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Unclaimed
Discovery tool, not advice. Every figure is the published rule, not a decision on your case.
Grants

NSF SBIR/STTR Program (America's Seed Fund powered by NSF)

Status

Status not published

Mandatory Project Pitch is accepted on a rolling basis; if invited, the full Phase I proposal is due in one of the fixed submission windows.

Open now
Amount
$275,000

Phase I awards are up to $275,000 for 6-12 months; Phase II up to $1,000,000 (with supplements and matching options that NSF advertises as 'up to $2 million in seed funding' across phases). Non-dilutive grant.

Funder

U.S. National Science Foundation

public · national

Deadline: rolling — Mandatory Project Pitch is accepted on a rolling basis; if invited, the full Phase I proposal is due in one of the fixed submission windows.

Your odds
Not published

This funder does not publish a success rate. We rank it using the rate observed across similar programmes and label it as an estimate rather than implying we know.

Effort
major

Major bid — written case, budget, possibly partners.

Who can apply

US-based for-profit small business, majority US-owned. NSF is topic-agnostic across almost all areas of science and engineering but excludes clinical trials and pure software with no technical risk. Project Pitch invitation is required before a full proposal.

How to apply

  1. Submit a 3-page Project Pitch describing the technical innovation, risk, commercial opportunity and team
  2. Receive an NSF response within about three weeks; an invitation is required to submit a full proposal
  3. Prepare the full Phase I proposal (project description, budget, biosketches) per the current solicitation
  4. Submit through Research.gov by the applicable window deadline
  5. If awarded, complete Phase I then apply for Phase II by invitation

What you will need

Apply on the funder's site

Source. https://seedfund.nsf.gov/ — checked 2026-08-14

"invest up to $2 million in seed funding"