, a statewide economic development effort focused on high0tech and life science startup companies, is helping fuel five new ventures with $200,000 in grants.
The five firms include a mobile software solution provider, a “green” technology startup, a company focused on helping entrepreneurs obtain venture capital, a sports statistics venture, and a battery technology company.
Grants are worth up to $50,000. NC IDEA does not take an ownership stake in the firms receiving funding. The program is intended to help new startups develop prototypes and business infrastructure in order to have a better chance at receiving venture funding.
The grant recipients and amounts:
Green Cooling Group , $47,000
Tec-Cel, $47,000
StatSheet, $47,000
Epiphany Mobile, $35,000
LearnVC, $24,000
The ventures, with descriptions provided by NC IDEA:
– The startup transforms patient information from paper EMS forms into electronic data using digital ink pens and BlackBerry devices. The software solution eliminates the need for keyboard entry, automates error checking, shortens billing cycles, reduces payer rejections and greatly improves cashflow.
– This venture provides a revolutionary green technology to cool water and other fluids over 120 times more efficiently than anything else on the market. They are initially targeting drinking fountains and water coolers which can use more energy per year than a large refrigerator – theirs uses less than a toaster.
– The company provides a web-based application for entrepreneurs and investors to model investments into startups. Free educational material is provided on LearnVC.com with an invite-only beta program for the full modeling software.
– This new venture provides a web platform for presenting and visualizing sports stats. StatSheet’s goal is to raise the bar for what sports fans can expect on the web by being the first company to create innovative web apps around sports stats.
–The new firm is commercializing next-generation lithium-ion batteries that have a theoretical storage capacity of greater than 10 fold capacity increase over current graphite anodes. Tec-Cel will use its Li-ion battery nanofiber technology to build standard battery cell building blocks that will be used in battery packs for laptop computers, hybrid electric vehicles, wireless smartphones, power tools and other consumer electronics. (No web site)
NC IDEA has made some $1.3 million in grants to 37 companies since the program launched in 2006. Awards are made twice a year.
Between three and six firms receive funding each round. To be eligible, companies must be based in North Carolina and focused on information technology, medical devices, material sciences or “green” technology.
Kennedy Covington, Hughes Pittman & Gupton, Square 1 Bank, Hutchison Law Group, and Smith Anderson provide funding support for the program.
IDEA Fund Partners is the for-profit venture financing operation of NC IDEA.
