KickStart Venture Services

Calling UNC Research, FastTraCS, The Graduate School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Innovate Carolina, Launch Chapel Hill, NC SBTDC, North Carolina Biotechnology Center (NCBiotech), and beyond at theUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill! Accelerate your ideas through customer discovery and problem-solution validation! KickStart Venture Services is recruiting startups, faculty, post-docs, graduate students, and undergraduate students with innovations and an interest in commercialization to participate in our free virtual National Science Foundation (NSF) I-Corps program. We’ll teach you the principles of customer discovery to help you better understand the market potential of your innovation! ➡️ Register here for our virtual information session on Wednesday, February 26 at noon: https://lnkd.in/e-Rqk7aQ ➡️ To learn more about I-Corps at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, click here: https://lnkd.in/gBXrpQke 

KickStart Venture Services hosted a virtual Venture Catalyst Alumni Panel to connect some of our incredible alumni with our current cohort of fellows to share career development advice. Our panelists featured our alumni from a wide variety of backgrounds, including Michaela Copp of Persephoni BioPartners, Selin Altinok, PhD of IndieBio NY, Cullen Walsh of Nature Communications, Marshall Fritz, PhD with Newlin Ventures, Tim Q. with Walleye Capital, David Lee, Ph.D. with the UNC Neuroscience Center and ExstoBio, and Brianna Vickerman, PhD with Eshelman Innovation. Our alumni shared their experiences with networking, career journeys, and advice for trainees in their academic training. We’re so proud of our alumni & appreciate them sharing their time and experience with our current fellows! To learn more about the Venture Catalyst Program, click here: https://lnkd.in/eVvXn7e or contact Rachel Mintel & Judy Prasad, Ph.D. We’ll be recruiting our next cohort of fellows beginning in March 2025! 

The North Carolina Biotechnology Center (NCBiotech) is currently accepting applications for their Flash Grant. This is the perfect opportunity for early stage, high-potential life sciences innovations (not including class 1 medical devices, consumer products, or mobile apps) to receive critical funding. These grants aim to provide early stage support to help researchers validate their disruptive technologies and prepare them for translational development. The deadline is March 19, 2025, at noon. Don’t miss this chance for funding! ➡️ To learn more, click here: https://lnkd.in/gkE_Ym_y 

For the month of February, KickStart Venture Services welcomed UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy and the Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering | UNC & NC State's Yevgeny Brudno to our Advisory Group meeting to present his lab’s research technology, CAR T cell therapy, with Persistence Therapeutics.   To learn more about Dr. Brudno’s work and journey check out his profile here: https://lnkd.in/gc-8mpbV For more details on the KickStart Advisory Group, please visit our website: https://lnkd.in/dddyGQ83 or direct any inquiries to Balaji Vasudevan, Ph.D. or kickstart@unc.edu

Congratulations to FastTraCS for 10 years of innovation! 👏 KickStart Venture Services is proud to have supported FastTraCS startups including OraBiotech, Couplet Care, Inc., OncoTrap, DelAQUA Pharmaceuticals, and Glycan Therapeutics! ➡️ To learn more about ways that KickStart Venture Services can support your healthcare innovation, please click here: https://lnkd.in/dqX7xM94 

Join Innovate Carolina at the Junction on Thursday, February 20th at 5:30 pm for their OTC Innovations Seminar Series event titled: Pitching 101: How to Present Your Startups and Technology Innovation to Potential Funders. Featuring Matthew Cohen and Justin Robeny from Osage University Partners (OUP), participants will gain insights from VCs on how funders will evaluate both early-stage science and technology-based startups and will learn how to nail the key question during critical discussions. Does this sound like something you could benefit from? Be sure to register using the link below today! https://lnkd.in/edtwDZVW  

No Cost Opportunity to Learn about and participate in customer discovery. February 26 at 12 pm - virtual informational session Registration: https://lnkd.in/g2hjRECu Accelerate your ideas through customer discovery and market opportunity validation! KickStart Venture Services is recruiting community startups as well as faculty, post-doctoral fellows, graduate students, and undergraduate students with innovations and an interest in commercialization to participate in our virtual NSF I-Corps program. We’ll teach you the principles of customer discovery to help you better understand the market potential of your innovation!   The National Science Foundation’s Innovation Corps Program (I-Corps) was launched in 2011 and has quickly become one of the world’s largest and most successful technology commercialization accelerators. The I-Corps regional program helps researchers and aspiring innovators determine if they are solving a real-world problem with true market opportunity. NSF’s I-Corps Program not only provides funding, mentoring, and networking opportunities to help commercialize promising technologies, it is offered at NO COST to the community. #innovation #customerdiscovery #startup

The Carolina Angel Network is hosting the 2025 Tar Heel Madness competition, open to all Pre-seed and Seed stage startups with a connection to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Carolina Angel Network will select 8 startups in a bracket-style competition. Matchups will be released on Monday, March 3, and CAN members will review and vote for their favorite startups! The final four startups will be invited to pitch live in Chapel Hill on Monday, March 31. ➡️ Applications are due by February 16 at 9 PM EST. Learn more and apply here: https://lnkd.in/eBhcYvPV  

Calling all future life science leaders & entrepreneurs! Nucleate RTP has exciting events coming up for students interested in life science leadership and entrepreneurship! Whether you’re looking to join our leadership team or network with biotech professionals, we’ve got opportunities for you to connect, learn, and grow. Check out the details below! 👇 Event 1: Join the Nucleate RTP Leadership Team! Are you a student passionate about life science innovation and leadership? Join us for our Virtual Recruitment Event, where we’ll introduce our organization, share upcoming opportunities, and host breakout sessions for you to meet our leadership team. This is a great opportunity to learn about our functions, connect with current members, and explore ways to get involved in the life science entrepreneurship space. 📍 Location: https://lnkd.in/eQ3TNFaA 📅 Date & Time: February 18th, 2025 from 6:30-7:30pm Make sure to register here: https://lu.ma/j62wghrt We’re excited to meet the next generation of leaders—see you there! Event 2: Connect, Collaborate, and Innovate – Community Networking Event Interested in startups, research commercialization, and biotech entrepreneurship? Connect with local professionals in the RTP life science ecosystem at our upcoming networking event! This event is designed for students looking to expand their network, gain insights into the startup world, and explore opportunities in the life sciences industry. Plus, food will be catered by Hawkers! 🍽️ 📍 Location: BioLabs NC, 701 W Main St #200, Durham, NC 27701 📅 Date & Time: February 20th, 2025 from 6:30-8:30pm Make sure to register here: https://lu.ma/v0zu0r17 Don't miss this chance to engage with experts, meet like-minded peers, and take your career to the next level! About Nucleate: Nucleate is a student-run nonprofit organization that facilitates the formation of new life science ventures. Our equity-free Activator program supports emerging bioentrepreneurs coming from academia who plan to tackle the biggest challenges in human health (Bio Track) and sustainability (Eco Track) by building life science companies. The program connects scientific trainees, business students, and clinicians with a world-class advisor network of startup founders, executives, venture investors, and renowned scientists.