How two Birmingham women are redirecting Alabama tax dollars to fund under-resourced businesses (by Stephanie Rebman for the Birmingham Business Journal)
Malone Unlimited was founded in 2024 by Claire Cole and Avanti Paul with the mission of helping under-resourced businesses meet revenue goals. In the first quarter of 2026, Malone Unlimited will launch with the goal of supporting four to six businesses with funding.
Metro software development firm secures $1M from Delaware state program (by Harper Harwell for the Birmingham Business Journal)
Prismm, a Birmingham-based company offering a secure digital vault for storing virtual documents, received $1M in funding from Delaware’s State Small Business Credit Initiative. Prismm, a graduate of Delaware’s Center for Accelerating Financial Equity accelerator, also received a grant from the state of Delaware.
Metro software firm closes $1.1M round, begins next raise (by Harper Harwell for the Birmingham Business Journal)
BlueDot Global Technologies, a Birmingham-based AI-powered communication platform hoping to compete with existing video meeting platforms with security protocols and translation capabilities, announced that they closed a $1.1 million pre-seed round in December of 2024 and that they plan to close a $2.5 million round in December of 2025.
Store, education center opening in Irondale (by Harper Harwell for the Birmingham Business Journal)
The Foxhound Beekeeping and Pollinator Education Center, an extension of Foxhound Bee Company, founded by Adam Hickman, opened at the end of November. Foxhound previously operated out of Hardware Park, a local startup incubator for companies offering physical products.