Greensboro Startups to Watch in 2027: JetZero, Guerrilla RF, Soelect, Boom Supersonic and the Piedmont Triad Companies Behind Them
Greensboro's startup story in 2027 is mostly about things you can touch: airplanes, radio chips and battery materials. An aircraft startup is moving its headquarters here and building its first factory, a supersonic airliner company has finished its factory here, and two local hardware companies keep growing from Greensboro offices. The 2026 version of this article listed ten names, but most did not hold up: two were bought, several are based in other cities, one is a Medicare Advantage plan rather than a startup, and one website shows nothing but a name. For this 2027 edition we checked every company on its own website, or in a primary release, in November 2026: that it still operates, where it is based, what it builds and what it publishes about its funding. What happened to the old names is listed near the end.
Quick answer: the Greensboro startups to watch in 2027 are JetZero (an all-wing airliner, with its new headquarters and first factory in Greensboro), Guerrilla RF (radio frequency chips for wireless and defense), Soelect (lithium anodes and solid electrolytes for batteries) and Boom Supersonic (supersonic airliners, built at its Greensboro superfactory). In the wider Piedmont Triad, watch Deep Creek Pharma in Winston-Salem. JetZero's $175 million Series B in January 2026 is the largest round on this list. For support, start with the Nussbaum Center for Entrepreneurship, Launch Greensboro and NC IDEA.
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Why Greensboro Matters for Founders in 2027
Greensboro sits in the Piedmont Triad with Winston-Salem and High Point, and its newest growth comes from manufacturing. JetZero chose the city in August 2025 for its first US aircraft factory, Boom Supersonic finished its Overture Superfactory here in June 2024, and IQE, a British-owned chip materials company, has run a wafer plant here for more than a decade. That brings suppliers, engineers and training programmes, and it gives hardware founders customers and staff close to home. Two universities, NC A&T and UNC Greensboro, add researchers and spinoffs, and the Nussbaum Center runs a small business incubator in the city.
We removed the old article's claims that Greensboro is a hotbed for innovation and that its startups use AI in particular ways, because it gave no source. For the wider picture, compare our guides to the best startup cities in North America and our city lists for Baltimore, Columbus, Providence, Oklahoma City and Chicago.
Greensboro Startups to Watch in 2027 Compared
Sources: each company's official website and news page, and primary releases, checked 2 November 2026.
The Greensboro Startups to Watch in 2027
1. JetZero: an all-wing airliner with its new headquarters in Greensboro
JetZero is designing the Z4, an airliner in which the wing and body are one shape, and its homepage gives it about 250 seats and international range. It chose Greensboro in August 2025 for its first US factory, raised about $175 million in a Series B round led by B Capital in January 2026, and in June 2026 announced plans to renovate The Hub, a 108,000-square-foot building on its Greensboro campus, as its new headquarters. In July 2026 it broke ground on an 8 million square foot factory on more than 600 acres, and signed a letter of interest with the US Export-Import Bank to explore up to $3 billion in financing for the campus. Since then it has closed a term loan facility of up to $100 million (August 2026) and won a $5.3 million award from the FAA's CLEEN programme (October 2026). United Airlines invested in 2025 with a path to buy up to 200 airplanes, and Gulf Air signed a letter of intent in July 2026. Its website footer still gives its earlier address in Long Beach, California.
Lesson for founders: JetZero lined up airline investors and letters of intent before it built a factory. Customers who commit early make expensive hardware easier to finance.
Best for: founders in aerospace, advanced manufacturing and suppliers to the aviation industry.
2. Guerrilla RF: radio frequency chips from Greensboro
Guerrilla RF designs monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs), the amplifiers, mixers and switches inside 5G base stations, cellular boosters, military radios, car connectivity and wireless audio. Its site gives its headquarters on Pisgah Church Road in Greensboro and says it has worked on these chips since 2013, has shipped more than 200 million devices and offers more than 125 catalog and custom products. It reports to the US Securities and Exchange Commission and publishes quarterly results. It called its second-quarter 2026 results a record, published its third-quarter 2026 results, also described as a record, on 2 November 2026, and has started sampling new high-power gallium nitride (GaN) devices.
