Congratulations to Groover Labs Member Matt Leming, Ph.D., who was recently awarded a Proof of Concept Grant from the Kansas Department of Commerce. In 2021, we were approved as a registered partner by KDOC to help guide applicants through the PoC grant process. Since then, four of our members, including Matt, have received the award.

Dr. Leming’s medtech startup, Winnow Bio, develops surgical and orthopedic tools and implants. They plan to use the funds from the grant to prototype a surgical implant device to replace the external fixation and K-wire (pins) procedure for small metacarpal fractures, significantly reducing procedure complexity and healing time.

We’re especially excited to have Dr. Leming in Wichita developing medtech solutions as the Wichita Biomedical Campus comes online. We suspect we will see him as a leader in the startup and medtech community for years to come. 

You can read more about KDOC’s PoC grant here. If you’re considering applying for the grant, and you’d like to use us as your sponsoring organization, we encourage you to contact us before you begin the process so we can share what we know.

Here’s a description of the grant from their website:

The KITE Proof of Concept (POC) is designed to fill a need for support where typical funding mechanisms are not available, acting as a bridge between federal funding for basic research and commercial seed funding by angel or venture investors. POC funding will not be awarded when other sources of funding are timely available. The POC program will aim to assist:

• The establishment of promising new technology-based entrepreneurial ventures within the State.

• The commercialization of inventions resulting from research conducted at Kansas public universities.

Applications for POC funding are accepted throughout the year. The POC review committee meets on a quarterly basis to review proposals and make recommendations for funding. Awards will be made for eligible applications until funds are expended. Applicants are required to submit applications through an approved partner at least two weeks prior to quarterly committee reviews.