2026 North Carolina Signature Cohort Participants!
North Carolina—We officially have our full, confirmed participant list for the 2026 NC Signature Cohort! All 14 seats have been filled with an incredible group of Social Entrepreneurs representing diverse, impactful ventures across the region.
Over the next 16 weeks, they'll grow, refine, and prepare to pitch their Social Enterprises at a grand finale Showcase event on Wednesday, November 11, 2026. Get your free ticket today—RSVP!
2026 North Carolina Ventures
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The Heroic Kids Game app will teach children K-12 real-life safety and life skills through engaging, scenario-based gameplay. Our approach helps kids develop confidence, resilience, and mental muscle memories that last a lifetime. We will also have a Caregiver Portal where caregivers of all kinds can find the help and resources they need to support their children through the game and beyond.
Our go-to-market is primarily B2B2C — through health and wellness benefits companies and insurers who offer Heroic Kids as a family wellbeing benefit to corporate employees. We're in development, growing our waitlist, and ready to change the way the world thinks about child safety. Confidence is the strategy. Play is the method.
Founder: CJ Scarlet
Instagram: @thebadassgrandma
Facebook: thebadassgrandma
TikTok: @thebadassgrandma
Website: thebadassgrandma.com -
cYAAG Technologies is an AI-powered engagement platform that helps corporations, educational institutions, nonprofits, and government agencies mobilize employees, students, alumni, volunteers, and citizens into meaningful social and environmental action.
Organizations use cYAAG to launch campaigns, increase participation, recognize contributions, and measure real-world outcomes through a standardized impact measurement framework. Individuals build verified Impact Profiles that document their contributions over time, creating lasting recognition for community service and leadership. By combining personalized engagement, gamification, community networks, and measurable outcomes, cYAAG transforms one-time volunteer activities into sustained community engagement and lasting impact.
Founder: Aruna Pingali
LinkedIn: cYAAG
Instagram: @cyaag_technologies
Facebook: cYAAGTechnologies
Website: cyaag.com -
DEINDE provides consulting and youth talent development for nonprofits and SMBs via five service lines: Marketing, Event Fundraising, Business Consulting, Educational Services, and Sales—strengthening organizations and developing future leaders.
Founder: Dr. Corbin Smith
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Gallery Box hosts interactive, artist-led workshops brought directly to where communities already gather. Our beachhead market is apartment complexes, where we partner with property managers to deliver fully turnkey creative experiences for their residents.
Every workshop is handled from start to finish: materials, setup, instruction, cleanup, flyers, RSVPs, and post-event photos. This creates consistent paid work for emerging and underrepresented local artists while giving residents meaningful, accessible creative experiences and giving property managers a high-quality, low-lift event solution. We are currently active and revenue-generating across the Triangle with recurring clients and referral-driven growth.
Founder: Ami Patel
Instagram: @getgallerybox -
Medasi is building the trusted discovery, education, and booking platform for textured hair. We help consumers find vetted stylists for braids, locs, twists, and natural hair services while providing expert guidance from licensed cosmetologists and trichologists.
Starting with salon-based services, Medasi combines booking, hair education, style discovery, and beauty commerce into one platform designed specifically for the 20+ million Americans who regularly wear protective styles.
Founder: Anu Frempong
LinkedIn: Medasi-com
Instagram: @medasiapp
Website: getmedasi.com -
MicroBioCol is building Flomentum, a workflow platform for creating, testing, signing, and releasing AI workflows with evidence-backed controls.
Our core technology, MicroPrompt, compresses large workflow context into smaller, auditable prompt packages while preserving critical facts, evidence locks, and execution requirements. The product helps teams compare full versus compressed workflow behavior, prove what changed, and carry that proof into signing, release approval, and audit history. The goal is to make AI workflow deployment more reliable, traceable, and cost-efficient for regulated or operationally sensitive teams.
Founder: Patrick Steele
Website: microbiocol.com -
We are in the founding stages of building a Social Enterprise agency with a simple but powerful north star: the total wellness of student athletes.
Our purpose is clear: to protect and cultivate the whole athlete. We reject the model that treats athletes as performance assets and replace it with systems that see them as full human beings. Every program, every partnership, every decision we make will be filtered through this lens. Athlete wellness is not one initiative among many; it is the foundation.