Lesson for founders: Guerrilla RF says it targets segments the large chip companies are not interested in, such as small cells and wireless backhaul. A niche the giants ignore can carry a hardware company for years.
Best for: founders in semiconductors, wireless and defense electronics.
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3. Soelect: lithium anodes for safer batteries
Soelect develops LiX, a lithium metal composite anode it describes as dendrite-resistant, and a solid-state electrolyte material, for batteries in electric vehicles, power tools, drones, aircraft and defense equipment. Its company page says it was founded in Greensboro in 2018 by Dr. Sung-Jin Cho, raised $2.3 million in seed funding in 2020, and took $11 million in Series A funding in 2022 from Lotte Ventures with GM Ventures and KTB Networks; its homepage gives $13 million raised in total and 58 intellectual property items. Its news page lists an Army SBIR Phase I grant of about $250,000 in early 2024, a US patent for its anode in July 2024 and a $12,000 One North Carolina SBIR/STTR grant in September 2025. It also trains battery technicians through the Carolina Battery Institute with Guilford Technical Community College.
Lesson for founders: Soelect trains future battery workers alongside its research. In a new industry, helping to build the workforce also builds your own hiring pipeline.
Best for: founders in batteries, materials science and electric mobility.
4. Boom Supersonic: the Overture Superfactory in Greensboro
Boom Supersonic is based in Denver, but it builds its Overture supersonic airliner at its Greensboro superfactory. Its site says construction finished in June 2024, less than 17 months after the January 2023 groundbreaking, that the first assembly line is designed for 33 aircraft a year and that a planned second line would double that to 66. According to Boom, economists estimate the factory will add more than 2,400 jobs and at least $32.3 billion to North Carolina's economy over 20 years. Boom says Overture has been pre-ordered by United, American and Japan Airlines. It now also sells Superpower, a 42-megawatt natural gas turbine for data centers based on its engine technology, which it builds in Denver.
Lesson for founders: Boom turned the engine it needs for its airliner into a power product it can sell now. A spin-off product can fund a long development programme.
Best for: founders in aerospace, energy and the supply chain around large factories.
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Elsewhere in the Piedmont Triad: Deep Creek Pharma
Deep Creek Pharma was on the old list as a Greensboro company, but it is based in Winston-Salem, the Triad city next door. It is a cancer drug company spun out of Wake Forest University School of Medicine, developing CF10, a next-generation fluoropyrimidine designed to improve on fluorouracil (5-FU), a standard chemotherapy for colorectal and other solid tumors. The company is in late pre-clinical development and plans metastatic colorectal cancer with liver metastases as its first indication. According to Greater Winston-Salem Inc., it received a BioNest grant in May 2026, has secured more than $2.5 million in NIH SBIR and STTR grants and a $150,000 loan from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, and was founded by William Gmeiner, PhD, a professor of cancer biology at Wake Forest School of Medicine.
Lesson for founders: Deep Creek has funded years of research with federal grants, a state loan and a local economic development grant. Non-dilutive money can carry a drug company to its first clinical trial.
Where Greensboro Startups Get Support
Many of the founders on this list started with a lab, an office or a mentor from one of these organisations.
- Nussbaum Center for Entrepreneurship: calls itself North Carolina's largest small business incubator. It rents month-to-month offices, manufacturing and warehouse space and a shared-use commercial kitchen in 65,000 square feet on South Elm-Eugene Street, offers business coaching, and hosts SCORE, the Small Business and Technology Development Center, the GTCC Small Business Center, Piedmont Business Capital and Guilford County's small business department in the same building. It says it and its partners assisted 4,731 business owners last year.
