Spring 2025 MICRO Grant Recipients Selected from Diverse Applicant Pool; NC IDEA SEED Finalists Announced
DURHAM, NC – April 28, 2025 – NC IDEA, a private foundation committed to supporting entrepreneurial ambition and economic empowerment in North Carolina, announced today that the organization has awarded $150,000 to fifteen North Carolina startups in its fourteenth NC IDEA MICRO grant cycle. Since the inaugural cycle in 2018, NC IDEA MICRO has awarded over $2 million to 224 young companies across the state.
Through small, project-based grants, NC IDEA MICRO awards $10,000 in funding to young companies looking to validate and advance their idea. In addition to the funding, grant recipients participate in an eight-week customer discovery and product launch program. The MICRO program was piloted in Spring 2018 as the Foundation made a commitment that no less than half of NC IDEA programmatic and funding resources would be in service to under-served communities. Without compromising its established evaluation criteria, the MICRO grant leveraged the proven model and playbook of the Foundation’s long-standing $50K SEED grant program to serve more North Carolina startups and significantly increased access to resources, funding, and opportunities for diverse entrepreneurial communities across the state.
“We have seen yet another competitive cycle and a continued need for funding and support from all parts of the state,” said Amy Bastian, Vice President of Grants & Programs of NC IDEA. “These 15 grant recipients, 80% of which represent under-served communities, speak to the economic potential of North Carolina and the great work of our ECOSYSTEM partners to level the playing field for all promising startups,” Bastian added.
These fifteen NC IDEA MICRO grant recipients were chosen after a three-month competitive application and selection process that drew 180 applications from across the state:
- AKALAKA – Durham, NC
- Azoia – Charlotte, NC
- CareHome Health Solutions – Wilmington, NC
- Citrus Oncology – Cary, NC
- Clinavare – Greensboro, NC
- Coco Fro – Durham, NC
- Focus Cubes – Durham, NC
- Groovi (BareSteps) – Cary, NC
- Jubileague – Charlotte, NC
- KLEAP – Raleigh, NC
- Linear-Detection – Cary, NC
- OTTER Reading – Concord, NC
- Troodie – Winston-Salem, NC
- Ver Coaching – Durham, NC
- VibraPower – Raleigh, NC
In addition to announcing the NC IDEA MICRO grant recipients, the finalists for the 39th cycle of the $50,000 NC IDEA SEED grant were recently chosen from the 18 semi-finalists that had been selected from over 127 applications received in March. These finalists will present before a review panel and approximately five to seven grant recipients will be announced in early May. The twelve Spring 2025 NC IDEA SEED finalists are: Arclet (Asheville, NC), Capwave AI (Charlotte, NC), Haw River Mushrooms (Graham, NC), Kahmino (Raleigh, NC), Marla Amplification (Asheville, NC), Scale Social AI (Raleigh, NC), Skillmaker.ai (Carolina Beach, NC), SneakPeek Technologies (Carrboro, NC), SonoVoice (Raleigh, NC), That Pitch (Charlotte, NC), Verenovo (North Wilkesboro, NC), and VVS (Charlotte, NC).
About NC IDEA FOUNDATION
NC IDEA is an independent private foundation committed to equitably empowering North Carolinians to achieve their entrepreneurial potential. Through our powerful combination of competitive grants and programs and a network of strategic partners, we help entrepreneurs when they need it most. NC IDEA’s resources are highly competitive, enabling the Foundation to support North Carolina’s most ambitious entrepreneurs. We believe entrepreneurs transform communities and view our work as a catalyst for positive change. Learn more at www.ncidea.org.
