Welcome back, broke founders and “serial entrepreneurs” (read: unemployed on LinkedIn)! You blew your rent on Shopify and iced coffee, and now you’re looking for startup grants like a raccoon digging through TikTok tips. Yikes, but also relatable. So, instead of signing up for another pyramid scheme or texting your ex for a “business loan” let’s chase the elusive beast called grant funding. It’s totally free! (Minus 19 forms, your dignity, and all hope for quick cash.)
Ready? Stretch your wrist it’s gonna be a lot of copy/pasting. Here’s your 2025 survival guide to startup grants: the only list you need if you’re allergic to bootstrapping and haven’t sold your vintage Pokémon cards just yet.
1. The SBIR: Saving Broke Innovators Reliably (You Hope)
Congrats! You like government forms.
The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant is the OG for startup grants like the Harvard of soul-slaughtering paperwork. Sure, you’ve got to have “serious innovation.” No, your cottage core cookie Etsy doesn’t count. If you’re dreaming of “AI for pets” or “crypto Uber” (not again, please) this is where you tell Uncle Sam your wildest fever dream.
- They want science.
- Or tech.
- Or whatever you claim is disruptive on your pitch deck.
If your elevator pitch involves more buzzwords than a TikTok skincare ad, maybe this is your moment.
2. Amber Grant: For Women Tired of “Girlboss” Memes
Every month the Amber Grant hands out $10,000 to a “female entrepreneur” with an idea, Wi-Fi and enough patience to write a 500-word pitch. This is one startup grant that assumes women entrepreneurs might like money too wild, right? Bonus: quarterly and yearly cash-ups for folks who don’t sleep. Go forth unleash your inner Hermione.
3. FedEx Small Business Grant: Ship Your Dreams (and Sanity)
Actual startup grants where you win for being quirky and persistent. Have a small business or a side hustle you can pretend is a “company”? The FedEx Grant wants to know! But beware, you’ll need a video less cringe than your last “funny” Reel and enough “engagement” to make your high school bully jealous.
Winners get up to $50,000 in cash and printing credits worth more than your annual revenue.
4. Hello Alice Grant: Because Normal Alice Was Busy
This one keeps popping up in every “best startup grants” list for a reason. Hello Alice offers all kinds of random, affinity, industry and “who even qualifies for this” grants. They’re basically the Santa Claus of business grants except they want stories not cookies. Yet.
5. USDA Rural Business Grant: For Founders Living Somewhere an Uber Won’t Go
Do you live in a town so small you’re just “the guy with Wi-Fi”?
Congrats, the USDA wants to give you startup grants, especially if you promise to “support your community” (grocery delivery for cows counts, probably).
It’s government, so yeah, you’ll need to prove you live outside Uber Eats’ territory and can write a business plan on a napkin.
6. NAV’s Small Business Grant: For Fans of the Underdog Edit
NAV is that friend who’s like “Tell me your wildest idea and maybe I’ll fund it.” The app gives away cash to winners who pitch in a brief app where enthusiasm and desperation are equally weighted. Points deducted for PowerPoint transitions made in 1999.
7. NASE Growth Grant: For the Solo Side Hustler With Receipts
You started a business because the 9 to 5 made you dead inside. NASE gives startup grants ($4,000 a pop) to solo founders who can string together six sentences and pay a tiny membership fee. Yes, you’ll need a budget but they legit just want to help, unlike your last mentor.
8. Eileen Fisher Women Owned Business Grant: Fashioning Success (Get It?)
Eileen Fisher the brand your mom loves, but now you do too (just admit it). They hand out startup grants to women owned non profit, and “eco” businesses. This is for the founder who says “sustainability” louder than their Starbucks order. Go all in save the world, get some cash.
9. Fast Break for Founders: NBA Launchpad Grants
Yup, the NBA has a program for early stage basketball adjacent startups. If your app helps LeBron track socks or revolutionizes nachos at halftime, shoot your shot. Startup grants from pro sports next up: “NFL Grants for Fantasy Football Addiction”
10. Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) Grants
The government realized startups shouldn’t all look like Stanford dropouts named Chad. MBDA offers grants for minority entrepreneurs launching real businesses not just kitting out their home offices with RGB lights. It’s legit, competitive and actually useful.
So, Which Grant Will Fund Your Frappuccino Habit?
Let’s be real: getting startup grants is the adult version of signing up for a talent show in a mall food court. Maybe you’ll win maybe you’ll cry maybe you’ll just have a new “character building” story for your next Hinge date. Fill out those forms flex your hustle and prepare your best “please fund me” face because in the land of startup grants anything is possible except apparently a simple application process.