What the state is funding
Open federal grant opportunities - what the US government is asking someone to build, with a deadline - and NSF awards, which show where research money actually lands. Both are classified into the same taxonomy as the companies, so public priorities and startup supply can be read against each other.
1,298
open opportunities
268
close within 30 days
5,747
NSF awards tracked
$4.7B
awarded in those grants
Where public and private attention diverge
Share of startup-relevant federal items in each cluster against the share of recent (2024+) accelerator companies. A long bar with few companies is a field the state is pushing and founders are not.
| Cluster | Federal attention | Opportunities | Awards | Startups |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Healthcare and bio | 141 | 1186 | 489 | |
| AI infra and compute | 15 | 222 | 174 | |
| Data for AI | 10 | 171 | 169 | |
| Robotics and physical world | 7 | 298 | 461 | |
| Climate and energy | 25 | 168 | 324 | |
| Defense and space | 24 | 42 | 118 | |
| Developer tools | 3 | 116 | 255 | |
| Security and compliance | 29 | 50 | 190 |
The other direction - founders far ahead of federal money: Vertical AI agents, Fintech, B2B SaaS, Consumer, Agent infrastructure.
Closing soon, startup-relevant
Open opportunities a small company could realistically answer, by deadline.
National Institutes of Health · Healthcare and bio · SBIR/STTR for clinical research
National Institutes of Health · Healthcare and bio · Small business clinical innovation
National Institutes of Health · Healthcare and bio · Medical device prototyping
National Institutes of Health · Healthcare and bio · SBIR commercialization for clinical trials
National Institutes of Health · Healthcare and bio · SBIR clinical development and trials
Advanced Research Projects Agency Energy · Climate and energy · Early-stage energy technology development
SBIR & STTR: state-funded startups
NIH pays small companies to build products through SBIR/STTR: 834 companies, 1031 awards, $558M in the tracked window. 365 are phase II - teams that already delivered a phase I. These are competitor lists and acquisition targets, not just grants.
A Dual Nitric Oxide Donor for Sickle Cell Disease Associated Acute Chest Syndrome
SBIR phase II · Healthcare and bio · started 2026-09-05
A novel bioactive bone graft to promote accelerated bone regeneration
SBIR phase II · Healthcare and bio · started 2026-09-05
Lactate Measurement Using a Novel Non-invasive Device
SBIR phase II · Healthcare and bio · started 2026-09-05
A Novel Water-Soluble, Orally-Active Peptide Therapeutic for Interstitial Lung Disease Derived from the Caveolin-1 Scaffolding Domain
SBIR phase II · Healthcare and bio · started 2026-09-05
Development of a Novel Integrin Antagonist for the Treatment of Pulmonary Hypertension
SBIR phase II · Healthcare and bio · started 2026-09-05
FertiliChip: An Innovative Fallopian Tube-on-Chip Model for Women's Reproductive Health Research
SBIR phase I · Healthcare and bio · started 2026-09-05
Development of a blood-based diagnostic test for ATTR amyloidosis
SBIR phase I · Healthcare and bio · started 2026-09-05
REST- Respiratory Ear System for CPAP Therapy adherence
SBIR phase II · Healthcare and bio · started 2026-09-05
Optimizing ModiFlow Geometry for Enhanced Efficiency of Aerosol Drug Delivery
SBIR phase I · Healthcare and bio · started 2026-09-05
Development of a nebulized peptide biologic to combat severe neutrophilic asthma
STTR phase I · Healthcare and bio · started 2026-09-05
Developing a broadly applicable targeted peptide-drug conjugate for the treatment of solid tumors
SBIR phase II · Healthcare and bio · started 2026-09-04
Development of a new combination therapy for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma treatment
SBIR phase II · Healthcare and bio · started 2026-09-04
Development of a novel biocompatible polymer coating for aneurysm treatment devices
STTR phase I · Healthcare and bio · started 2026-09-04
Developing a DACH1 specific detection assay that predicts therapy response in advanced prostate cancer.
SBIR phase I · Healthcare and bio · started 2026-09-04
A Comprehensive Computation Platform for Single Molecule Localization Microscopy: From Molecular Localization, Visualization to Quantitative Data Analysis
SBIR phase I · Healthcare and bio · started 2026-09-04
Biggest recent awards
Where the largest cheques went in fields with commercial potential.
- QLCI: Quantum Sensing for Biophysics and Bioengineering (QUBBE)University of Chicago · Healthcare and bio$38M
- NAIRR-OC: Advancing AI Discovery and Innovation for the NationUniversity of California-San Diego · AI infra and compute$35M
- STC: Center for Human and Robot Co-AdaptationUniversity of Texas at Austin · Robotics and physical world$30M
- QLCI: Manufacturable and Resilient Superconducting Quantum Information Systems (MARQUIS)Princeton University · AI infra and compute$28M
- Research Infrastructure: MIP: Autonomous Robotic Metallurgist: An NSF Materials Innovation Platform (ARM-MIP)Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station · Robotics and physical world$25M
- NSF AI Institute for Human-AI CooperationUniversity of Delaware · Horizontal AI assistants$22M
- AI Institute for Advances in OptimizationGeorgia Tech Research Corporation · AI infra and compute$20M
- PCL-Test Bed: Computation-Optimized Automated Soft materials Technology Programmable Cloud Laboratory Node (COAST PCL Node)University of California-Santa Barbara · Robotics and physical world$20M
- AI Institute for Engaged LearningNorth Carolina State University · Horizontal AI assistants$20M
- NSF PCL-Test Bed: AI-Driven, Rapid, Experimental Automation Machine (DREAM) Cloud Lab for Protein EngineeringNorthwestern University at Chicago · Healthcare and bio$20M
- PCL-Test Bed: PoLARIS: Polymer Laboratory for AI, Robotics, Informatics, and StandardsUniversity of Chicago · Data for AI$20M
- NSF AI Institute in Dynamic SystemsUniversity of Washington · AI infra and compute$20M
- NSF PCL-Test Bed: AI-enabled, Cloud-based Self-Driving Nanofabrication Node for Accelerating Semiconductor Research and EducationVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State University · Vertical AI agents$20M
- NSF PCL-Test Bed: AI Science Foundry: A PCL Testbed Node to Accelerate Breakthroughs in Biology, Chemistry, and MaterialsCarnegie Mellon University · Vertical AI agents$20M
- NSF PCL-Test Bed: SPEED: Programmable Cloud Laboratories for Autonomous Chemistry and Materials DiscoveryNorth Carolina State University · Vertical AI agents$20M
By agency
Who is publishing the money.
- National Science Foundation4716 awards
- National Institutes of Health414 open · 2 awards
- U.S. National Science Foundation169 open
- NIH / NCI134 awards
- NIH / NIAID127 awards
- NIH / NHLBI105 awards
- Defense Health Agency Contracting Activity - DHACA97 open
- NIH / NIGMS93 awards
- NIH / NIDDK86 awards
- NIH / NIA84 awards
- NIH / NINDS46 awards
- NIH / NCATS38 awards
sources: grants.gov open opportunities · NSF award search · NIH RePORTER SBIR/STTR · synced daily · 7,042 items classified