SBIR - America’s Largest Seed Fund

Join us for our annual SBIR lunch event. At this lunch-and-learn, a panel of successful grant awardees will deconstruct the application process and the major challenges and roadblocks, as well as speak to what this non-dilutive funding means to them, their companies, and their investors. Learn from their successes and mistakes; hear concrete advice about what really helped their application stand out from the rest!

SBIR exists “to provide funding for some of the best early-stage innovation ideas — ideas that, however promising, are still too high risk for private investors, including venture capital firms.”
- Roland Tibbetts, Founder of the SBIR program

To boost U.S. technological innovation and commercialization, our federal government has invested tens of billions of dollars in domestic companies since the 1970s through its Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants program. Administered by the Small Business Administration (SBA), and managed through 11 federal agencies, including the Department of Defense, the Department of Health and Human Services and the National Science Foundation, the program provides funding and support to hundreds of grant awardee companies per year. These SBIR programs annually provide $2.5 billion in non-dilutive funding to small advanced technology firms represent America’s Largest Seed Fund.

Grant writing requirements for SBIR/STTR can make the process seem daunting, but, as with other types of fundraising, there are negatives and positives to this financial resource. Given the validation and non-dilutive nature of this source, it can be well worth the effort. At the end of this lunch, you will be empowered to find the right opportunity for you and your company, know where to go to get the help you need, and take the first steps to being a successful grant awardee!

Speakers: