Belk College Senior Awarded NC IDEA Startup Grant

Thursday, April 29, 2021
Tech startup is one of 19 selected for a competitive $10,000 grant.

A tech startup co-founded by a Belk College of Business senior has been awarded an NC IDEA competitive seed grant. 

Hot Route Analytics, co-founded by Belk College student Adonis Abdullah, is one of 19 North Carolina startups awarded a $10,000 grant this year through the sixth NC IDEA Micro Grant program

Abdullah, of Mooresville, will earn bachelor’s degrees in business analytics and economics later this month. He will continue his education this fall, pursuing a Master of Data Science and Business Analytics early entry program. Abdullah is a Belk Scholar, Crown Scholar and a member of the Business Honors Program

Hot Route Analytics is a sports analytics company that focuses on helping sports teams on any level capture their data and use it to help them in-game. 

This is one of several recent achievements for Abdullah, who has received support for his startup through Ventureprise’s 49er Foundry

In October, he was named one of Charlotte Inno’s “Inno Under 25,” which honors Charlotte young entrepreneurs. And last month, he was also awarded $2,000 and a spot in the Ventureprise Launch 2.0 Summer Accelerator. 

The NC IDEA program, piloted in Spring 2018, awards $10,000 in funding to young companies looking to validate and advance their ideas. These grant recipients were chosen after a three-month competitive application and selection process that drew 186 applications from across the state.

Green and Gold Drive Business
The Belk College of Business at UNC Charlotte has been driving business for more than 50 years. Established in 1970, the college offers outstanding business education programs at the undergraduate, master’s, doctoral and executive levels. The Belk College is one of the Carolinas’ largest business schools, with more than 4,600 students, over 100 full-time faculty, and more than 33,000 alumni. Accredited by AACSB International, the college is committed to building strong partnerships in the greater Charlotte region and beyond as North Carolina's urban research business school. Learn more about how the Belk College is driving business at belkcollege.charlotte.edu, and on LinkedInFacebookTwitter and Instagram.