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2024 Growth Accelerator Fund Competition

 

2023 Stage One Winners Announced

In 2023, the SBA introduced a new two-stage format for the Growth Accelerator Fund Competition. In May 2023, the SBA awarded forty $50,000 Stage One prizes to catalyze organizations from 30 states and territories, including D.C. and Puerto Rico, and invited them to apply for Stage Two of the Growth Accelerator Fund Competition.

Thirty-five award-winning accelerator partnerships received $150,000 Stage Two prizes to help advance equitable investment in innovative startups and high-growth small businesses across several priorities, including National Security & Global Competitiveness, Domestic Manufacturing and Production, Climate and Renewable Energy, and Underserved Communities.

Read the Stage One press release.

Read the Stage Two press release.

Learn more about each Growth Accelerator Fund Competition partnership in the public directory: https://bit.ly/GAFC23Directory 

 

Stage Two Winners

National Security & Global Competitiveness 

  • DE: Delaware Technology Park 
  • KY: XLerateHealth (dba XLerator Network) 
  • MS: Mississippi State University 
  • NH: Hannah Grimes Center 
  • NM: University of New Mexico (dba New Mexico Bioscience Authority)  
  • ND: University of North Dakota UND Center for Innovation Foundation 
  • TX: BioMedSA 
  • VA: Virginia Small Business Development Center at George Mason University 
  • WA: Greater Seattle Partners

Domestic Manufacturing and Production 

  • CA: AgTech Innovation Alliance (AgStart) 
  • HI: Hawaii Island Business Plan Competition 
  • IL: mHUB 
  • IN: Indiana Economic Development Corporation 
  • KS: Wichita State University 
  • MA: Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives (MBI) 
  • MI: Centrepolis Accelerator at Lawrence Technological University 
  • OH: Youngstown Edison Incubator Corp. (dba Youngstown Business Incubator or YBI) 
  • SD: South Dakota Biotechnology Council (dba BioRise) 
  • WI: StartingBlock Madison, Inc 

Climate and Renewable Energy 

  • CA: The Orange County Center for Innovation & Social Enterprise SPC (dba RevHubOC) 
  • FL: Seaworthy Foundation, Inc. (dba Seaworthy Collective) 
  • VA: Hanover County Clean Technology Innovation Center (dba Dominion Energy Innovation Center)   

Underserved Communities 

  • AR: University of Arkansas, Fayetteville 
  • FL: The University of Central Florida Board of Trustees (dba Florida High Tech Corridor) 
  • GA: Black Innovation Alliance (BIA)  
  • ID: Actuate Boise, Inc. (dba Trailhead) 
  • IA: The New Bohemian Innovation Collaborative, Inc (dba NewBoCo) 
  • ME: Central Maine Growth Council Dirigo Labs Business Accelerator 
  • MD: UpSurge Baltimore Community Inc 
  • MA: NATIONAL COLLEGIATE INVENTORS & INNOVATORS ALLIANCE, INC. (dba VentureWell) 
  • MI: BBC Entrepreneurial Training & Consulting LLC 
  • NC: NC Hispanic American Chamber of Commerce 
  • PR: Puerto Rico Science, Technology and Research Trust 
  • TN: FoundersForge 
  • TX: VILCAP Inc (dba Village Capital)

 

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 Competition Details

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) offered $50,000 to $200,000 in prize awards for impactful and inclusive approaches to foster a thriving, collaborative national innovation support ecosystem to advance research and development (R&D) from ideas to impact.

By fostering connections between entrepreneurs, advisors, mentors, partners, philanthropies, corporations, investors, and other shared resources, the 2023 Growth Accelerator Fund Competition (GAFC) catalyzed strategic ecosystem partnerships to build community and organizational capacity for the successful launch, growth, and scale of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)-based entrepreneurs and startups.
 
Competition Goals

  • Increase the pipeline and success of STEM/R&D-focused entrepreneurs and small businesses.
  • Increase the success of STEM/R&D-focused entrepreneurs in accessing capital and resources to advance their businesses.
  • Incentivize innovation ecosystem stakeholders to provide equitable access to resources for underserved communities and industries.
  • Catalyze partnerships and relationships between stakeholder groups to strengthen the national innovation ecosystem.
  • Connect both new and established participants in the national innovation ecosystem.

