MXBiodevices, NIRVana Vie for NC IDEA Grants

At least two life science companies are among the 24 startups competing for NC IDEA grants worth as much as $50,000 apiece.

Greenville-based MxBiodevices, started in 2009 and boosted in 2012 by a $50,000 Company Inception Loan from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, was among those chosen from 117 applicants. The company develops wound healing products and has created a patented tissue scaffold technology for treating diabetic foot ulcers.

Also making the semifinal cut was NIRvana Sciences, a new Research Triangle Park company developing near-infrared fluorescence dyes for use in medical diagnostics and optical imaging.

NC IDEA is a Durham economic development group affiliated with the venture capital firm IDEA Fund Partners. Since its inception in 2006, NC IDEA’s grant program has awarded some $3 million to 77 companies across the state developing medical devices, life sciences and biotechnology, software and information technology.

The non-dilutive grants are awarded each spring and fall to four to six young companies. These semifinalists will submit more-detailed proposals by mid-October, finalists will be announced in November and four to six grants are likely to be awarded in early December.

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