From the July 2018 SBIR Road Tour - 5 minutes on the USDA SBIR startup grant program. USDA SBIR grant topics of interest include a variety of technologies: food science, nutrition, farms, and more.

A USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) SBIR Phase 1 grant is for 8 months and up to $100,000. (You can apply for a no-cost extension.) A USDA SBIR Phase 2 grant is for up to two years and up to $600,000. They provide commercialization assistance programs for SBIR Phase 1 winners.

USDA SBIR grant topics of interest include air, water, soil, animal protection, aquaculture, biofuels, food science and nutrition, forests, small and mid-sized farms, rural and community development, plant production, and protection engineering, and plant production and protection biology.

Although some agencies use a "contract" model and other agencies use a "grant" model, these are R&D grants - startup funding (startup grants) that are non-dilutive seed funding and even pre-seed funding to support early stage research and development. There are few startup grant programs for for-profit companies, but SBIR and STTR provide almost $3 billion in startup funding each year.

свернуть