to hearing, it basically means that this startup is equipping pillowcases and other fabrics with technology that tracks brain activity, ultimately generating insights on sleep patterns. Those insights can be used to address the sleep epidemic as well as provide early warnings numerous debilitating conditions.
(You can learn more in our past feature on Nuream.)
HQ: Raleigh
Year Founded: 2016
CEO: Luis Perez
Description: Remoov is addressing clutter in homes, and specifically making it easier for homeowners to dispose of and upcycle unwanted items. To do this, the startup is using a proprietary tech platform and data that is, as they put it, “very hard to replicate.” Their process enables them to automate the identification and appraisal of goods, so that pick-up, resale, and donation processes are optimized.
HQ: Charlotte
Year Founded: 2024
CEO: Alex Smereczniak
Description: Franzy is helping people become business owners by streamlining the process of finding fitting franchise opportunities. Their franchise discovery platform helps users match with opportunities via the AI-powered “Franzy Fit Score,” and then helps those same users connect with funding partners. The startup launched just this past January and at the time of this writing has already onboarded over 4,000 franchise brands.
HQ: Durham
Year Founded: 2019
CEO: Kevin Gehsmann
Description: Developed by Duke football players, initially to help their teammate and now NFL quarterback Daniel Jones, PROTECT3D is using 3D technology to enable the development of custom protective devices for athletes. Through the startup’s app, a user can select a product and then scan an athlete. After just a 30-second scan, the platform has what it needs to tailor the product specifically to the athlete’s body for optimal protection and comfort.
(You can learn more in our past feature on PROTECT3D.)
HQ: Raleigh
Year Founded: 2024
CEO: Runbin Dong
Description: Scale Social is helping brands effortlessly convert genuine customer experiences into high-performing, short-form video ads. Using a platform dubbed ReelScale, the company enables businesses to collect user-generated content via QR codes and email prompts. That content then fuels the automatic generation of branded reels, which are used for geo-targeted campaigns across platforms.
(You can learn more in our past feature on Scale Social.)
Congratulations again to all of our 2025 honorees!
To those founders who weren’t nominated, or who were nominated and not selected, we encourage you to put your name in next year!
Below, enjoy a slideshow of photos from the 2025 event
