The NC IDEA MICRO grant provides a small amount of funding to entrepreneurs who are testing assumptions about their business.
Donor Name: NC IDEA
State: North Carolina
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 08/25/2025
Size of the Grant: $1000 to $10,000
Grant Duration: Less than 1 Year
Details:
Program Benefits
During the grant period, and continuing once companies become MICRO alumni, grant recipients can take advantage of:
- Opportunities to participate in monthly seminars and workshops on topics such as marketing, sales and meeting with fellow founders
- Access to NC IDEA staff to get feedback on pitches, funding opportunities, market pivots and other topics facing your startup
- Introductions to potential partners, mentors, advisors, funders and customers.
Funding Information
NC IDEA MICRO couples $10K in funding with an eight-week program to accelerate your company’s progress.
Eligibility Criteria
- Geography
- NC IDEA MICRO grants are specifically targeted at companies headquartered in and that conduct a majority of corporate operations in the State of North Carolina. All publicly facing materials, including website, social media, and other marketing materials and channels should identify the business as a North Carolina company. Selected companies must agree to maintain the majority of corporate operations in the State of North Carolina for at least the 12-month period following completion of the grant.
- Industry and Company Type
- NC IDEA MICRO grants are awarded to companies bringing an innovative product or business model to the market. They prefer companies with proprietary intellectual property or other means of sustained competitive advantage that are solving large problems.
- Companies with high capital requirements and a long runway to commercialization, such as pharmaceutical companies, are not eligible. Other companies that are considered out of scope and not eligible for grant funding include event venue and management companies; traditional staffing agencies; traditional publishing companies; consulting practices or agencies; training companies; tv/film production companies; distributors; franchises; resellers; local, service-oriented small businesses (i.e. restaurants, retail stores); trucking, hauling, and freight and other “lifestyle” companies; and not-for-profits. Also excluded are businesses that are illegal in NC, even if legal in other states or countries.
- Market Opportunity
- NC IDEA MICRO grants are awarded to companies that are bringing an innovative product or business model to market and on a path to become a multi-million dollar company or receive institutional investment, such as venture capital (VC) and private equity, within 5-7 years.
- Stage of Development
- Competitive applicants have already been actively moving their startup forward by conducting customer discovery, developing initial prototypes, testing a product/service, bringing in initial revenue, or other activities. The grant will enable these companies to validate key assumption(s) around the existence of a problem, revenue model, size of their target market, market readiness, team skill set, or other area(s) to determine a company’s ability to catalyze its business development.
- Revenue
- Competitive applicants are on a path to generate revenue within 12 months of receiving a MICRO grant.
For more information, visit NC IDEA.
