One Wilmington startup is the recipient of an NC IDEA MICRO grant, and another has been announced as an NC IDEA SEED finalist, according to a Monday press release from the NC IDEA foundation.

Interview School, a mock interview software company, was awarded $10,000 through the MICRO grant, which provides funding to “young companies looking to validate and advance their idea,” as stated in the release.

According to the Interview School’s website, the startup’s software provides updated interview questions from real interviews and companies as well as artificial intelligence-assisted feedback on tone, confidence and answer content.

“Interview School was started to help all of those who have walked out of an interview feeling like they were underprepared,” the website stated. "Using Interview School, you can make sure that never happens again.”

The software startup was one of 19 finalists from across the state which include Acta Solutions in Chapel Hill, Counsel Connect in Raleigh, GRAVITL in Asheville and West End Learning in Winston-Salem, among others. Click here for the full list.

“With such a strong, diverse cohort, this is the most grant recipients we have awarded in one cycle,” Thom Ruhe, president and CEO of NC IDEA, said in the release. “This directly speaks to the economic potential of the state and the competitive nature of young companies growing right here in our backyard.”
 
“However, with many other deserving applicants, it is simply because of limitations in funding that we cannot fund more of these promising startups,” Ruhe added.
 
Additionally, NC IDEA announced the finalists of the $50,000 spring 2021 SEED grant, which includes Wilmington-based OpiAID.
 
Founded in 2018, OpiAID is a life science company building a digital platform that takes data from wearables and electronic medical records to provide a personalized plan and improve the outcomes for those in treatment for opioid addiction.

SEED grants are designed for early-stage companies to help with funding to grow faster.
 
The SEED finalists, chosen out of 174 initial applicants, will present virtually before a review panel and about five to seven grant recipients will be announced in mid-May.