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.
1,147
open opportunities
252
close within 30 days
5,084
NSF awards tracked
$3.7B
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 | 131 | 940 | 252 | |
| AI infra and compute | 13 | 194 | 94 | |
| Data for AI | 10 | 147 | 92 | |
| Robotics and physical world | 6 | 244 | 224 | |
| Climate and energy | 21 | 142 | 130 | |
| Security and compliance | 27 | 40 | 98 | |
| Defense and space | 22 | 25 | 76 | |
| Developer tools | 2 | 103 | 182 |
The other direction - founders far ahead of federal money: Vertical AI agents, Agent infrastructure, Fintech, Other, B2B SaaS.
Closing soon, startup-relevant
Open opportunities a small company could realistically answer, by deadline.
U.S. Mission to Albania · Consumer · esports and gaming innovation
Small Business Administration · Security and compliance · Manufacturing cybersecurity resilience
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: 677 companies, 829 awards, $451M in the tracked window. 294 are phase II - teams that already delivered a phase I. These are competitor lists and acquisition targets, not just grants.
RECLAIM A Novel Telehealth Treatment for Acquired Brain Injury
SBIR phase II · Healthcare and bio · started 2026-08-15
Beat-to-Beat: AI-Powered, Locally Relevant Engagement to Promote Rural Cardiovascular Health
SBIR phase I · Healthcare and bio · started 2026-08-15
Development of cannabinoid receptor 2 agonists for opioid use disorder
SBIR phase I · Healthcare and bio · started 2026-08-15
Acute Decompensation Avoidance in Heart Failure Patients
SBIR phase I · Healthcare and bio · started 2026-08-15
Novel Balloon Angioplasty Inflation Device
SBIR phase I · Healthcare and bio · started 2026-08-15
A Point of Care Device for Patients with Oxalurias, the Oxalate Now
SBIR phase I · Healthcare and bio · started 2026-08-15
Immobilized Cofactor Regeneration Systems to Accelerate Enzymatic API Manufacturing
SBIR phase I · Healthcare and bio · started 2026-08-15
Personalized Diabetes Management through iPSC-Derived β-cells: A Tailored Approach for Improving Treatment Efficacy in Economically Vulnerable Populations
SBIR phase I · Healthcare and bio · started 2026-08-15
Continuous, Scalable, Safe Hydrogenation for Pharmaceutical Manufacturing
SBIR phase I · Healthcare and bio · started 2026-08-15
A Wearable Continuous Polydrug Monitor (CPM) for Personalized SUD Treatment
SBIR phase II · Healthcare and bio · started 2026-08-15
Percutaneous Stellate Ganglion Stimulation in Septic Shock to Improve Hemodynamics and Vasopressor Requirements During Transport
SBIR phase I · Healthcare and bio · started 2026-08-15
Development of the novel small-molecule anti-osteoclastic drug ELP-004 to alleviate the symptoms of osteogenesis imperfecta (OI)
SBIR phase I · Healthcare and bio · started 2026-08-15
INHERET: Commercialization and EHR Integration of an Innovative Personalized Medicine Tool to Advance Cancer Screening and Management
SBIR phase II · Healthcare and bio · started 2026-08-14
Novel Therapeutics to Treat HPV-Associated Cancers
SBIR phase II · Healthcare and bio · started 2026-08-14
Visual Play: An Interactive Play Idea and AAC Grid Generator to Assist in Behavioral Interventions for Minimally Verbal Autistic Children
SBIR phase I · Healthcare and bio · started 2026-08-14
Biggest recent awards
Where the largest cheques went in fields with commercial potential.
- 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
- PCL-Test Bed: PoLARIS: Polymer Laboratory for AI, Robotics, Informatics, and StandardsUniversity of Chicago · Data for AI$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
- 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
- NSF PCL-Test Bed: ATHENA: Advanced Testbed for High-throughput Experimentation in Nano- and Atomic ScienceUniversity of Tennessee Knoxville · AI infra and compute$20M
- NSF AI Institute in Dynamic SystemsUniversity of Washington · AI infra and compute$20M
- NSF PCL-Test Bed: AI-Driven, Rapid, Experimental Automation Machine (DREAM) Cloud Lab for Protein EngineeringNorthwestern University at Chicago · Healthcare and bio$20M
- AI Institute for Advances in OptimizationGeorgia Tech Research Corporation · 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: A Cloud Lab with AI-Integrated Remote Experimentation (CLAIRE)Trustees of Boston University · Vertical AI agents$20M
- PCL-Test Bed: Revolutionizing AI-Driven Autonomous Experimentation for Next-Generation Semiconductor Synthesis (READINESS)William Marsh Rice University · Robotics and physical world$20M
- NSF PCL-Test Bed: Building America’s AI Infrastructure for Self-Driving LaboratoriesStanford University · AI infra and compute$20M
- NSF PCL-Test Bed: Towards a General Platform for AI-Driven High-Throughput Reaction Discovery and AutomationThe Scripps Research Institute · Data for AI$20M
By agency
Who is publishing the money.
- National Science Foundation4255 awards
- National Institutes of Health393 open · 2 awards
- U.S. National Science Foundation161 open
- NIH / NIAID106 awards
- NIH / NCI102 awards
- Defense Health Agency Contracting Activity - DHACA94 open
- NIH / NIA84 awards
- NIH / NIGMS76 awards
- NIH / NHLBI67 awards
- NIH / NIDDK63 awards
- NIH / NINDS40 awards
- NIH / NEI32 awards
sources: grants.gov open opportunities · NSF award search · NIH RePORTER SBIR/STTR · synced daily · 6,119 items classified