The Amped Journal

Airstrikes hit Sanaa International Airport in Yemen, with the Houthis accusing Saudi Arabia of launching the attack, Reuters reported. The strikes reportedly break a four-year truce between the kingdom and the Iran-aligned Houthi movement, adding a new front to the region's widening instability amid the broader US-Iran conflict.

The UK government said a series of arson and vandalism attacks on Jewish sites in Britain were carried out by a proxy group backed by Iran, according to the Associated Press. The UK announced bans on the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right (IMCR) and on Iran's Revolutionary Guard, its powerful paramilitary force.

Minnesota prosecutors announced Monday they have obtained key evidence in their ongoing investigations into the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, who died during pitched protests against a federal immigration enforcement crackdown in the state earlier this year, according to the Associated Press.

Mexico is demanding criminal investigations into the deaths of 17 Mexicans in the United States since the Trump administration launched its crackdown on illegal immigration last year, officials in Mexico City said, according to the Washington Post.

Electronic Lab Logs, a Wilmington startup that replaced paper lab logs with cloud-based data collection software, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on July 1 under CEO Brian Fox, according to the Greater Wilmington Business Journal. Court filings show the company holds about $1.6 million in assets against nearly $2.5 million in debt, with Nashville-based investor Rockmont Partners as its largest creditor; the company is expected to keep operating while it restructures. Founded in 2018 by Daniel Summers and Jeremy Sikorski, Lab Logs won a $50,000 NC IDEA SEED grant and a Coastal Entrepreneur Award in 2020. In 2024 it landed a $2 million lead investment from Rockmont Partners plus $650,000 combined from VentureSouth, Gray Ventures and angel investors; Summers stepped down as CEO last year.

SideKix, a Wilmington startup founded by James Martucci in 2023 to help entrepreneurs turn ideas into businesses, is preparing for a national rollout next month, according to the Greater Wilmington Business Journal. The AI-powered platform has been self-funded since launch and includes a mobile app that maps personalized growth pathways plus an advisor marketplace staffed by working business owners rather than professional coaches.

New Hanover County commissioners will consider investing $2 million in a pilot project from Cape Fear Development aimed at addressing the region's workforce housing shortage, according to the Greater Wilmington Business Journal. The county's investment would come as a subordinated debt instrument carrying 5% annual interest, due after 10 years. The Proximity Blue Clay Road project would build 236 townhomes on 24 acres, with rents set at 60% to 90% of area median income for 10 years before reverting to market rate.

The owners of the Reel Cafe, a downtown Wilmington bar and restaurant open since 1998, purchased the building they've long occupied at 100 S. Front St. along with an adjacent building at 12 Dock St. for a combined $3.5 million, the Greater Wilmington Business Journal reported. The sale closed Tuesday; both the Reel Cafe, which spans three floors plus courtyard and rooftop bars, and Wilmington Distillery, which occupies the Dock Street building's first floor, are expected to keep operating without changes.

Franchisee Delight Restaurant Group has submitted plans for Wilmington's second 7 Brew coffee stand, a 534-square-foot, two-lane drive-thru at 4607 Market St., according to the Greater Wilmington Business Journal. The city's first location, on South College Road, is set to open this fall; the Market Street stand is expected to open in early 2027. The local franchise group has said it plans to bring about 12 locations to the Wilmington market over the next five years.

The New Hanover Community Endowment named David Stegall as its new vice president of programs and grants, effective immediately, according to the Greater Wilmington Business Journal. Stegall previously served as the endowment's director of education and community development; before joining last year, he was chief of system innovation for the Department of Defense Education Activity and deputy state superintendent of innovation at the NC Department of Public Instruction. CEO Sophie Dagenais said the national search, opened in April, concluded that "the strongest candidate was already on our team."

The Eagles Island Nature Park nonprofit is working to preserve about 1,600 acres of the more than 3,000-acre Eagles Island, wetlands and old rice-paddy land at the confluence of the Cape Fear and Brunswick rivers, according to the Greater Wilmington Business Journal. The group, which gained nonprofit status three years ago after conservation efforts began in 2001, says the land includes historic shipwreck sites and rice paddies hand-dug by enslaved Africans as part of the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor.

The Network for Entrepreneurs in Wilmington hosts its next DEEEEEP DIVE on Thursday, July 23 from 4 to 6:30pm at the UNCW Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (803 S. College Rd). The riverside-chat session asks what a venture studio is and what the 30-year-old model means for Wilmington's tech scene, featuring Matt Cimino of Amped Ventures and Brian Ruddy of Raleigh venture studio 24 and Up. The event is free, and Jim Roberts' sponsor update says registration is already two-thirds full.

NC IDEA holds a fall 2026 grant-cycle information session Monday, July 20 from noon to 1:30pm at the UNCW Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Foundation staff will cover the $50,000 SEED grants for startups with proven concepts and $10,000 MICRO grants for early-stage validation work. Lunch is provided and registration is open on SimpleTix.

Per Jim Roberts' NEW sponsor update, the new Tech Startup Tune Up on July 20 is a closed peer-to-peer working session - not an audience event - where local companies work on their weaknesses with three advisors present, including investor Richard Stroupe. The format gives participants two months to fix gaps before pitching at the Wilmington Investor Buzz In on September 10. NEW's calendar also adds a Wilmington AI Roundtable on August 27.

The Greater Wilmington Business Journal's next Power Breakfast, 'Vital Signs,' is Thursday, July 16 at the Wilmington Convention Center - networking at 7:30am, program 8:15 to 9:45am. Healthcare and education leaders will discuss the big changes moving through southeastern North Carolina healthcare, including workforce expansion, facility investments, and access to care. Tickets are $45; Ward and Smith sponsors.

Wilmington native and New Yorker staff writer Lauren Collins publishes 'They Stole a City: Wilmington's White Supremacist Coup and the Families Who Live with Its Legacy' (Penguin Press) this week, days after CBS Sunday Morning featured the book on July 12. Floodplain Books hosts a free launch event Friday, July 17 at 6pm at the Brooklyn Arts Center Annex, with Collins in conversation with Dr. LeRhonda Manigault-Bryant of UNC-Chapel Hill; a signing follows.

Richard Stroupe, the operator-turned-investor behind Cape Fear Ventures and one of NEW's biggest sponsors, says he is putting up to $100,000 behind one deep-tech startup in his investment sweet spot, per a LinkedIn post flagged in Jim Roberts' sponsor update this week. Stroupe has backed more than 50 companies, including Wilmington's Ohanafy and SkillMaker.ai. Terms and how to apply haven't been published beyond the post.

RCOAST, the coastal-intelligence startup that maps shoreline erosion and flood risk with drone and aircraft LiDAR - it recently documented up to 141 feet of shoreline retreat at Buxton in the Outer Banks - is picking up North Carolina investor momentum. Per Jim Roberts' NEW sponsor update from the state's angel-group leaders call, Charlotte Angel Fund has invested and another NC angel group is now in due diligence. Neither deal has been publicly announced.