Funding Opportunities
Andrea M. Mitchell
entrepreneurial & technology programs manager
There are many different funding opportunities and resources for startups and small businesses. We have compiled a list of various programs that you might find helpful when searching for and evaluating your financial options.
City of Auburn
Continually accepting applications.
- Section 108 Microloan Program
- Section 108 Commercial-Industrial Loan Program
- Working Capital Loan Interest Subsidy Program
General Competitions
- Alabama Launchpad: Competition for $25,000 and $50,000. Multiple cycles per year.
- Alconics Awards: for AI startups
- CEMEX Ventures: construction industry solutions
- CodeLaunch: software and apps
- SPIE Startup Challenge: light-enabled products; $85,000
- Startup World Cup: grand prize $1M
- TechCrunch Startup Battlefield: $100,000
- youngStartup Ventures: Tech, Life Sciences/Healthcare, CleanTech, and FinTech startups pitch to VCs. Seed Pitchfest up to $1M; Top Innovators for $2-30M.
Other Financial Assistance
Continually accepting applications.
- American Medical Loan: Small business loans for medical practices
- Food Truck Lender: Loan opportunities for food trucks and other mobile vendor businesses
- Lee-Russell Council of Governments
- Military Financial: Small business loans for veterans
- Small Business Development Center: They do not provide financing, but can help you prepare a well-organized loan package. SBA 7(a) Loans, MicroLoan Program, SBA 504 Loans.
- VA Financial: Small business loans for veterans
- U.S. Department of Homeland Security - Acquisition Planning Forecast System: Program to encourage small businesses to submit to be a federal DHS contractor or subcontractor for larger programs
- U.S. General Services Administration: Federal database of economic assistance listings, wage determinations and contract opportunities
- Women's Business Assistance Program: Grants, funding options for small businesses owned by women
Grants
There are Alabama organizations that offer training and assistance for grant writing and fundraising. Some resources are membership-based, while others offer free assistance.
- Amazon Launchpad: $20,000
- America's Seed Fund: up to $2 million
- FedEx Small Business Grant Contest: $30,000 award
- Grants.gov: Database of federal grants
- Hello Alice: Features various grants
- IdeaCafe Grant: Micro-grant award of $1,000 to one business each year. Due in January.
- National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE) Growth Grants: Awarded to NASE members who can demonstrate a specific need for the money. Multiple prizes of $4,000 each. (A basic NASE membership costs $120 per year and includes networking, mentorship, discounts on business products and legislative advocacy.) Applications due quarterly.
- DoorDash Restaurant Disaster Relief Fund: $10,000 grants
- Mastercard Small Business Growth Fund: $5,000
- Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR): supports scientific excellence and technological innovation through the investment of federal research funds to small businesses that are engaged in research and development and have commercial potential. Grants start at $150,000 and can reach over $1 million.
- Small Business Readiness for Resiliency Program: $5,000 awards
- Visa Everywhere Initiative: For startups and fintech companies to solve payment and commerce challenges of the future. Prizes range from $10,000 to $50,000.
For Women-Owned Businesses
- 37 Angels: Angel investment group that invests $50,000 to $200,000 into each company.
- Amber Grant: A small business grant for women business owners created in honor of a young woman who died before she could fulfill her entrepreneurial dreams. The program awards two $10,000 grant to a woman business owner each month. One winner will also be awarded an additional $25,000 at the end of the year. Applications reviewed monthly.
- Association of Women's Business Centers: Works to secure entrepreneurial opportunities for women by supporting and sustaining a national network of more than 100 Women’s Business Centers that provide training, mentoring, business development, and financing opportunities to over 150,000 women entrepreneurs each year.
- Cartier Women's Initiative Award: Awarded to 18 female entrepreneurs around the world each year. All 18 finalists will receive either a first prize of $100,000 and one-on-one mentoring or a second prize of $30,000 in prize money. There are two awards: Science & Technology Pioneer and Regional.
- Female Founders Fund: Invests in business-to-business (B2B), consumer, fintech, and health care businesses that have at least one female founding member, and they primarily focus on investing in seed-stage businesses. Open to reviewing pitches from businesses in a variety of industries, and occasionally even before those businesses are ready for a formal funding round. They average between six to eight investments per year, with investments ranging from $500,000 to $750,000.
- GrantsforWomen.org: Database of opportunities for women across industries.
- Halstead Grant: For women entrepreneurs in the jewelry industry. A cash grant of $7,500 plus $1,000 toward Halstead jewelry supplies.
- IFundWomen: Funding marketplace for women-owned businesses with access to small business grants from corporate partners, online fundraising, coaching and connections.
- KKR Small Business Builders: $10,000 grants and mentoring to help owners sustain their businesses, maintain and create jobs, and spur economic opportunity.
- Office of Minority Business Enterprise: Resource for small, minority-owned and women-owned businesses.
- Opportunity Fund: Microloans to underserved small businesses, particularly those owned by low- and moderate-income immigrants, people of color, and women.
- Red Backpack Fund: In response to the devastating economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, fund is donating at least 1,000 grants of $5,000 each to female-identified entrepreneurs in the U.S. whose businesses have been impacted by the health crisis.
- Visa Everywhere Initiative Women's Global Edition: A competition for startups and fintech companies to solve payment and commerce challenges of the future. Grants two winners $100,000 each.
For Minority-Owned Businesses
- Black Girl Ventures: Competition for black/brown woman-identifying founders.
- Camino Financial: Loans to small businesses to catalyze economic growth in low-to-moderate income communities. Up to $400,000 with low interest rates.
- Coalition to Back Black Businesses Fund: Grants for those impacted by Covid-19.
- IFundWomen of Color: Help diverse, early-stage entrepreneurs bring their dreams into reality through raising capital via crowdfunding and providing grants, coaching, and the connections needed to launch and grow successful businesses.
- Kapor Capital: Focusing on African American and Latino communities that have lack of funding, this organization offers to help tech companies in the seed stage who are looking to close gaps in their local community.
- Kiva: Crowdfunds loans up to $10,000 with 0% interest for borrowers who are either financially excluded or creating social impact in their communities.
- Minority Business Development Agency: Access to expert assistance on securing financing, grants and other business essentials.
- NAACP: various grants
- National Black MBA Association Scale-Up Pitch Challenge: Competition with prizes up to $50,000. Membership required.
- Office of Minority Business Enterprise: Resource for small, minority-owned and women-owned businesses.
- For College Students / Faculty / Recent Graduates
- LAUNCH (Auburn University faculty only)
- Tiger Cage (Auburn University students only): $50,000 prize pool
For Veterans
- Boots to Business: courses on entrepreneurship, access to startup capital & contracting
- Hivers and Strivers: angel investment group for grads of U.S. Military Academies ($250k to $1M)
- Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization: help find federal contracting opportunities
- StreetShares Foundation: up to $15,000 to veteran entrepreneurs. They also do lending up to $250k.
- VA Financial: Small business loans for veterans
- Veterans Business Outreach Centers: workshops, mentorship to launch businesses
- Veteran Readiness and Employment
- Warrior Rising
For High School Students
- Blue Ocean High School Entrepreneurial Leaders: $1,000 (registration in October)
Crowdfunding
Venture Capital
- Advantage Capital
- AIM Group
- Alabama Capital Network
- Alabama Futures Fund
- Harbert Management Corporation (information technology focus)
- Mark II Ventures
- New Capital Partners