Sources of Early-Stage Funding
Carolina KickStart
The Carolina KickStart Commercialization Award Program provides funding and access to internal and external business experts to assist faculty with the commercial translation of concepts for novel therapeutic small molecules, biologics, diagnostics, or devices.
- Commercialization Award: These awards help early-stage company meet commercial milestones either on the technical side (prototype development, animal studies) or the business side (regulatory pathway, freedom to operate). Requests for proposals (RFAs) are solicited on a quarterly basis from faculty founders. The awards are in the $25,000 to $50,000 range depending the on the company’s needs.
- Carolina Investment Group: A group of venture capitalists who meet periodically to cooperatively invest seed capital in UNC startups.
- MicroStart Projects: These awards are deployed on a need basis to help companies with certain commercialization-related issues. Examples include SBIR Grant preparation, market research and business plan creation.
SBIR/STTR programs
The SBIR and STTR programs are federal initiatives that provide more than $2.5 billion in grants and contracts each year to small businesses and start-up companies to develop new products and services.
Agencies Participating in SBIR/STTR Program
- Department of Defense (DOD) SBIR and STTR
- Health and Human Services (HHS) SBIR and STTR
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) SBIR and STTR
- Department of Energy (DOE) SBIR and STTR
- National Science Foundation (NSF) SBIR and STTR
- Department of Homeland Security (DHS) SBIR
- Department of Agriculture (USDA) SBIR
- Department of Commerce (DOC) SBIR
- Department of Education (ED) SBIR
- Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) SBIR
- Department of Transportation (DOT) SBIR
