The competition is fierce for the handful of startup grants worth as much as $50,000 in the NC IDEA Foundation Seed Grant program.
A total of 173 emerging companies applied for the grants, according to Thom Ruhe, who heads NC IDEA.
“Clearly, we have yet another strong group of contenders applying and we look forward to helping them through the next stages of the process,” Ruhe says. “The semi-finalists have been invited to submit more detailed proposals by the end of April.”
Winners will be announced in May.
Five startups received grants in the last round of awards.
Here are the 28 firms that have made the first cut:
- Atlis Biosystems
- Blazntech
- Boostopia
- Cap Science Labs, LLC
- Connections for Autism, LLC
- Drrrip Co.
- Edquity
- Foysonis
- Hearful
- In-Video Impressions
- Inductv, Inc.
- Inirv Labs
- kelaHealth, Inc.
- LivingLAB
- LUMEOVA
- MicMag by Me
- Otterplan
- PT Wired
- Purillume, Inc.
- RediPay Benefits Corporation
- Realsmart LLC
- Scanslated
- Sea Crowd, Inc.
- SiNON Therapeutics
- Trio Labs, Inc.
- Vijilent
- WalletFi
- ZK MedTech, LLC
Other programs
Ruhe reports strong interest as well is NC IDEA’s other programs.
Groundwork Labs, which provides mentoring and related services at no charge, drew 50 applicants. The last “cohort” of firms featured nine companies.
And 25 groups are seeking support from SoarTriangle, a program targeting female-led ventures.
