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KWIPPED A Finalist In Statewide Grant Competition

By Jenny Callison, posted May 11, 2015
Update: This version contains the names of the NC IDEA grant winners, who were announced June 9.

One Wilmington-based company has made it to the finalist round of NC IDEA’s spring grant process, the Durham-based technology grant-making organization announced Monday.

KWIPPED, an online equipment rental startup, is among nine fledgling companies still under consideration for a grant of up to $50,000.

Four to six of the finalists will win grants in this cycle, according to NC IDEA’s news release, which explained that all nine ventures will “present before a review panel comprised of experienced investors, industry experts and entrepreneurs.” Grant recipients will be announced in early June.

“The KWIPPED team is honored and excited about the opportunity to compete for the NC IDEA grant,” company founder and CEO Robert Preville said Monday afternoon. “Regardless of the outcome, the NC IDEA process has already added tremendous value to our organization and is a process that would benefit any startup.”

Preville is also a co-owner of the Greater Wilmington Business Journal and WILMA magazine.

Wilmington has been better represented in the current grant cycle than in any of NC IDEA’s previous competitions. Two other local companies – Xili Mobile and LinkUs – were among 26 semi-finalists for this spring’s grants, chosen from an original field of 145 applicants. Xili Mobile is the creator of a residential real estate information service available via text message; LinkUs is a social discovery application for use in finding good relationship matches, from roommates to romantic partners.

Four of the nine finalist companies are based in Durham. The other five are headquartered in Cary, Charlotte, Greensboro, Raleigh and Wilmington. Last spring, Wilmington-based Treadwell Corp., a company that markets a blood flow device to a commercial market, was one of 25 semi-finalists for the spring grants.

The NC IDEA grants, according to the news release, "support business plan research and development, reduce the risk of early failure and advance projects to the point of suitability for angel or venture capital investment." Winners also are mentored by successful entrepreneurs and experienced invdestors, have access to MBA students as interns, receive in-kind services from attorneys, accountants and marketing consultants. Their visibility as grant recipients also gives these companies access to growth capital, the release stated.

UPDATE: On June 9, NC IDEA officials announced its five Spring 2015 grant winners, of which KWIPPED was not one.

The winners are Akili Software (Raleigh), Essay Assay (Durham), Luxury Shoe Club (Cary), Trinket (Raleigh) and Urban Offsets (Greensboro).
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