Beating The Odds
by July 21, 2003 12:00 am 74 views
Virtual Incubation Corp.’s success rate on SBIR proposals submitted to government agencies participating in that program is more than twice the national average. Thirty-eight percent of the firms that Virtual has guided through the application process have received grants.
The national average is about 15 percent.
Just this year alone, Virtual has gotten four clients six Phase I SBIR grants totaling $600,000. With 18 investors, Virtual is in the middle of a $500,000 capital campaign and expects to be profitable by 2004. The business incubator for technology startups is modeling specifically to aid fledgling firms in finding federal funds.
SBIR participants include the United States Department of Defense, the USDA, U.S. Department of Energy, NASA, the National Science Foundation and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Another Fayetteville firm that’s not affiliated with Virtual, Space Photonics Inc., got $200,000 worth of SBIR grants in mid-June. The optical networking systems and components firm has received $3.3 million in contract awards (mostly SBIR) since starting in 1999.