KickStart Venture Services

KickStart Venture Services supports research-based startup formation and growth by providing education, early-stage funding, and on-campus accelerator space. KickStart aims to connect founders to key service providers, management, and investors in the local innovation ecosystem.

Founded in 2008 by Etta Pisano, MD, FACR, and Don Rose, PhD at the NC TraCS Institute, KickStart has significantly influenced the UNC Innovation & Entrepreneurship ecosystem. This influence is especially evident through the KickStart Commercialization Grant Awards. Since its inception, the grant program has allocated over $2 million in fiscal support to more than 60 companies, showcasing just a fraction of the extensive resources KickStart provides to the ventures it supports. In 2016, KickStart was re-organized to operate under Innovate Carolina and the UNC Office for Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Economic Development (IEED).