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If you're a founder raising capital in 2026, there's a question worth asking before you take a single VC meeting: why are you diluting your startup when there's $4 billion in non-dilutive funding sitting on the table? Most early-stage teams have never heard of the SBIR program. That's wild — because it's one of the largest sources of startup capital in the country, and it's specifically designed for the companies VCs are too cautious to back. This guide breaks down exactly wh

7 Critical Changes Every Founder Needs to Understand Before Submitting Under the SBIESA Act Published: April 29, 2026 The SBIR program went silent on September 1, 2025. With the Small Business Innovation and Economic Security Act (SBIESA) finally signed in April 2026, one of the largest non-dilutive funding channels for deep tech and scientific founders is back open. But what most founders don't realize is that the bar has moved up considerably — and the founders who rush in

The Department of Energy moved SBIR/STTR under the Office of Technology Commercialization. This is no longer just a research grant — it's a commercialization engine. Here are the 9 changes every energy and climate tech founder needs to understand. The U.S. Department of Energy has consolidated SBIR/STTR management under the Office of Technology Commercialization — and the implications for founders are significant. This isn't a minor administrative change. It signals a funda

9 Changes Every Energy & Climate Tech Founder Needs to Understand Published: April 29, 2026 The U.S. Department of Energy has consolidated SBIR/STTR management under the Office of Technology Commercialization (OTC) — and the implications for founders are significant. This isn't a minor administrative change. It signals a fundamental shift in what DOE is looking for, how proposals are evaluated, and what it takes to win. Climate tech, energy systems, AI, quantum, and semicond

The ARPA-H SBIR program offers small businesses non-dilutive funding of up to $600,000 for Phase 1 and $3.5 million for Phase 2 to develop breakthrough health technologies. Run by the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), it features a faster, more streamlined review process than traditional federal funding pathways — and a new solicitation is opening with a target date of June 11, 2026. If you're a U.S.-based small business working on transformative healthca

Key Changes, New Opportunities & Path Forward Published: April 29, 2026 The five-year SBIR/STTR reauthorization is now law — and it brings some of the most significant changes the program has seen in years. From the new Strategic Breakthrough Award track offering up to $30M in sequential Phase II funding, to the expansion of Direct to Phase II (D2P2) into STTR, to tighter foreign-affiliation due diligence, the rules of engagement for small businesses working with the Departme

A Founder's Guide to Vetting Grant Writers, Decoding Pricing, and Avoiding the Industry's Most Common Traps Published: April 29, 2026 If you're a startup founder preparing for SBIRs or federal R&D funding in 2026, you are about to get pitched — hard. Every consultant and agency is gearing up for the same thing: to sell you. With the SBIR program back online via the SBIESA Act, the grant writing industry is mobilizing fast — and a lot of bad players are optimizing for one out