The Daugherty Centennial Campus Entrepreneurship Initiative, named in honor of Mr. Richard L. Daugherty, Retired Vice President of IBM and current Kenan Institute trustee, and his wife Marlene Daugherty, supports the enhancement of the entrepreneurial environment on Centennial Campus at NC State University.
This provides early-stage capital necessary for NC State-based startup companies to launch, engage the region’s entrepreneurship, ecosystem, and leverage state and federal sources of capital to grow their enterprise and commercialize their licensed technology. The 2024 Daugherty Initiative track at the NC State eGames supported three awards and took place on April 15, 2024.
The 2024 Daugherty Initiative awardees are as follows:
- 1st Place – $25,000 – NC Solar Inverters is building a more reliable inverter for utility and large commercial PV installations.
- 2nd Place – $15,000 – MithrilAI is a semiconductor company that designs trusted AI/ML hardware for safety and security-critical applications.
- 3rd Place – $10,000 – Teen Health Research is an early-stage woman-owned startup empowering teens and families for healthier relationships through communication skills.
Since 2008, the Daugherty Initiative has invested $568,847 in 51 companies with 72% of the companies still in business. Cumulative follow-on funding received by the awardees since 2008 is over $66 million. 2023 Daugherty Initiative first place awardee Hoofprint Biome received state and federal funds including an NSF SBIR, USDA SBIR, Breakthrough Energy Fellowship, and venture capital totaling over $3.9 million.
The 2023 Daugherty Initiative second place awardee Vetletics, Inc. received $50K support from an NC IDEA grant. However, due to delivery and production issues, Vetletics ceased operations in December 2023 and through a debt financing deal was acquired by Mego Afek who manufactured the EQ Press. 2023 Daugherty Initiative third place awardee SelSym Biotech received $2 million in funding from a Department of Defense grant and was invited to pitch at the 2024 CED Venture Connect conference.
The Daugherty Initiative is managed by the NC State Office of Partnerships. KIETS Director Ruben Carbonell and Associate Director Raj Narayan serve on the Daugherty Initiative Governance and Selection Committee. Among the priorities the governance committee is investigating is the potential to identify complementary resources and increase the endowment of the Daugherty Initiative.