Grant To Start Up Business

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Startups are inherently risky ventures. According to Fortune magazine, close to 60% of new startups fail. Because new businesses are so risky, it’s notoriously difficult to get start-up finance – most banks won’t give you a loan if you haven’t been in business for at least two years. While some online lenders offer business startup loans, business startup grants are another option for financing a new business. Startup grants are even harder to get than a startup loan, but grants are preferable because you don’t have to pay the money back.

Grant To Start Up Business

Do you want a chance for financial support? Follow these steps to find the business support you might qualify for.

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In general, only certain types of businesses are eligible for start-up grants. If your business does not fall into one of these categories, you are unlikely to qualify. For example, while there may be financial support for an innovative hardware manufacturer, when it comes to the mainstream hardware trade…eh, not so much. On the other hand, if you face significant barriers to opening a women-owned hardware store in an economically challenged region, it’s much more likely that a private or public entity will want to give you something for free.

To determine if your business falls into one of the industries likely to qualify for start-up funding. If not, you may want to start looking at other alternative funding options, such as crowdfunding.

City and municipal governments, business associations and non-profit organizations in your immediate region are good places to start looking for grants. Even if you find that your business does not fit into one of the “support worthy” categories above, you may be eligible for support if you are starting a business in a certain city or region. For example, the Arch Grants organization awards grants to new businesses in the St. Louis. There aren’t too many supports like this, but it’s always worth checking them out.

Be sure to scan city, county, and state websites for grant opportunities, as well as your local chamber of commerce. If you’re willing to relocate, you can also check out scholarship opportunities for local businesses in the city or towns you’d consider moving to.

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If you can’t find any business grant opportunities in your area, you can search for grants by niche; that is, according to your specific industry or type of business. Your startup can fall into multiple niches—for example, your company can be veteran-owned and also in the clean energy business. A simple search for terms like “green building business grant” or “home care grant” can yield results tailored to your specific business niche.

Sometimes grants are targeted to a specific niche and also to a specific region. A few examples of specialty business grants include the Halstead Grant for emerging silver jewelry designers living anywhere in the US and the Green Technology Grant Program for green technology startups in Cleveland, Ohio.

Several large corporations offer business grants or organize some sort of competition for small businesses where the best businesses can win free money. These grant programs are very popular and therefore very competitive, but may be worth investigating. FedEx, Miller Lite, and Visa are a few corporations that grant business grants; The Miller Lite grant competition is specifically for startups.

Some companies that provide services to small businesses also hold contests for grants. For example, AWeber, a popular email service provider aimed at small businesses and nonprofits, is currently running a $20,000 Small Business, High Impact Grant contest available to US-based small businesses and nonprofits with 50 or fewer employees.

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Even some popular business lenders offer business rewards. Veteran-owned businesses, for example, should check out StreetShares’ annual Veteran Business Competition.

Small businesses can potentially find eligible grants at Grants.gov, a comprehensive site for government grants. However, you should know that the vast majority of these grants are for medical research. Also, even if you qualify for one of these valuable federal grants, you’ll likely be competing with nonprofits and even city and state governments. The reason I listed federal grants last is that there are few, if any, federal grants that a typical startup would qualify for.

However, at least a few federal grants target innovative small businesses, namely Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants for high-tech companies involved in scientific research and development. The InnovateHER scholarship competes for companies that benefit women and children.

This blog post on the SBA website explains a little more about US government grants and how most of them are not actually aimed at for-profit businesses. If you want government help financing your small business, you may want to look into a Small Business Administration (SBA) loan. These loans have low interest rates and are relatively easy to apply for if you use an online SBA lender like SmartBiz.

How To Start Your Own Business When You Think You Can’t Afford To

Once you’ve found a list of business startup grants you’re eligible for, the next step is to start preparing your grant application package. The application process is slightly different for each type of grant, but you’ll usually need to submit a business plan and a request for proposal (RFP). For a large grant, you might even consider hiring a professional grant writer, although that probably wouldn’t be feasible or necessary for a grant competition where you might only win $2,000 to $5,000, even after beating out thousands of other applicants.

The last thing I would recommend to anyone looking for start-up grants is to look into alternatives to start-up grants such as small business loans or alternative business financing options such as P2P loans or equipment financing. If you have any questions about startup loans or alternative business financing, feel free to email us or ask a question in the comments!

Formerly Editor-in-Chief of SteelOrbis, Shannon has been researching and writing about small business software and finance since 2015. Her purchasing and retail expertise has been cited in numerous publications, including Reader’s Digest, MSN, Yahoo Finance, and GOBankingRates. She has also published articles for LIVESTRONG.COM, eHow, Life’d and other websites. Shannon attended San Diego State University, graduating in 2005 with a BA in English.

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Our unbiased reviews and content are partially supported by affiliate partnerships, and we adhere to strict guidelines to maintain editorial integrity. The editorial content on this site is not provided by any of the aforementioned companies and has not been reviewed, endorsed or otherwise endorsed by any of those entities. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the author. Anyone at the University of Toronto (U of T) interested in starting a startup company based on U of T intellectual property (IP).

The University of Toronto (U of T) has a vibrant entrepreneurial community with many initiatives and programs that help create and grow new companies. U of T is a leader in Canada and among the top five institutions in North America for creating institution-based startups. The U of T entrepreneurial community has spawned more than 500 companies in the past 10 years and secured more than $1.5 billion in investment.

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The Office of Innovation and Partnerships (IPO) supports the creation of early-stage companies based on U of T inventions by providing entrepreneurial education and mentoring, intellectual property protection, go-to-market strategies, networking and investor preparation.

The University of Toronto Early Technology Program (UTEST) is a 12-month incubator for high-potential startups based at U of T Inventions. UTEST provides financing, workspace, mentoring and business strategy support. To learn more, visit the UTEST website.

For more information about the entrepreneurial ecosystem at U of T, including accelerators, startup news, and courses and workshops, visit

Toronto Innovation Acceleration Partners > CECR specializes in early-stage seed investments for companies and technology emerging from its 15 member institutions, of which U of T

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