- Launch Greensboro: the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce's entrepreneurship programme. It runs LaunchCamp for idea-stage founders, LaunchLab 101 and LaunchLab Growth, a 14-week programme with a mentor, interns and a Demo Day that runs twice a year (the fall 2026 cohort runs from 14 September to 7 December 2026). It also hosts the Capital Connects pitch event and the First Launch Capital Fund, a seed fund, and says it served more than 400 entrepreneurs in 2025.
- NC A&T Center of Excellence in Entrepreneurship and Innovation: in February 2026 it launched the Aggie Innovation Lab with Launch Greensboro, a pilot in which 16 honors students worked in teams on projects for four local companies.
- Innovate UNCG: UNC Greensboro's office for protecting inventions, licensing university technologies and entrepreneur training. Its best-known spinoff, Minerva Lithium, won TechCrunch Disrupt's Startup Battlefield in 2022.
- NC IDEA: a private foundation that gives $50,000 SEED grants and smaller MICRO grants to North Carolina startups, and says it has awarded more than $27.7 million since 2006. The fall 2026 SEED cycle drew 195 applicants and named 19 semi-finalists in September 2026; recipients were set to be announced on 12 November 2026. None of the semi-finalists came from Greensboro, so the next cycle is an open opportunity for local founders.
- Federal grants: Soelect and Deep Creek both used SBIR or STTR grants, and JetZero won an FAA CLEEN award. See our list of deep tech grants in North America.
Greensboro Companies From the Old List That Changed or Were Removed
The 2026 version of this article listed ten companies. Here is what we found when we checked each one in November 2026:
- BRINTER: a real 3D bioprinting company developing regenerative implants, but its website gives its headquarters in Santa Monica, California, with an office in Winston-Salem and a subsidiary in Finland. It is not a Greensboro company.
- Deep Creek Pharma: kept above, but under Winston-Salem, where it is based.
- HealthTeam Advantage: a Medicare Advantage plan based in Greensboro and offered by Care N' Care Insurance Company of North Carolina, with 2027 plans in 33 North Carolina counties. It is an established insurance product, not a startup.
- Piedmont Pharmaceuticals: it later became Piedmont Animal Health, which UK-based Dechra agreed to buy for $210 million in July 2022, according to the North Carolina Biotechnology Center and trade press. Its old website no longer loads.
- Nuream: a sleep and biosignal sensing company whose website gives its office in Wilmington, North Carolina, not Greensboro.
- Roobrik: the senior living decision tool company was acquired by Aline, a senior living software provider, in January 2025, according to Aline's press release. It now runs as Roobrik by Aline and still lists a Greensboro mailing address, but it is no longer an independent startup.
- Healant: its website shows only the company name, so we could not confirm what it does today.
- IQE: the US subsidiary of IQE plc, a Welsh compound semiconductor wafer maker. According to the North Carolina Department of Commerce, it has operated in Greensboro for more than a decade and in November 2024 planned to invest up to $305 million and add 109 jobs, subject to customer commitments and federal CHIPS Act funding. It is a large company's plant, not a startup.
- Beacon Technologies: a web design and digital agency with offices in Greensboro and Wilmington. It is an established agency, not a startup.
Other Greensboro names we checked: Fuse Oncology grew out of Cone Health in Greensboro in 2021, but its latest release, from September 2026, is datelined Boone, North Carolina. Minerva Lithium and Kepley BioSystems both list addresses at Gateway Research Park in Greensboro, but neither shows dated news from 2025 or 2026 on its website, so we could not confirm recent activity and left them off the list.
We also removed the old article's links to third-party startup lists (Nucamp, Built In and StartupBlink) and its unsourced descriptions of what each company does with AI.
Which Greensboro Startup Should You Learn From?
- You build expensive hardware: study JetZero, which secured airline investors and letters of intent before it built its factory.
- You sell components to big manufacturers: study Guerrilla RF, which picked niches the large chip makers ignore.
- You build in a new industry: study Soelect, which combined venture money, small state grants and workforce training.
