Led by the Office of Research Commercialization (ORC), NC State University, in partnership with nine other leading research universities, was selected by the National Science Foundation to be one of the five national I-Corps Hubs, a $15 million, five-year award. NC State will receive $2M over five years and serves as one of three partner organizations in the Hub, leading efforts to attract, train, and match industry mentors with I-Corps teams from all universities in the Mid-Atlantic Hub.
In FY 2025, two startups were formed upon completion of the ICorps program, including Soteria Formulations and VibraPower LLC. ORC reported that 20 faculty members, 7 undergraduates, 19 graduate students, and 6 postdocs participated in the ICorps Program. UNC-Chapel Hill, UNC Charlotte, UNC-Wilmington, NC A&T, Fayetteville State University, Virginia Tech, and Clemson University each had teams participating. Some notable accomplishments of prior NC State I-Corps Hub participants during FY 2025 include the following:
- I-Corps graduate QuikCal, a Duke team led by student entrepreneurs, was successfully acquired by MOCHA Systems in Spring 2025, representing the first acquisition of an NC State I-Corps graduate. The team was mentored by KIETS Associate Director Raj Narayan both during and after the I-Corps short course.
- I-Corps graduate and founder of Elysia Creative Biology, Eli Hornstein, received a $200K Activate Fellowship, a highly competitive, national entrepreneur-focused support program. Hornstein was mentored by KIETS Associate Director Raj Narayan both during and after the I-Corps short course.
Also, during FY 2024-25, graduates of NC State’s I-Corps Program secured over $2.1 million in follow-on funding:
- 4 I-Corps graduates were selected to participate in the NSF National I-Corps Teams Program and received $50K individual grants (Sonovoice Nicelle Technologies, VibraPower, Cosmic Eats)
- 4 I-Corps graduates received $10K awards from the NCIDEA Micro grant funding program in Fall 2024 (Nicelle Technologies, Blean, MithrilAI, Soteria Formulations)
- 4 I-Corps graduates received $60K in grant funding from the One NC Program, which provides reimbursement grants for SBIR/STTR award winners (Fathom Science, MithrilAI, Benanova, Teen Health Research)
- Sonovoice and Cosmic Eats each received $275,000 NSF Phase I SBIR awards in Fall 2024
- I-Corps graduate Structeryx received a $100,000 subaward for a DoD SBIR award in Spring 2025.
- NC State startup and I-Corps graduate Fathom Science received $1M in investment from a private investor, representing its first injection of dilutive capital.
As of April 2025, teams completing the NC State Regional I-Corps Program have generated a cumulative $67M in follow-on funding from grant and investment sources. Participating teams have gone on to form 39 new startup companies and have submitted 58 SBIR/STTR awards, 25 of which have been awarded. 15 total program graduates have also been accepted into NSF’s National I-Corps Teams Program, totaling $750,000 in follow-on NSF funding. KIETS Associate Director Raj Narayan serves as an NC State I-Corps ORC faculty instructor and advises the mentors and entrepreneurial leads in the NC State ICorps program.