EDGE grants awarded to Delaware small businesses

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Delaware Public Media

The Delaware Division of Small Business awards EDGE Grants to 10 Delaware companies.

The winners of the fifth round of Encouraging Development, Growth and Expansion or EDGE grants were announced last week.

Businesses who employ no more than 10 employees and are less than five years old can apply, and they are awarded through a competitive selection process.

STEM-based companies can receive up to $100,000 while Entrepreneur or non-STEM businesses can receive up to $50,000.

EDGE is a matching grant program with the Division of Small Business matching a winning business’s investment on a 3-to-1 basis.

Over 100 applied for this fifth round of funding and 14 finalists gave public presentations before a panel of expert judges in June in Dover.

Division of Small Business communications director Jessica Welch explains some of the criteria used to select the businesses.

"The Downtown Development District program is kind of one of our partner programs, they get extra points for that, they also get extra points if they are classified as a minority, woman, veteran, person with a disability," said Welch.

Gov. John Carney calls the grants another economic development tool for Delaware.

"The math looks something like this: we have about 11 million job openings across the United States of America and only about 8 million people looking for work. That's a good proposition for workers, much more challenging for employers and the state of Delaware and I know that the EDGE grant recipients are part of that challenge as well," said Carney.

Businesses can spend EDGE grant funds on expenses that help improve the company’s long-term chances of success.

Then winners are listed below.

STEM class

Carbon Reform in Newark. Carbon Reform has developed a proprietary modular carbon dioxide (CO2) capture technology called the Carbon Capsule. The device retrofits into a commercial building's ventilation system and is able to improve indoor air quality for occupants, create energy savings for building owners, and directly capture and repurpose tons of CO2 annually into a valuable limestone byproduct. Carbon Reform will use their EDGE Grant funding to secure the purchase of capital equipment to get them to the next stage of development, including manufacturing their first 10 Carbon Capsule commercial units.

Cosmos Pharmaceuticals in Middletown. Cosmos Pharmaceuticals developed a solution to combat prescription medication abuse and improve individualized patient care by introducing a simple personalized medication lock called FortisKap. FortisKap, a universal pill bottle cap, secures a patient’s prescription with their unique biometric signature and tracks robust medication usage throughout the course of treatment. The company will use its EDGE grant for equipment needed to commercialize their product and for office space at the STAR campus at University of Delaware.

HARTLON in Wilmington. HARTLON developed a bioresorbable vascular stent that is designed to eliminate pain, non-healing sores, and risk of limb amputation caused by poor blood flow below-the-knee. After a medical doctor unblocks an artery, the patented HARTLON stent is designed to be inserted into the opening to provide temporary support until the artery heals and then the stent dissolves leaving the artery in a longer lasting natural open condition. The company will use its EDGE grant for laboratory space, manufacturing services, and demonstration of performance with a preclinical study.

G-Flash LLC in Newark. G-Flash LLC is working to bring Green Flash Chromatography (GFC®) to commercialization for the pharmaceutical industry. Flash chromatography is a method of chemical separation used to purify chemical mixtures into individual constituents. The company will use its EDGE grant funding to quickly commercialize their latest technology, as well as integrate new unit hardware and software.

Moonprint Solutions in Dover. Moonprint Solutions is an engineering company with services that include product development, consulting, and prototype manufacturing. The EDGE grant will be used for a Computer Numeric Controlled material plotter/cutter to support prototyping and production of soft goods products.