Delaware has announced the latest winners of its start-up grant program.
It’s the 3rd round of funding for the Encouraging Development, Growth and Expansion (EDGE) grants since the program launched three years ago.
Fifteen small, early-stage businesses—including five focused on science and technology—got grants to help improve their chances of long-term success.
Division of Small Business Director Jordan Schulties says the state paused the program last year because of COVID—and got three times the usual applicants this year.
“When we got to the point that we were able to this year reopen and give folks a chance to not just recover from COVID or even just survive COVID, to really give them a chance to look toward the future and spring into something maybe a little bit different for their business, we were really excited about that,” she said. “The response from the community has raised that even further.”
Theresa Litherland is one of the recipients. She’s the CEO of Resonate Forward - a company that makes medical technology that uses vibration to help with symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.
“We’ve received over $1.8 million in grants for clinical trials but this is our first grant to get this over the edge to market,” she said.
Other grant winners include a running shoe store, a meadery and a company developing a cooling vest for surgeons to wear to avoid heat exhaustion.
The science and technology companies received up to $100,000, and the other businesses got up to $25,000. It’s a matching grant — so the companies must invest money too.
The Division of Small Business plans to launch another round of grants this fall.
