The Triangle-based First Flight Venture Center, a high-tech and life science startup incubator, came home a $50,000 winner in the second U.S. Small Business Administration Growth Accelerator Fund Competition.
Charlotte-based RevTech Labs & QC FinTech also was among the winners.
First Flight plans to use the funds ti further grow its “LiftOff Program,” which is designed to help startups in the seeking of federal grants.
“This is a program we have been working on and will start this fall with this grant making a significant difference,” First Flight board chair Mary Musacchia tells WRAL TechWire.
Fifty winners were announced Tuesday in a ceremony at the White House during a “White House Demo Day.”
More than 800 applications were received for the grants.
“This grant is a unique opportunity for First Flight to fulfill its vision of creating new, innovative programs that help high science startups accelerate their commercialization journey,” says First Flight President Andrew Schwab.
The federal grant is the second reported cash infusion for the new RTP program. In April, the North Carolina Biotechnology Center chipped in $30,000 through a “Presidential Initiative Award.”
The Center described LiftOff as “a comprehensive, individualized program to help startup companies obtain early-stage funding.”
According to the SBA, winners were selected “based on their ability and/or plans to raise a 4-to-1 match of prizes awarded in the form of cash, in-kind donations or sponsorships.”
First Flight on average hosts 37 startups a year.
