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will strengthen Teamworks’ ability to function as an operating system and fully integrated technological experience for elite sports organizations while also expanding to new products.
of a $3.4 million Series A round of funding. The round was led by Cofounders Capital, among other participants including current investors Bull City Venture Partners and IDEA Fund Partners. “The Biospatial team has done an amazing job of building their network of data partners to amass a highly valuable data asset,” said David Jones, general partner at Bull City Venture Partners, in a Biospatial press release. The Research Triangle Regional Public Transportation Authority will receive $90,000 from the Federal Transit Administration’s Route Planning Restoration Program. The funding is part of the US Department of Transportation’s $25 million American Rescue Plan that’s been distributed among 25 states to help improve transportation services hindered by COVID-19. RTP-based Klearly, which uses data science and machine learning to help marketing, sales and customer success teams effectively grow revenue, raised $4 million to help B2B revenue teams prioritize development. The round was led by York IE and included IDEA Fund Partners and Triangle Tweener Fund. Kriya Therapeutics, a biotech startup based in California and Durham, announced the addition of $270 million to fund its continued growth in supporting the company’s mission to develop novel gene therapies. This Series C round of funding, led by Patient Square Capital, brings Kriya’s total amount raised to more than $450 million. Teamworks closed a Series D round of funding, led by Delta-v Capital, which totaled $50 million with participation from several other firms and more than 30 retired or active professional athletes. The company’s funding now exceeds $100 million and
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M&F Bancorp, the parent company of M&F Bank, will receive $80 million through the Emergency Capital Investment Program in exchange for 80,000 shares of Series E preferred stock issued to the U.S. Treasury. M&F Bank’s capital now totals more than $119 million, which will enable the bank to increase loans to small and minority-owned businesses throughout the state. During the third quarter of its fiscal year, the North Carolina Biotechnology Center awarded $1.7 million in the form of 18 grants and loans to universities, bioscience companies and nonprofits, including a $500,000 strategic growth loan to Altis Biosystems, a $20,000 FLASH grant plus $219,947 across two translational research grants to Duke University Medical Center, and $6,000 in biotechnology event sponsorships to Duke University.
PARTNERSHIPS & ACQUISITIONS
Real estate developers Austin Lawrence Partners and Global Holdings Management Group announced a joint venture partnership to complete The Novus, a 27-story luxury residential building in the Five Points district, which ALP announced in October 2021. The structure will include 54 condos, 188 rental units and groundlevel retail, plus coworking space. The first of two phases of construction is slated for completion by the end of 2024. North Carolina Central University and RTI International, an independent, nonprofit research institute, held a ribbon-cutting on May 4 to
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celebrate the new NCCU-RTI Center for Applied Research in Environmental Sciences and a shared lab space at RTI’s campus in RTP. This partnership will allow both entities to study the role the environment plays in health and disease, and how it affects disadvantaged communities. KPI Integrated Solutions and Phononic announced a partnership to develop scalable sustainable cooling technology to aid in cold chain solutions for grocery retailers and restaurants. The use of automated, temperature-controlled systems would also eliminate the need for employees to work in excessively cold temperatures. Duke University spinoff Precision Biosciences and pharmaceutical leader Novartis announced a partnership following the release of Precision Biosciences’ genome-editing technology. Precision Biosciences received $75 million and could see additional payments of up to $1.4 billion, in exchange for conducting further research on a custom nuclease that could be inserted in vivo as a potential treatment for sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia.
implementation of Durham County’s new yearly budget. The increase of $930 a year will take effect for most teachers and certified staff at the beginning of the 2022-23 school year, and result in salary supplements that start at $6,450 for new teachers and rise to $11,100 for those with 31 or more years of experience. All DPS employees can expect a 2.5% raise next year. More than 350 students graduated from Durham Technical Community College during its 60th commencement celebration at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. Ibrahim Cissé, 2021 MacArthur Fellow who graduated from Durham Tech in 2002, delivered the commencement speech. Cissé, retired Durham Tech leader Dorothy Brower Brokaw and former Glaxo Inc. CEO and Durham Tech Board of Trustees member Dr. Charles A. Sanders each received honorary degrees, the first ever awarded by the community college.
IN OTHER NEWS
The Durham Performing Arts Center welcomed 453,945 guests during its 2021-22 season, which concluded in June with a concert from singer/songwriter Amos Lee. DPAC also surpassed 5 million guests total since it opened in 2008. This past season included 24 sold-out “Hamilton” dates and three sold-out shows by comedian Chris Rock. The 5 millionth guest was awarded a package granting tickets to 10 future shows of their choosing. Durham Public Schools announced an increased raise in teacher salary supplements – which are provided by individual school districts – after the
Durham Tech also hosted a graduation ceremony for electrical line technicians. Six students graduated from the program, which was created in partnership with Duke Energy in 2019 and allowed for the students’ registration, tuition and fees to be free of cost. International design firm Duda|Paine Architects celebrated 25 years of business with the publication of “Shaping Place,” a collection of designs showing the evolution of the firm’s work over time. Duda|Paine also launched a new website, dudapaine.com.