A survival guide for busy founders

The startup world is a 100 mph, hair-on-fire sprint combined with a megamarathon endurance race. Time and tools are precious, so here are a few favorite resources to help Baltimore's rapidly expanding base of founders:

• BMoreTech Connect: the site for everything Baltimore tech
• Our bible for startup tools in one place, from Notion, complete with information about costs and features.
• Early-stage guidance from fundraising to co-founder negotiation: Techstars Entrepreneur Toolkit
• Non-dilutive funding from the Feds: TurboSBIR 
• Questions about legal/docs/fundraising? Check out Cooley GO, including favorites like the Series Seed Convertible Note Financing Documents Generator.
• Black/LatinX founder resources: Mogul Millennial connects Black entrepreneurs with grants and other opportunities to launch and grow their businesses. Baltimore alum Lolita Taub's Startup/Investor matching tool is making matches between investors and underestimated founders.
• Pitches: 35 of the best pitchdecks, including templates, from VisMe
• People and Hiring: With companies squeezed by the pandemic and supply chain issues, there are lists of qualified people from companies like Peloton, and this listing from Parachute that includes workers from 100s of companies.

Do you have a favorite resource to share? Let us know!

 What's UP: Founders

• Great news from Apkudo - the Bmore-based leader in supply chain automation completed a $14.4M funding round.
• 🔅🔅🔅 Sunstone Credit, Inc. announced investment from a number of local funders, propelling its solar loans for small and medium businesses.
• Arion Long, Founder and CEO of Femly, is in the news! She's leading in femtech with data, organic products and new feminine hygiene machines.
• Welcome to Baltimore! Longeviti Neuro Solutions is coming to Port Covington after their recent $5M funding round! 💜
• Tenable Holdings announced its acquisition of Israeli attack path management company, Cymptom.
• 🙌 Big ups to Techstars Equitech class member, EQL Finance, on their honorable mention in Technical.ly DC’s RealLIST. 
• Moving on up! Audacious Inquiry has been acquired by PointClickCare Technologies. 
• Delali Dzirasa and the Fearless team helped the National Museum of African American History and Culture recreate its “Slavery and Freedom” exhibition for online audiences by developing the Searchable Museum. 🔍
• Melalogic founder Avery Smith joined NPR's On The Record podcast to discuss their app.

Want an intro to any of these companies? Send us a note!

What's UP: Funders

• Luke Cooper announced plans to raise $250M for a hybrid venture capital fund in West Baltimore.

• Grotech Ventures recently led a $15M funding round for Krista Software Inc, and an $8M Series A round for Yardstik. 💰💰

• Gula Tech Adventures led a $4.3M seed funding round for Pixm!

• Congrats to Katherine Hill Ritchie - appointed Senior Director of Venture Funds at TEDCO, and Margaret Roth Falzon - promoted to Chief Operating Officer of Squadra Ventures. 💪🚺
• The Harbor Bank of Maryland and Cerebro Capital are teaming up to provide $50M in loans to minority-owned small businesses.

What's UP: Friends

• Hutch announced its largest incubator cohort ever with 7 companies
• Shoutout to Loyola’s data science program, which ranked 6th on Fortune's list of “Best Online Master’s in Data Science Programs in 2022.” 
• UMBC received the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, an honor that recognizes it as a true research powerhouse.
• The new Multiple Accelerator led by Neuvation Ventures and neurodiversity nonprofit Multiple announced six companies in its inaugural cohort.

Heads UP: Opportunities

• Goldman Sachs is accepting applications for its 10,000 Small Businesses program.  📈
• Blockchain-related startups can apply to Maryland Robert H. Smith School's new Blockchain Accelerator by February 21.
• Apply by March 1 for a chance to participate in 2Gether-international's three-month accelerator program for women entrepreneurs with disabilities.
• Working on solutions in offshore wind? Apply by March 5 to pitch your business at the International Offshore Wind Partnering Forum. 💨
• Allovue is hiring!

Heads UP: Resources

• Impact Hub is teaming up with GoDaddy to launch Empower Baltimore, a free program that will help small businesses expand their online presence. 
• This interactive guide for grad students and faculty entrepreneurs at the UofM helps founders through their startup journey. 🗺️

Heads UP: Events

• The Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities will host a webinar on February 22 focused on Advancing HBCU Student Success in Science. 🔬

• Join Visit Baltimore on February 24 for a tech summit focused on the new tech trends and leaders that are redefining Baltimore's landscape.

• Like speed dating for your next role! One America Works is hosting a virtual FinTech recruiting event to match companies up with prospective employees.
• 📅 C-Level execs: Think Systems Inc is bringing a technology and operations conference, INNOVATE 2022, to Baltimore County this October. 

Rise UP: Learn

• What impact does the market have on innovation and VC investment? Famed VC Vinod Khosla argues - not much.

Catch UP: Media

• Maryland resident Valerie Thomas, retired associate chief of NASA’s Space Science Data Operations Office, reflects on her life and career. 🔭🌌🚀
• HR tech startups received $12.3B across 809 deals last year, driven in part by the increased demand for DEI solutions.
• Portfolio manager Joe Fath, who runs T. Rowe Price's $62B growth fund, is investing in growth companies of the future helping the fund achieve big gains.

The UpShot is Baltimore’s Equitech ecosystem news, curated for startups, founders, funders and friends, all working together to build the country’s first Equitech City. ↗️↗️↗️