igh, N.C. - Governor Pat McCrory announced today that promising North Carolina technology firms are moving closer to their next stage of growth thanks to grant awards from the One North Carolina Small Business Fund. In 2015-16, 40 companies across 16 communities received awards from the fund, totaling $1.95 million in grants.
“These awards enable home-grown North Carolina businesses to bring exciting new technologies to the global marketplace, and in the process create great jobs here at home,” said Governor McCrory. “The One North Carolina Small Business Fund is a highly effective tool in supporting our state’s innovation economy.”
Sixty-three percent of the program’s awards during the last year went to biotech-related companies. I/T firms constituted 16 percent of awardees. Other recipients included firms in advanced materials, photonics and defense. The program matches federal funds awarded through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (SBTT) programs.
Recipient companies engage in cutting-edge research that seeks to address pressing challenges. Mycosynthetix Inc, a Hillsborough life sciences firm, is pioneering new therapies to fight deadly water-born amoebas. “The One NC matching fund program enables us to leverage our research activities into the discovery of new medicines for rare infectious diseases, while at the same time growing our company and our reputation,” said Dr. Cedric Pearce, chief executive office at Mycosynthetix, one of the current award recipients. The company currently employs a full-time staff of four.
“Early-stage funding is often what keeps technology companies alive in their infancy and youth and puts them on the path toward success,” said Dr. John Hardin, executive director of the North Carolina Board of Science, Technology and Innovation, which administers the One NC Small Business Fund. “One NC Small Business grants enable firms to boost their technology commercialization efforts, thus making emerging technologies more competitive for angel and venture capital funding, which speeds their access to market.”
North Carolina Commerce is currently accepting applications for the 2017 fiscal year. Eligible applicants must receive a federal SBIR/STTR grant between July 1 2016-June 30, 2017. For additional information, visit http://www.nccommerce.com/sti/grant-programs/one-nc-small-business-program
One North Carolina Small Business Awards, 2015-2016
Adroit Materials (Apex) Demonstrate the feasibility of new material for lasers.
Affinergy, LLC (RTP) Improve endoscopic biopsies for pancreatic lesions.
Agile Sciences Inc.(Raleigh) New therapy for multi-drug resistant bacteria.
AxNano, LLC (Greensboro) Chemicals for continuous treatment of contaminated groundwater.
Bennett Advanced Research, LLC (Raleigh) Spacecraft structures embedded with wires and sensors.
Biofluidica, Inc. (Chapel Hill) New early detection techniques for ovarian cancer.
BioKier, Inc. (Chapel Hill) A drug to mimic the anti-diabetic effects of the intestine-shortening surgery.
Blue Ridge Research & Consulting, LLC (Asheville) Analysis of military jet noise to reduce harm to personnel and communities.
Brighton Development, LLC (Cary) Prevention of infections from endoscopy by better sterilization methods.
Capture Pharmaceutical Inc. (Chapel Hill) A new drug for patient treatment following a nuclear terrorism attack.
Celf-Bio LLC (Winston Salem) New therapies to treat fecal incontinence.
Cell Microsystems (Durham) New therapies utilizing the patient's own immune system against tumors.
Clairvoyant Technology, LLC (Durham) R&D project to reduce the cost, size, and power consumption for passive identification tag readers. New transmitter for ultra-high frequency radio identification readers.
Clinical Sensors, Inc. (Durham) A sensor for risk assessment of sepsis.
Cloud Solutions LLC (Cary) Increase computer cloud system reliability through problem alerts.
Cytex Therapeutics, Inc. (Durham) A new synthetic implant for body cartilage.
Enzerna Biosciences, LLC (Greenville) Techniques to identify and dissect the function of mitochondrial genomes.
EpiCypher, Inc. (RTP) Regulating gene expression in cancer and other conditions.
GridBridge, Inc. (Raleigh) New advanced power management systems for Army vehicles.
HealthSpan Diagnostics, LLC (Durham) Identifying patients at high risk for Acute Kidney Injury.
IngateyGen LLC (Elizabeth City) Development of a peanut without allergens.
Initos Pharmaceuticals (Greenville) Novel drug delivery mechanisms particularly relevant in cancer treatments.
Lupine Materials and Technology (Raleigh) More powerful magnetic fields for particle accelerators and detectors.
Mucommune, LLC (Carrboro) New product for the treatment of sexually-transmitted diseases.
Mycosynthetix Inc. (Hillsborough) Large-scale screen for new drugs to treat deadly amoeba infections.
New Jersey Microsystems, Inc. (Raleigh) New sensor-based identifications tags for NASA.
Nuvotronics, Inc. (Durham) Development of a new and stronger solid-state power amplifier.
OncoTAb, Inc. (Charlotte) New therapy for pancreatic cancer.
Path BioAnalytics, Inc. (Chapel Hill) New diagnostics for drug outcomes for cystic fibrosis.
Reveris Therapeutics, LLC (Chapel Hill) New therapy for the deadliest type of breast cancer.
Red Bud Labs (Chapel Hill) A novel test for early and more accurate detection of strokes.
Ribometrix, LLC (Greenville) Development of a chemical probe for genetic structure analysis.
SciKon Innovation, Inc. (Chapel Hill) Creating a more life-like environment than standard cell cultures for testing.
Sindre Metals, Inc. (Raleigh) New metal alloys to reduce weight in automotive and aerospace applications.
Symberix, Inc. (Durham) Therapies to minimize the harm of anti-inflammatory drugs such as aspirin.
Systap, LLC (Greensboro) A novel programming language to improve the operations of graphs.
Third Floor Materials Inc. (Raleigh) New detector technology that enables multispectral infrared imaging.
USM, LLC (Summerfield) Delivering real-time space weather data to end users
Vigilant Cyber Systems, Inc. (Mount Airy) Assessing soldier health through sensor wearables and mobile devices.
Windlift (Raleigh) A portable, rapidly deployable wind energy system for military units.