Press Releases
2010
July 19, 2010 - NC IDEA Awards $190,000 In Grants to Five North Carolina Companies
NC IDEA, an organization committed to supporting business innovation and economic advancement in North Carolina, proudly announced today that it has awarded $190,000 in grants to five North Carolina startups. Since its inception in 2006, NC IDEA’s grants program has awarded approximately $1.7M to forty-seven companies across the state, with these most recent awards being the ninth cycle of the program.
NC IDEA’s grants program is a catalyst for technological breakthroughs developed in North Carolina that have a significant potential to successfully transition into commercially viable high-growth enterprises. The grants, which are up to $50,000 per recipient, support business plan research and development, reduce risk of early failure and advance projects to the point of suitability for angel or venture capital investment. In addition to the funding, NC IDEA and its network of seasoned business and technology partners mentor and guide the grant recipients through the complex growth cycles that young companies encounter, while also connecting the startups with other investors, institutions and business leaders to maximize their prospects for commercial success.
“We are excited about this group of recent recipients and look forward to seeing their progress over the coming months,” said David Rizzo, President and CEO of NC IDEA. “This was a competitive cycle with approximately 110 applicants and these five companies impressed our review committee. Continuing to fund young companies like these most recent winners is critical to North Carolina’s job growth and economic development.”
The following five companies are NC IDEA’s most recent grant recipients for the Spring 2010 cycle:
BioShape Solutions – RTP, NC
BioShape is developing medical devices that permit simple and effective local delivery of therapeutic agents around surgical implants. The company’s initial products are focused on delivering antibiotics for the prevention and treatment of orthopaedic implant infections. The combined treatment of these implant-associated infections costs the U.S. healthcare system nearly $2 billion annually. Learn more at www.bioshapesolutions.com.
The Coaching Mark – Morrisville, NC
The Coaching Mark (TCM) provides a Software-as-a-Service platform dedicated to Helping Youth Thrive through athletics. TCM works with scholastic athletic programs, offering holistic team management tools to the coaches and Athletic Directors, and provides athletes and their families a wide range of tools, content and exclusive offers to foster their athletic and life skill development. Learn more at www.thecoachingmark.com.
Cooperative Entertainment, Inc. – Raleigh, NC
Cooperative Entertainment is developing a technology, service and marketing platform based on the tracking and utilization of idle or spare CPU capacity during online computer and video game sessions. A free software API called JoosyCloud is being developed for developers and publishers to incorporate into their games that aggregates spare CPU capacity within these games and leases them to corporate, academic and government customers. Learn more at www.joosycloud.com.
Open Connect Corporation – Charlotte, NC
Open Connect Corporation develops and markets ezFoodOrder, a web-based application that streamlines the nation’s $175 billion foodservice distribution industry. By allowing foodservice distributors to easily compete for restaurant business, ezFoodOrder reduces food costs for restaurant operators by 15% on average. Because restaurant profit margins are thin (5% on average) and food costs are substantial (roughly 33% of revenue), the result is a 50% to 80% boost in bottom-line profitability for restaurant customers. Learn more at www.ezfoodorder.com.
Patagonia Health – Cary, NC
Patagonia Health’s easy to use Electronic Medical Record (EMR) software is designed specifically for small physician practices. The web-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) EMR provides 6X cost savings, 10X delivery and 20X support advantage compared with legacy client server EMR architecture. In addition to the convenience of anytime, anywhere web access, physician practices benefit from low monthly subscription pricing enabled by the SaaS business model. Patagonia Health is transforming healthcare IT by bringing efficiency to small physician practices while improving patient care. Learn more at www.patagoniahealth.com.
The upcoming Fall grant opportunity for North Carolina based companies will open in late August 2010. Learn more about NC IDEA’s grant application process and criteria at www.ncidea.org. Between now and the opening of the next cycle, take the Eligibility Quiz to see if your company qualifies and pre-register online within NC IDEA’s grants management system.
February 15, 2010 - NC IDEA Awards $200,000 In Grants to Five North Carolina Companies
NC IDEA, an organization committed to supporting business innovation and economic advancement in North Carolina, proudly announced today that it has awarded $200,000 in grants to five North Carolina startups. Since its inception in 2006, NC IDEA’s grants program has awarded approximately $1.5M to forty-two companies across the state, with these most recent awards being the eighth cycle of the program.
NC IDEA’s grant program is a catalyst for technological breakthroughs developed in North Carolina that have a significant potential to successfully transition into commercially viable high-growth enterprises. The grants, which are up to $50,000 per recipient, support business plan research and development, reduce risk of early failure and advance projects to the point of suitability for angel or venture capital investment. In addition to the funding, NC IDEA and its network of seasoned business and technology partners mentor and guide the grant recipients through the complex growth cycles that young companies encounter, while also connecting the startups with other investors, institutions and business leaders to maximize their prospects for commercial success.
“We are excited to have some positive funding news despite the overall economic downturn,” said David Rizzo, President and CEO of NC IDEA. “Continuing to fund these young companies is critical to North Carolina’s job growth and economic development. We look forward to working with our newest recipients and expect great results from these grants.”
The following five companies are NC IDEA’s most recent grant recipients for the Fall 2009 cycle:
Argyle is developing a SaaS platform that helps marketers tie their social media efforts to business outcomes. The Argyle Social platform provides cross-channel reporting, campaign aggregation, and boss-friendly dashboards that make it easy for marketers to quantify social media marketing ROI. Learn more at www.argylesocial.com.
CertiRx Corporation, an AuthentiForm Technologies company, is developing a system product that reduces the growing global risk of injury and death from counterfeit medicines. Counterfeiters breach pharmaceutical supply chain security for lack of an authenticating link between each pharmaceutical unit dose (e.g., every individual tablet or capsule) and its provenance. CertiRx makes just such a link via a batch specific code, without changing product formulation between batches. CertiRx expects that its solution to the counterfeits medicines problem will create high value new pharmaceutical product and business opportunities. Learn more at www.authentiform.com.
Dyzen, Inc. provides a web-based solution to help improve the efficiency of scientific labs, offering a common interface platform for all aspects of the research process, including grant management, the generation of scientific data and lab organization. Dyzen moves beyond the spreadsheet-feel of typical lab software and presents a visually-based virtual laboratory.
EcoCurrent has developed an efficient and cost-effective gasification system that converts biomass feedstock to usable energy. The company's initial focus is on farm-scale gasification of dried swine manure to generate electricity and carbon offset credits. Learn more at www.ecocurrent.com.
EntoGenetics has developed a method for transferring a spider's silk production gene into the common silkworm, creating for the first time a commercially viable method of spider silk production. This fiber will provide soldiers with life-saving vests that are tougher, lighter and more comfortable to wear than current vests made of Kevlar and other similar fibers. It will also be used in promising medical, aerospace and composite applications.
The upcoming grant opportunity for North Carolina based companies opens on Monday, February 22, 2010. There are two pre-proposal deadlines for the Spring 2010 cycle; Friday, March 5th and Friday, March 19th. Due to the competitive nature of the screening process, applicants are strongly encouraged to apply by the first deadline, giving them the benefit of an extended review period. All interested companies must submit an application prior to the final pre-proposal deadline of Friday, March 19, 2010 to be considered.