Prizes awarded in Two Stages

Stage One: $50,000 cash prizes awarded to organizations (Catalysts) to catalyze relationships between aligned stakeholders (Ecosystem Partners) that led to the development of Growth Accelerator Partnerships. Catalysts worked collaboratively with Ecosystem Partners to bring additional resources, deepen network connections, and develop strategies that amplify the impact and success of the Growth Accelerator Partnership and the STEM/R&D-focused entrepreneurs and small businesses it serves. SBA encouraged creative models for ecosystem building. SBA welcomed Stage One submissions from a broad range of organizations with a collaborative vision to nurture a national ecosystem for equitable access to entrepreneurship.  

Stage Two: $50,000 to $150,000 cash prizes awarded to “Growth Accelerator Partnerships” to assist entrepreneurs that transition R&D into the marketplace. The Growth Accelerator Partnership provided startups and small businesses with additional support and resources.  SBA accepted Stage Two submissions from Growth Accelerator Partnerships; submissions are prepared jointly by Stage One Catalysts and Ecosystem Partners and organizations that presented their proposal to successfully accelerate the launch, growth, and scale of diverse STEM/R&D-focused small businesses.

 Resources

Download full competition guidelines

Download Webinar Slides

2021 Growth Accelerator Fund Competition and SBIR Catalyst Competition Results

The 2021 competition features 84 winners for the Growth Accelerator Fund Competition (GAFC) and eight winners for the SBIR Catalyst competition, a new component aimed at spurring investment in underrepresented communities within the innovation economy at scale, receiving a combined total of $5.4 million in awards.innovation-focused entrepreneur support organizations (ESOs) with programs to speed the launch, growth, and scale of deep-tech small businesses across the country.

The winners come from 48 states, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, and the District of Columbia and have been awarded based on their proposals for innovative ideas that inclusively support entrepreneurs researching and developing STEM-related innovations.

Two prize tracks were run simultaneously:

Track 1 - Growth Accelerator Fund Competition (GAFC)—The winners of the GAFC are accelerators and incubators who proposed targeted assistance to STEM/R&D entrepreneurs from underrepresented groups, including women, people of color, rural, and veteran entrepreneurs. The GAFC prize winners support a broad range of industries including clean energy, supply chain resilience, and infrastructure. Many accelerators and incubators also work to expand the participation of innovation-focused small businesses located in HUBZones. GAFC winners will each receive a $50,000 prize.

Track 2 - SBIR Catalyst—The winners of the SBIR Catalyst competition facilitated eight collaborative partnership proposals aimed at building connections across entrepreneur support organizations that foster innovation driven entrepreneurs from underserved communities. The winners are recognized connectors across programs that fund innovation clusters, hubs, and other technology-based economic development initiatives. SBIR Catalyst winners will each receive a $150,000 prize.

Resources:

2019 Growth Accelerator Fund Competition

The 2019 Competition featured sixty (60) $50,000 prize awards for accelerators working with high-tech entrepreneurs, mainly potential applicants to the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) or Small Business Tech Transfer (STTR) programs. Winners proposed at least 60 percent of their competition-related work to entrepreneurs in one of the following groups: women; socially and/or economically disadvantaged individuals; entrepreneurs in states with lower numbers of SBIR/STTR awards; or entrepreneurs living in or whose business was located/operating in an Opportunity Zone. See competition details for more information on the guidelines, and the press release below for the list of winners.

Resources:

History

The Growth Accelerator Fund Competition (GAFC) was first launched by SBA in 2014 to stimulate innovation and entrepreneurship across the country. GAFC prize awards have funded a wide range of accelerators and incubators in an effort to provide increased support to entrepreneurs, particularly in the STEM/R&D innovation ecosystem. Each competition has varied in total prize dollars as well as targeted groups and/or geographies.

GAFC Map
Total prize awards since 2014-2021 387
Total prize funds since 2014-2021 $19,350,000
Number of competitions 2014-2021 6
Number of states/territories represented 52
Number of unique winners 284

Past GAFC Announcements

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