Applications are now being accepted for a new round of grants from the One North Carolina Small Business Program, a key source of funding for small businesses engaged in research and development that lead to commercial products.
“Innovative small businesses are a vital source of new technologies, and they need capital to convert those technologies into commercial products,” said North Carolina Secretary of Commerce Machelle Baker Sanders. “The One North Carolina Small Business Program provides vital non-dilutive funding to help entrepreneurs move their ideas from tiny sparks into transformative technologies, leading to jobs and company growth in their communities.”
The One NC Small Business Program works in conjunction with two federal technology programs, the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs, which collectively are referred to as America’s Seed Fund.
The state program supports North Carolina companies in two ways. The Incentive Funds portion of the program provides reimbursement to qualified North Carolina small businesses for some of the costs incurred in preparing and submitting Phase I SBIR or STTR proposals to federal agencies.
In the 2024-25 fiscal year, a pool of $444,444 is available for these Incentive grants. The Matching Funds portion of the program awards matching grants to North Carolina small businesses who have received a federal Phase I SBIR or STTR award. In the current fiscal year, a pool of $3,655,556 is available to support Matching grants.
Federal SBIR and STTR grants are the single largest source of early-stage technology development and commercialization funding for small businesses—more than $4 billion annually nationwide. North Carolina is among a handful of forward-thinking states with incentive and matching grant programs that leverage…
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