- You need revenue during a long development: study Boom Supersonic's Superpower turbines.
- You build a drug or medical product: study Deep Creek Pharma's mix of federal grants, a state loan and a local grant.
- You are just starting: join LaunchCamp at Launch Greensboro, rent a first office at the Nussbaum Center, and apply to the next NC IDEA grant cycle.
How Founders Use the Greensboro Startup Scene
The two aircraft factories are the biggest change. If you can make parts, software, training or services for aerospace manufacturers, Greensboro now has two large potential customers. Compare investors in our guides to angel investors in North America and deep tech VCs in North America, and test your pitch in one of the startup competitions in North America.
Health startups in the Triad sell to hospitals and insurers, so meet them where they gather: see our calendar of health tech startup events, and compare with founders in Sacramento. Women founders can also look at our list of grants for female entrepreneurs.
Hardware startups often forget marketing until late. Start early: publish your startup press release, and write about your work with the F/MS AI SEO Tool or the AI SEO Blog so customers, investors and AI assistants can find you.
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FAQ About Greensboro Startups in 2027
Which Greensboro startups should I watch in 2027?
Our verified list: JetZero, Guerrilla RF, Soelect and Boom Supersonic, which builds its airliner at its Greensboro superfactory, plus Deep Creek Pharma in nearby Winston-Salem. We checked each on its own website or in a primary release in November 2026.
Which Greensboro startup raised the most recent large round?
JetZero raised about $175 million in a Series B round led by B Capital in January 2026, and in August 2026 it closed a term loan facility of up to $100 million.
Is JetZero moving to Greensboro?
JetZero is building its first factory in Greensboro, an 8 million square foot campus where ground was broken in July 2026, and in June 2026 it announced The Hub, a 108,000-square-foot building on that campus, as its new headquarters.
Does Boom Supersonic build planes in Greensboro?
Yes. Boom's Overture Superfactory in Greensboro was completed in June 2024, with a first assembly line designed for 33 aircraft a year. The company's headquarters is in Denver.
Are there semiconductor and battery startups in Greensboro?
Guerrilla RF designs radio frequency chips and is headquartered in Greensboro, and Soelect develops lithium anodes and solid-state electrolytes there. IQE, a British-owned wafer maker, also runs a plant in the city.
What does the Nussbaum Center for Entrepreneurship offer?
Month-to-month offices, manufacturing and warehouse space, a shared-use commercial kitchen and business coaching, with SCORE, the SBTDC and other support organisations in the same building.
What is Launch Greensboro?
The Greensboro Chamber of Commerce's entrepreneurship programme. It runs LaunchCamp, LaunchLab 101 and the 14-week LaunchLab Growth, plus the Capital Connects pitch event and the First Launch Capital Fund.
How much is an NC IDEA SEED grant?
$50,000. The fall 2026 cycle drew 195 applicants and named 19 semi-finalists, with recipients set to be announced on 12 November 2026.
What happened to the companies on the old list?
Piedmont Animal Health was sold to Dechra and Roobrik to Aline, BRINTER and Nuream are based elsewhere, HealthTeam Advantage, IQE and Beacon Technologies are established businesses, and Healant's website shows only its name. Guerrilla RF and Deep Creek Pharma remain on the list.
Where can I get a backlink by writing about my startup?
You can publish a guest post in one of the Fe/male Switch startup blogs, which rank in Google and in AI tools. Get a quality backlink.
About the Author
Violetta Bonenkamp, also known as MeanCEO, is an experienced startup founder with an impressive educational background including an MBA and four other higher education degrees. She has over 20 years of work experience across multiple countries, including 5 years as a solopreneur and serial entrepreneur. Throughout her startup experience she has applied for multiple startup grants at the EU level, in the Netherlands and Malta, and her startups received quite a few of those. She’s been living, studying and working in many countries around the globe and her extensive multicultural experience has influenced her immensely.
