America's Seed Fund
America's Seed Fund powered by NSF, the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) programs, funds hundreds of deep-tech startups each year working across almost all areas of science and technology. Each startup can receive up to $2 million from NSF for early-stage research and development; NSF takes no equity in the companies it funds. WE INVEST UP TO $2 MILLION IN SEED FUNDING. AND TAKE ZERO EQUITY.
Grant Deadline
Deadline not available
Funding Amount
Deadline not available
Type of Grant
Grant
Sectors
Aerospace, Agriculture, Artificial Intelligence, Clean Energy, Clean Tech, Manufacturing, Researcher, Software, Technology, Telecommunications, research and discovery, Med Tech
Demographics
Incorporation
For Profit
Perks
Region Restriction
This grant is restricted to whole of United States
Keywords
Age Restriction
This grant is age restricted from 18 to 100
Eligibility and Requirements
What we look for
Here’s what we look for when determining which startups to fund:
Impact
- Your innovation could make a difference to people worldwide or revolutionize an industry.
Technological Innovation
- You need research and development funding to create new products, services, and other scalable solutions based on fundamental science or engineering. NSF does not fund straightforward engineering or incremental product development tasks.
Market Pull
- You have evidence that your product or service could meet an important, unmet need for your customers.
Scale
- If you successfully bring your product or service to market, it could form the foundation for a scalable business and make a large impact in your target market.
What we fund
We help startups navigate the earliest stages of technology translation, investing roughly $200 million annually in approximately 400 startups. Each startup can receive up to $2 million to support translational research and development. From advanced manufacturing to artificial intelligence to biological technologies to environmental technologies, we fund nearly all areas of technology.
Eligibility
- Your company must be a small business (fewer than 500 employees) located in the United States.
- At least 50% of your company’s equity must be owned by U.S. citizens or permanent residents. NSF does not fund companies that are majority-owned by multiple venture capital firms, private equity firms, or hedge funds, to participate in SBIR and STTR.
- All funded work, including work done by consultants and contractors, needs to take place in the United States.
- The project’s principal investigator (tech lead) must be legally employed at least 20 hours a week by the company seeking funding. The PI doesn’t need any advanced degrees.
- The principal investigator needs to commit to at least one month (173 hours) of work on a funded project per six months of project duration.
Grant Application website
Contact
America's Seed Fund
2415 Eisenhower Ave.
Alexandria, VA 22314 USA
Tel: (703) 292-8050
FIRS: (800) 877-8339 | TDD: (800) 281-8749