So this caught all of us by surprise.

Wilmington is named as one of the top 100 startup ecosystems in the WORLD !!!

Just check out the headline below, Wilmington in the same headline as Raleigh / Durham and Charlotte. Wilmington is the 8th largest city in North Carolina.

https://www.wraltechwire.com/2020/06/26/triangle-ranks-no-10-among-worlds-startup-ecosystems-charlotte-wilmington-crack-top-100/

Keep in mind Wilmington is the 245 biggest city in the USA.

Yes, I want to first give credit to the founders of Live Oak Bank, nCino, Apiture, Canapi Ventures, the Taylor family of companies like NextGlass/ UnTappd, National Speed, and TRU Colors and entrepreneurs behind PlayerSpace, Lapetus Solutions, EasyVote Solutions and more.

And a big shout out to the former members of the Cape Fear IMAF fund led by Dallas Romanowski and now to Ted Coughlin of Ironclad Brewery for putting capital to work and for allowing us to hold events at the brewery.

But also to Chancellor Miller at UNCW who in 2013 had a vision to make the CIE the leader of the Wilmington ecosystem. And within 12 months, the CIE was named one of the top incubators in the USA. http://www.wilmingtonbiz.com/more_news/2014/11/13/cie_director_visits_white_house_to_accept_award/12578

We have much more work to do.