Founder: Julia Carter
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Oak City Spice Blends is a North Carolina food company that creates handcrafted spice blends while preserving culinary history through education. We develop clean-label seasonings inspired by cuisines from around the world and pair them with recipes, cooking instruction, historical storytelling, and practical techniques that help people cook with confidence.
Our mission is to make home cooking healthier, less intimidating, and more meaningful by teaching people not just what to cook, but why ingredients and techniques work. Every product is designed to inspire curiosity, reduce reliance on highly processed foods, and bring families back to the table
Founder: Michel McNeese
Instagram: @oakcityspiceblends
Facebook: oakcityspiceblends
Website: oakcityspiceblends.com -
Orbit IT is a mission-driven tech workforce and consulting venture dedicated to helping organizations build stronger technology teams while expanding equitable access to tech careers. They connect businesses navigating digital transformation, cybersecurity, and emerging tech with qualified talent, actively creating economic opportunity and strengthening organizational capacity in the communities they serve.
Founder: Zaria Wilson
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Porch and Parcel Studios* is a research, strategy, and implementation studio focused on equitable housing, community development, and neighborhood wealth-building. We work with nonprofits, local governments, mission-driven developers, and community organizations to turn community priorities into executable projects, stronger partnerships, and more durable development systems.
Our work combines applied research, development strategy, capacity building, and implementation support. Over time, Blockwork Studios will also develop tools, standards, and learning platforms that help more communities deliver housing and economic opportunity on their own terms.
*Rebranded from Blockwork Studios
Founder: Desmond Dunn
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RAGFORM transforms discarded clothing into high-end architectural tiles for interior spaces. Our products are designed for architects, interior designers, and homeowners seeking sustainable materials without sacrificing aesthetics.
By diverting textiles from landfills and giving them a second life as durable surface materials, RAGFORM helps address one of the world's fastest-growing waste streams. We believe waste should be viewed as a valuable design resource, creating beautiful interiors while supporting a more circular economy.
Founder: Janna Johnson
Instagram: @rag.form
Website: rag-form.com -
Seven Sixteen is a faith-based organization designed to bring people together through the power of music.
Every other month, we host live Christian music events featuring mocktails, a DJ, live performance, small plates, and activities designed to help people connect.
Beyond the event, we donate a percentage of all ticket sales to nonprofits who meet the physical needs of Charlotte residents. Seven Sixteen is a space to intentionally use music for good.
Founder: Daija Peeler
Instagram: @sevensixteenclt
TikTok: @sevensixteenclt
Website: sevensixteen.org -
The Human-Canine Alliance (TH-CA) is a patent-pending, AI-powered platform matching people with rescue dogs based on compatibility like energy, lifestyle, wellness needs, and home environment—generating percentage-based rankings and a personalized Compatibility & Training Report for every match.
We're built at the intersection of two crises: the loneliness epidemic and shelter dog euthanasia. By matching on compatibility rather than first impressions, we help adoptions actually stick—providing a pathway for people to develop a relationship that genuinely supports their health, and keeping more dogs out of the euthanasia pipeline.
We operate today as a Social Enterprise: a North Carolina LLC and a registered California nonprofit, currently working with our newly launched advisory board to refine the right long-term structure. This is not a pet adoption site; it's a digital public health solution.
Founder: Stacie King
LinkedIn: Human Canine Alliance
Instagram: @human.canine.alliance
Facebook: human.canine.alliance
YouTube: @human.canine.alliance
Website: humancaninealliance.com -
Liquid Gold Foundation is a nonprofit social enterprise providing equitable access to donor breast milk for premature and medically fragile infants in the Carolinas.
We use a sliding-scale pricing model and scholarship program so that cost is never the reason a baby doesn’t get what they need. Our NICU wholesale partnerships make donor milk affordable for hospitals serving underresourced communities.
As the only Black woman-owned milk bank in the United States, this work is deeply personal to me — and it is long overdue.
Founder: Nezjma Smith
Instagram: @liquidgoldfoundation
Save this date!
Wednesday, November 11, 2026
Be in the room where it happens—connect with these entrepreneurs, hear their inspiring stories, and vote for your Crowd Favorite at this grand finale Showcase event!
Tickets are always free!