The Grants to Business (G2B) program offers training and support designed to help life-science startups develop competitive applications for business grants with a particular focus on “Small Business Investigational Research/Small Business Technology Transfer’” grants (SBIR/STTR) and other non-dilutive funding. G2B is managed by our Entrepreneur Support Team. Most early-stage life-science companies are in need of technical de-risking before they can realistically compete for investment. Others that receive early stage investment benefit by augmenting dilutive capital with non-dilutive sources. SBIR/STTR and other non-dilutive funding are well suited for these purposes. The G2B program has been successful helping life-science entrepreneurs understand the qualifications and develop winning applications for SBIR/STTRs and other non-dilutive grant funding.
Federal business grant programs (SBIR – STTR) represent over $2.5 billion in available funding, with over $1 billion of that focused on the life-sciences. The Department of Defense’s “Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program” (CDMRP) program provides an additional $1 billion plus specifically for medical research. Such funding can be a significant source of revenue – a life-science company that wins Phase I – Phase IIb SBIR/STTR funding from the NIH for example can secure over $4.7M in non-dilutive capital and CDMRP grants can be even larger.
For early stage companies, the G2B program is closely coordinated with Fundamentals to help G2B candidates develop sound business models and teams. In its first year of operation, the G2B program has supported early stage companies that have won “fundable” scores on grant applications totaling over $16.5 million.
Click here to learn about sector specific institutes that award grants, submission process, and the deadlines.
The program provides entrepreneurs with the support necessary to craft competitive business models and grant applications. The program runs three annual cycles using an “Incentive Driven Calendar” – companies win support resources by achieving specific business development milestones by specific dates in each cycle. (All support is free of charge.)
G2B support includes:
We aim to significantly increase Missouri’s life-science business grant funding so that Missouri’s rank equals our population rank by 2019 and our academic grant rank by 2021.
"The input from the mock panel was extremely valuable. The format also allowed us to advance our planning in a way that was beneficial. This is a useful aid for start-ups and we will certainly use it again."
– David Curiel, MD, PhD
Professor, Washington University
Co-Founder, Unleash Immuno Oncolytics
Founder, Precision Virologics
