Launch Chapel Hill Named No. 4 Best University Business Accelerator

A business incubator at UNC-Chapel Hill has been named one of the top programs in the country.

Launch Chapel Hill reached rarefied air this week when UBI Global named Launch the number four best performing university business accelerator in North America.

Dina Rousset is the program manager for Launch. She attended the award ceremony in Toronto, on Tuesday.

“It’s an amazing honor for us,” Rousset says. “Some of the other awardees were groups like the MassChallenge, which is huge – millions of dollars in budget and, I think, about 50 employees, [and] 1871 – another huge organization.

“So that, in Chapel Hill, by the town, the county, the university and then a private donor coming together, its just amazing that we’ve been able to accomplish and be on the same stage as some of those larger players.”

Rousset says Launch makes the innovative mindset being instilled by leadership at UNC more tangible.

She says Launch provides much needed support for young businesses with big ideas.

“We really heavily layer on mentoring resources,” she says. “We help them get access to networks and access to capital that really allows them to scale out their businesses.

“We work with students, faculty, staff and members of the community.”

Rousset adds that a sense of collaboration permeates the community to make Launch Chapel Hill a feasible program.

“Not only the university, the town, the county, the downtown partnership,” Rousset lists, “but, as well, partners from across the community – accountants and lawyers and marketers and [public relations] folks, different departments across UNC and even some at Duke – come in and volunteer their time to work with the startups.

“We really want to thank the community for that.”

Launch accepts a new class of entrepreneurs twice every year; in July, the program brought in seven local companies. Rousset says companies accepted by Launch have gotten past the idea portion of the development process.

“They will have tested their ideas,” she says, “which means they will have gone out and they will have spoken to some customers.

“They’ll really be ready to scale.”

Rousset says Launch is currently accepting applications for businesses that would like to be part of the program.

“We accept a new cohort of companies, or class of companies, every January and July,” she says. “Right now through November 15, we are accepting applications for our cohort that will begin in January.”

The seven companies accepted in July are preparing to host its first “demo day” in early December at the new Silverspot Cinema at University Place.

Launch Chapel Hill Named No. 4 Best University Business Accelerator

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