CCF grants support critical early technology development, testing, and market validation efforts
RICHMOND, VA – The Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation’s (VIPC) Commonwealth Commercialization Fund (CCF) is pleased to announce more than $1.5 million in funding for 24 Virginia-based businesses and university researchers in Q3 2022. The CCF program has awarded more than $42 million to the Virginia technology ecosystem since 2012 for innovation and commercialization support.
“Virginia recognizes the importance of moving university-developed innovations into the commercial market, and supporting emerging startups as they develop and grow. VIPC’s CCF program consistently provides critical funding support to university projects with strong commercialization potential, as well as to scalable technology-driven private startups. The VIPC and these Virginia-based businesses and universities contribute to our economic vitality and new high-paying jobs,” said Governor Glenn Youngkin.
The Youngkin administration has established goals to add 400,000 jobs and to create 10,000 startups by 2026. VIPC’s market development and funding programs, including CCF and Virginia Venture Funds, contribute to the administration’s goals by providing early funding support for Virginia’s university-based innovators, entrepreneurs and startups.
“The 24 CCF awards that we celebrate with this announcement represent a variety of industries and innovators who have all discovered that Virginia values their entrepreneurial spirit and vision for the future. Helping university-based innovators and private-sector entrepreneurs find a path to success is critical to technology leadership, job creation, and the development of emerging industries in the Commonwealth,” said Secretary of Commerce and Trade Secretary Caren Merrick.
The CCF private sector and university projects awarded between July-September 2022 are available here
VIPC’s CCF program accepts applications and awards funding on a rolling basis to Virginia’s small business and academic community. This competitive program seeks to fund high-potential, Virginia-based, for-profit technology companies and university-sourced technologies at the pre-seed stage of commercialization and provides grants of up to $75,000. The grants support early technology and market validation efforts such as customer discovery, market research, business model validation, development of prototypes or a minimum viable product (MVP), customer pilots, intellectual property protection, team development, and more. For more information on funding opportunities and eligibility requirements, or to apply, click here.
About the Commonwealth Commercialization Fund (CCF)
VIPC’s Commonwealth Commercialization Fund (CCF) was launched on July 1, 2020 to foster innovative and collaborative efforts in Virginia. Combining two legacy state programs, the Commonwealth Research Commercialization Fund (CRCF) and the Virginia Research Innovation Fund (VRIF), CCF seeks technologies with a high potential for economic development and job creation and that position the Commonwealth as a national leader in science- and technology-based research, development, and commercialization. As administrator of the CCF, VIPC supports CRCF and VRIF award recipients.
About Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation (VIPC)
Connecting innovators with opportunities. The nonprofit operations arm of the Virginia Innovation Partnership Authority (VIPA), VIPC is the commercialization and seed stage economic development driver in the Commonwealth that leads funding, infrastructure, and policy initiatives to support Virginia’s innovators, entrepreneurs, startups, and market development strategies. VIPC collaborates with local, regional, state, and federal partners to support the expansion and diversification of Virginia’s economy.
Programs include: Virginia Venture Partners (VVP) | Virginia Founders Fund (VFF) | Commonwealth Commercialization Fund (CCF) | Smart Communities | Unmanned Systems | Public Safety Innovation |Entrepreneurial Ecosystems | Regional Innovation Fund (RIF) | Federal Funding Assistance Program (FFAP) for SBIR & STTR | University Partnerships | Startup Company Mentoring & Engagement. For more information, please visit www.
