Three Upstate startups won grants for innovation that are worth a combined $150,000 from the South Carolina Research Authority, the organization announced on Tuesday, June 9. SCRA awarded seven grants worth $300,000 altogether to South Carolina companies.
“The selection process for grants within SC Academic Innovations is competitive, with public solicitations and application processes,” a spokesperson for SCRA said in an email. The spokesperson explained that the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Tech Transfer (STTR) Matching Grants match up to $50,000 for startups that have received SBIR or STTR Phase I Awards. “This funding enables startups to complete projects crucial to positioning the company to obtain Federal Phase II SBIR/STTR funding or to fund certain costs not covered or allowed under the Phase I Federal award,” the spokesperson said.
Blue Eye Soft LLC, located in Greer, provides engineering, IT, training and design solutions and is moving into the satellite/data space. The company will work to improve data analyses for weather systems. Blue Eye Soft was awarded $50,000 through the SBIR/STTR matching grant.
Greenville-based companies Aravis BioTech LLC and ScopeStack LLC both received acceleration grants of $50,000 from SCRA, which are grants that go to for-profit companies in the SC Launch program — a venture that is a nonprofit affiliated with SCRA and provides loans and investments. Aravis BioTech creates technology to monitor bone fracture recovery. One device in development is a medical implant to monitor the recovery of hip surgery patients. The device will provide information to the medical provider and the patients.
ScopeStack devised a web-based pricing tool for IT professionals and engineers. Individuals fill out information about a given project, and ScopStack’s pricing tool will come up with the project’s estimated cost.
Established in 1983 by the State of South Carolina as a public, nonprofit corporation, SCRA supports the state’s innovation initiatives by helping fund and provide other aid to South Carolina’s various industries and research centers. It has a $694.88 million annual average economic impact and supported more than 4,000 South Carolina-based jobs in its 2019 fiscal year, according to the organization.
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