From Burn Scanners to Moon Power
A handheld burn scanner, better tools for discovering medicines and a way to power equipment on the moon: North Carolina’s small businesses have an unusually ambitious to-do list. Some of the state’s least familiar companies are tackling remarkably specific problems.
In Greenville, Perfusio Corp. is designing a handheld imaging device and software to help medical professionals evaluate burns quickly at the point of care. The goal is to make that technology practical in settings such as ambulances and urgent-care facilities, where equipment size and cost can limit access.
The company received $75,000 through the state’s 2026 One North Carolina Small Business awards. Its work illustrates the kind of opportunity these businesses pursue: identify a difficult problem, then develop something precise enough to address it.
That precision takes a different form in Wake Forest. Oxford Defense North Carolina received $37,455 to develop an optical component that smooths and concentrates laser energy sent from space to the moon’s surface. A more concentrated beam could allow power generation with smaller receiving cells and less bulky equipment. Potential applications also include solar, communications and sensing systems on Earth. The commute may be lunar; the development work has a North Carolina address.
Back in Chapel Hill, Onca Bio received $75,000 to investigate new methods for making peptides in the laboratory. Its research aims to overcome limitations in using macrocyclic peptides for drug discovery, potentially giving researchers more effective molecules to work with.
These projects remain development efforts. Their business value will depend on whether the science becomes something customers can use. That stretch between a promising idea and dependable revenue is exactly where funding can matter.
The Department of Commerce’s September 3 announcement detailed 50 grants totaling more than $2.4 million for 46 businesses across 13 counties during fiscal year 2026. Through the One North Carolina Small Business Program, state support helps companies prepare federal research proposals and supplements qualifying federal awards.
The longer record gives these individual experiments economic context. Commerce reports that businesses supported since 2006 have attracted more than $8.6 billion in follow-on funding. Together, they employ more than 4,000 people, with average wages twice the state average.
For North Carolina, that suggests another way to understand business growth: look closely at what small teams are trying to solve. A company can be unfamiliar and still be doing consequential work.
Explore education and skill-building opportunities in the Guide to North Carolina college and specialized training directory: https://www.guidetonc.com/college-specialized-training
