Last Thursday and Friday, startups from North Carolina, the broader Southeast, and even elsewhere (we even spoke to some Canadian founders) gathered at Winston-Salem’s Biotech Place for the 10th iteration of the ConvergeSouth conference. Powered once again by Flywheel, this year’s event amounted to a two-day summit revolving around upwards of 150 startups (all of which you’ll find listed below).
The event kicked off with concurrent opening remarks from Winston Starts in the Biotech Place and from Thom Ruhe of NC IDEA at the nearby Atrium at 500 W. 5th. From there, though, the conference took on its own shape. Unlike most area summits, ConvergeSouth is difficult to summarize in linear fashion—because to some extent, everything is happening all at once, and attendees are free to explore based on their own priorities.
The 500 W. 5th location would host a number of speaker sessions (with most speakers listed here). The bulk of the activity, however, took place at Biotech Place, where representatives from those 150-plus startups were on hand both to pitch (in a variety of rooms surrounding the main space) and exhibit (at cocktail tables set up throughout the atrium). Day 1’s startups primarily came from “Track 1” (Healthtech & Biotech) and “Track 3” (Food/Beverage/Agtech), while Day 2 showcased “Track 2” (AI & B2B SaaS), with some crossover here and there.
Amidst the activity, the sporadic pitch sessions amounted to a gradual competition spread across both days. This year, the grand prize—a chance to compete for a $1M investment at the Startup World Cup—went to Chonex, out of Birmingham, Alabama. Chonex is using insect-derived materials to enhance soil, providing value to farmers in the form of better plant nutrition, improved crop yield, and more.
For attendees, the real value of the conference is the chance to customize an experience. While the aforementioned less-than-linear format of the agenda makes it all but impossible to take in the full event, it does give each person passing through the chance to prioritize the speakers, startups, and/or pitch sessions most relevant to them. That, plus a great deal of founder access, continues to make this a standout event on the NC tech conference calendar.
See some of Team GrepBeat’s photos from the event below, as well as a full list of the participating startups (even further below). Our thanks to the folks behind the conference for welcoming us as a media partner!
Track 1: Healthtech & Biotech
9+1AI / Abundance Biopharama Corporation / Alpha-1 Biologics / ARNAV Biotech / Australis Pharmaceuticals Inc. / Avendia Therapeutics Inc. / Burna AI / Cattywampus / Celestia Life Sciences / Citrus Oncology Inc. / Claradele Pharmaceuticals Inc. / Community Expert Solutions Inc. / Data Driven Implants Inc. / Deep Creek Pharma / Duet Biosystems Inc. / Edulis Therapeutics / Ember / Esteem Wraps / Estrigenix Therapeutics Inc. / Eydis Bio Inc. / FlashPath Inc. / ForesightCares Inc. / Greenhill AntiBallistics Corporation / H3Pelvic Therapy Systems / HEART BOUND LLC / Intra Therapeutics / Isosceles Pharmaceuticals / JOGO Health / KeViRx Inc. / LASARRUS Clinic and Research Center, Inc. / Lavni Inc. / LimbRise Inc. / Lumo Imaging / Montello Technologies Inc. / MSAI Tech Inc. / Natrium LLC / Neuralkis Therapeutics / Neuriora LLC / Neuroene Therapeutics Inc. / NeuroWeave AI / Nushammah Pharmaceuticals Inc. / OncoTAb Inc. / OptiStable Biologics / Orion Therapeutics / OsteoCure Therapeutics Inc. / PepGel LLC / Phalcon LLC / Plakous Therapeutics Inc. / Polaris Geomics / PredxBio / PrevAI Health LLC / Pulse Konnect / Quantum Computing Diseease Treatments / Quellios / Quesify.net / ReelCare LLC / Regenova Pharmaceuticals Inc. / Resonantia Diagnostics Inc. / RESTEC / Sano Women’s Health / Scyntek / SelSym Biotech Inc. / SonaXR LLC / SpaceRX / STARX Therapeutics Inc. / Sumo Nutrients / SunVax mRNA Therapeutics Inc. / TeraVax Biotech / Theralinq / TheWell Bioscience / Unify Medical / Whelix / ZenagemBio
Track 2: Artificial Intelligence & B2B SaaS
AiShell Labs LLC / Arclite LLC / BabelBox.AI / Career Maven Consulting / CashMap Inc. / CFOLink / Colara Inc. / ConsultFlow / Flowchestra / Hardshell / Iguana Cyber / InspiresGenius / INSTARAILS / Kathedra / LinkSync / LIVESENS INC. / Majentics / Minerva Lithium Corp / Monthly / Murmuratto / NeuroFin Inc. / ORBIT – The Resume Chic / Orbyntis LLC / Park Shark / Razored Technologies / Ready AI Inc. / Real OB Inc. / Scale Social AI / Skytree Scientific / Solvrays / Stack Sixth / Thrive Platforms / Undercurrent Research Labs Inc. / VoxIntel AI / Your School Suite LLC / ZoraSafe
Track 3: Food / Beverage / Agtech
AH FIWI LLC / Chonex / The Trees All Natural Products LLC / Geo D Foods / Innatrix Inc. / nanXPure Inc. / Pod Farms Inc. / Soteria Formulations / The HungreeApp / True Made Foods / Upstream Biotechnology Inc.
