Comparison of Grant Eligibility
MICRO ($10K)
SEED ($50K)
Geography
SAME - Companies headquartered in and that conduct a majority of corporate operations in the state of North Carolina.
Industry and Company Type
SAME - Innovative companies with proprietary intellectual property or other means of sustained competitive advantage.
Team
At least one founder currently living in North Carolina, and plans to have a full-time founder living in North Carolina within 6-12 months.
At least one full-time founder currently living in North Carolina.
Stage of Development
- Started talking to potential customers
- Working to demonstrate proof of concept (existence of a problem, marketing readiness, and an MVP)
- Identifying assumptions that need validation to develop a scalable business model
- Completed meaningful customer discovery; evidence of validated demand
- MVP or product in market; iterating based on real feedback
- Traction within initial target market(s)
- Identified a path to scale
Market Opportunity
Companies addressing large, rapidly growing market opportunities with a unique value proposition and demonstrating a clear path to scale with potential to exceed $10M+ in annual revenue.
Path to Scale
- Competitive for SEED within two years; and/or
- Competitive for venture capital within four years ; and/or
- Targeting $2M+ in annual revenue within seven years with potential to exceed $10M+
- Competitive for either through venture capital within two years ; and/or
- Targeting $2M+ in annual revenue within five years with potential to exceed $10M+
Revenue
On a path to generate revenue within 12 months of receiving a MICRO grant or are generating revenue.
MICRO Grant Recipients: Last 12 Months Revenue at Time of Application
- Cleantech, Biotech, Medical Device & Diagnostics
- Generating Revenue: 20%
- Consumer Products – Food and Beverage
- Generating Revenue: 100%
- Average Revenue $37K
- Consumer Products – Advanced Manufacturing, Advanced Materials, IoT
- Generating Revenue: 10%
- Consumer Products – All Other
- Generating Revenue: 100%
- Average Revenue $37K
- Software
- Generating Revenue: 32%
Generating revenue or on a path to achieve initial revenue during grant period. Companies that have revenue exceeding $250K, or $500K for food and beverage companies, in the last 12 months for their startup are less likely to be considered.
SEED Grant Recipients: Last 12 Months Revenue at Time of Application
- Cleantech, Biotech, Medical Device & Diagnostics
- Generating Revenue: 56%
- Average (for companies generating revenue): $63K
- Consumer Products – Food and Beverage
- Generating Revenue: 100%
- Average: $143K
- Consumer Products – All Other
- Generating Revenue: 100%
- Average: $108K
- Software – Medical/Healthcare
- Generating Revenue: 56%
- Average (for companies generating revenue): $87K
- Software – All Other
- Generating Revenue: 85%
- Average (for companies generating revenue): $83K
