Wilmington-headquartered company nCino is sponsoring the digital dome theater planned for the new Cape Fear Museum.

Museum officials refer to what will essentially be a planetarium as a "digital dome theater" because, in addition to astronomy, the nCino-sponsored space will offer 360-degree immersive experiences related to marine biology, environmental science and history at the museum's new downtown facility.

The new Cape Fear Museum is under construction as part of Project Grace on Grace Street, and the digital theater is expected to be 1,000 square feet with room to seat 60.

nCino, a cloud-based banking software firm that spun out of Live Oak Bank more than 10 years ago, is committing to a $160,000, 10-year sponsorship, said Kitty Yerkes, donor relations director at Cape Fear Museum.

"We view this not as a transactional gift, as a one-time support, but as part of a larger collaboration with nCino," Yerkes said. "They have supported our STEM events the last few years."

Sara Izad, associate director of engineering at nCino, is president of the Cape Fear Museum Associates board and was instrumental in drawing nCino's attention to the Cape Fear Museum naming sponsorship opportunity, Yerkes said.

The New Hanover County Board of Commissioners is expected to approve a resolution approving the sponsorship deal at the board's meeting at 4 this afternoon. The new museum, which will share a facility with the new county public library main branch in Project Grace, is also looking for local corporations that might be interested in naming rights for an auditorium ($140,000), a traveling exhibition gallery ($120,000) and two museum classrooms ($60,000 each), according to board of commissioners agenda documents.

"What it will ensure is that we will have state-of-the-art programs and opportunities that will be in the state-of-the-art building," Yerkes said of the naming sponsorships.

Officials estimate the new museum could be open by spring 2026.

nCino is also the naming sponsor for the city's sports park under construction off U.S. 421, contributing more than $1 million, and the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina's nCino Hunger Solutions Center in Wilmington, which opened in 2023. nCino recently landed on a list of the world’s top 250 fintech companies.