Four Triangle area and one Charlotte-based firms will share in the latest round of funding from the Durham-based economic development group NC IDEA.

It’s the biggest round of grants NC IDEA has awarded across the last several years. The group, which is a non-profit, awarded $225,000 in one round of grants in 2006.

The grants are non-dillutive for the company owners are are intended to help accelerate business growth.

The winning firms, which were selected after an extensive review process.

The companies and the amount of the grant received:

  • BaseTrace – $45,000
  • INRFOOD – $42,000
  • MyLearningID – $40,000
  • NeuroSpire – $46,000
  • Novocor – $47,000

Startups across the state – some 77 in all – have received nearly $3 million in grants since the NC IDEA program launched in 2006.

“This grant cycle was extraordinarily competitive and had one of the strongest contingents of applicants in the history of NC IDEA’s grant program, making our decisions incredibly difficult,” said David Rizzo, CEO of NC IDEA. “We were impressed with the pool of companies and so many were deserving of funding. In the end, we were convinced that our grant money would have the most significant impact on our five recipients.”

Background information about each firm:

BaseTrace – RTP, NC

BaseTrace designs DNA-based tracers that can establish liability, generate valuable information and reduce costs for oil and gas firms engaged in the highly-scrutinized ‘fracking’ industry. The well-specific tracers are added to hydraulic fracturing fluid used for oil and gas extraction. BaseTrace’s simple detection process can determine whether hydraulic fracturing fluid has migrated into drinking water, reducing litigation exposure for companies and improving relations with local communities. Although hydraulic fracturing is the primary focus of the venture, BaseTrace can employ the tracer in other future applications including leak detection, chemical tracing and hydrology. Learn more at www.basetrace.com.

INRFOOD – Durham, NC

INRFOOD, a personalized “Food GPS”, is starting a revolution in personal nutrition by analyzing food’s core components: the ingredients. Today’s food environment is full of misinformation, and has really become more chemistry than biology. You almost need a PhD to understand what is in your food. Society as a whole has tried to simplify these complexities by emphasizing counting calories. However not all calories are created equal. INRFOOD analyzes ingredients in your food and takes into account real time issues with your health and advises you toward an optimal personalized diet. INRFOOD is as convenient and simple as scanning the bar code of any of 250,000+ food products from your smartphone. Remember you are what you eat, know what’s “in our food.” Learn more at www.inrfood.com.

MyLearningID – Charlotte, NC

MyLearningID is an identity verification and student authentication solution that deters cheating and academic fraud in online education. With the rapid proliferation of online course offerings, the potential for cheating has come into focus as a potential barrier to validation and accreditation for higher education. MyLearningID provides a low cost, high fidelity, effective and convenient solution that will transform online education, resulting in increased enrollments, higher integrity and improved public perception of the online education industry. Learn more at www.mylearningid.com.

NeuroSpire – Durham, NC

NeuroSpire brings neuromarketing technology to the mass market. Their software platform allows companies to record the brainwaves of consumers to uncover their subconscious emotional responses to media, making it easy to gather consumer insights and test media campaigns with brain scans. Though Fortune 500 companies have invested hundreds of millions in neuromarketing research, the widespread adoption of this technology has been limited by costs, timing and personnel requirements. The NeuroSpire platform makes neuromarketing studies simple to run and cost effective, while simultaneously cutting the time for completion and eliminating the need for personnel with neuroscience and programming expertise. Learn more at www.neurospire.com.

Novocor Medical Systems – Chapel Hill, NC

Novocor Medical Systems provides solutions that help Emergency Medical Service first responders save lives. Their patent pending product, HypoCore, is an innovative rapid chilling device for inducing therapeutic hypothermia in cardiac arrest, traumatic brain injury, heat stroke and heavily concussed patients to markedly improve patient survival rate. HypoCore is ready on demand. It is easily stored in ambulances, fire trucks and helicopters. It does not require external power and is compatible with standard medical equipment. Learn more at www.novocormed.com.

(Note: Company information provided by NC IDEA.)