DURHAM – Last week NC IDEA announced the 15 recipients of a total of $147,000 in its new micro-grants pilot program to support early-stage companies seeking funding to complete customer-validation and hypothesis testing. And the response – more than 200 applications – to the program surprised Thom Ruhe, the economic development foundation’s CEO.
“There is a lot of need,” said Ruhe, adding that he wished that NC IDEA had two, three, or even four times the budget for the micro-grant program to support these early stage companies seeking an infusion of capital.
“Now we can start confirming things,” he added.
“Does this mean something about our state? I don’t know, it’s our first data point—but it is interesting.”
The organization is already planning to expand the micro-grant program beyond the pilot project, said Ruhe, with a potential second cycle to run in the time between the fall SEED grant selections and the end of the year.
Numerous points need to be explored, such as where there is need for small-dollar funding in the state—by geography, industry, and community.
“In particular, we’re interested in confirming how we might best serve female founders, consumer product companies, and textile companies,” said Ruhe. He said these three areas collectively represented a large percentage of the applications received for the micro-grant program.
NC IDEA has a long history of providing growth funding of $50,000 to companies that complete a highly-selective application process for NC IDEA SEED grants. And yet, the number of grant proposal submissions to the micro-grant program exceeded the total number from any previous SEED grant cycle, said Ruhe.
According to Ruhe, the 15 companies are an eclectic group and the funding will allow each founding team to be more strategic about how they approach their business—and their customers.
“The small dollar funding,” said Ruhe, “will either prove or disprove what is needed for each company to get to the next stage.”
The recipients were chosen from 30 finalists that had been selected from 208 submissions. Applications were accepted from NC-based startups with innovative products or business models with the potential of becoming a seven-figure company within five years. Particular interest was given to high-ambition startups and founders from North Carolina’s communities of color, women, rural and urban core groups.
The recipients were:
• 4Evermore Ventures – Durham, NC
• Bear Fiber, Inc. – Winston-Salem, NC
• Community Expert Solutions – Durham, NC
• Companah – Fuquay Varina, NC
• Devil’s Foot Beverage, LLC – Asheville, NC
• ecoTEKindustries – Wilmington, NC
• MicMag – King, NC
• Neomega Nutritionals, LLC – Hillsborough, NC
• Preservation Dyehouse – Winston-Salem, NC
• Resistor Brews – Chapel Hill, NC
• Rite of Passage – Hendersonville, NC
• Sani – Fayetteville, NC
• Snatcher Inc. – Charlotte, NC
• Snugwicks – Iron Station, NC
• Zaria’s Milk – Winston-Salem, NC
The startups also will receive mentoring and other support from NC IDEA.
