Southeast Startup News From The Week Of August 18-22, 2025
Hypepotamus shared the stage with Sage CTO Aaron Harris at Fintech South, talking the AI realities facing SMB businesses across the globe. Full conversation will be released by TAG soon!
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Funding News
* Atlanta-based Verdata, a FinTech and fraud detection platform, raised a $8 million Series A from lead investor Continental Investors, per Crunchbase.
Florida-based LegalTech platform Attorney Shield raised a $500k seed round, according to Crunchbase.
Nashville's Thrive Health Tech raised a $5 million seed round.
Nashville's AGYL AI raised a $2 million seed round.
Florida-based Yourway Learning raised a $9 million Series A round.
Huntsville, Alabama-based Nullspace, a deep tech startup, raised a $2.5 million Seed Round, according to a press release.
On the Fintech South stage, logistics-focused startup Thryft Shiptook home $25k in non-dilutive cash during the conference's pitch competition. Thryft Ship is a shipping platform made for the social media age.
Acquisition News
Financial technology giant CSI announced plans to acquire Wilmington, North Carolina-based Apiture, a fintech born out of Live Oak Bank. Live Oak Bank could earn $20-25 million from the sale, per the Triangle Business Journal.
Accelerator News
Founders selected for the the FCAT Fellowship, a joint venture between the the Fidelity Center for Applied Technology (that would be FCAT) and American Underground in North Carolina, held their Demo Day this week. Pitching companies included:
- Quellios (HealthTech)
- Majentics (AI / B2B)
- Kahmino (Real Estate Tech)
- Ordr ("headless AI")
- Mindr (HealthTech coaching app)
At the end of the night, Kahmino's Taylor Casey took home the $25,000 grand prize. More details on the event are up on GrepBeat.
Top Hypepotamus Stories
In our latest Get To Know The CEO series, Andrew Levy at Atlanta-based Adpipe told us why AI is making it a great time to be a creative.
A group of founders from across the country came to Atlanta to pitch a group of investors with The Access Georgia Foundation.
In Other News
* Folks following the EV world in the Southeast know this announcement is a long-time coming. Startup EV automaker Rivian is finally moving forward with construction of its $5 billion production plant in Metro Atlanta.
The Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC), Georgia’s first technology incubator, marked 2024 with record-breaking growth and expanded statewide influence. The incubator, a program of Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute, welcomed 34 new startups into its portfolio, bringing its active membership to 141 companies and supporting the creation of more than 14,100 jobs across Georgia.
Wilmington, North Carolina's Predicate AI Labs announced a major agreement with Mayo Clinic to advance early detection of sepsis using its OpenDx™ predictive AI platform. The platforms aims to identify high-risk patients before traditional symptoms appear — a potentially lifesaving leap for one of the deadliest conditions in healthcare.
People To Know
We chatted this week with Todd Giddens at Atlanta-based AllSherpas, a privately funded Salesforce consulting firm. Giddens has worked across the local tech ecosystem at places like Flock Safety and Terminus
Hypepotamus shared the stage with Sage CTO Aaron Harris at Fintech South, talking the AI realities facing SMB businesses across the globe. Full conversation will be released by TAG soon!
Upcoming Deadlines
- gBETA Gulf Coast program - Aug 24
- NC IDEA Grant Cycle (North Carolina) - Aug 25
- Georgia Life Sciences Summit (Atlanta) - Aug 26-27
- OHUB Build the Future of Energy (virtual) - Aug 30
- WEI (Atlanta) - Aug 30
- FALL 2025 IDEAinstitute (New Orleans) - Aug 31
- Halogen Ventures Pitch Competitions (Birmingham) - Aug 31
- Coastal Innovation Challenge (New Orleans) - Aug 31
