SBA Awards $9M in Grants to 49 Organizations Across America to Help Underserved Communities Access Development Funding and Innovative Research

Today, Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman, head of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and the voice in President Biden’s Cabinet for America’s more than 34 million small businesses, announced that the SBA has issued 49 grants up to $200,000 each to organizations supporting startups through specialized training, mentoring, and technical assistance under the Federal and State Technology (FAST) Partnership Program.

“FAST funding, which fuels innovation to keep America competitive globally, has doubled under the Biden-Harris Administration. At a time when we are seeing historic highs in our entrepreneurial activity with a small business boom, investing in America’s innovative startups is a top priority. America’s Seed Fund, powered by the SBA and fueled by 11 federal agencies’ SBIR and STTR programs, is the largest source of early-stage funding in the world.  With FAST, we have now expanded our entrepreneurial ecosystem to nearly every state so that entrepreneurs with great ideas can invent it, commercialize it, and build it with America’s Seed Fund in every corner of America,” said Administrator Guzman.

FAST’s objective is to improve outcomes for underserved communities by increasing participation from woman-owned, rural-based, or socially or economically disadvantaged small businesses through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs, which are known as America’s Seed Fund. 

This year, the FAST program increased the maximum funding available by 60% to expand the geographic footprint of FAST and increase engagement of underserved, geographic, and demographic innovators across the country. As a result, FAST awardee organizations will provide support across 48 states and Puerto Rico. FAST organizations work locally and provide person-to-person support and training that increases the probability of success for entrepreneurs and small businesses pursuing SBIR or STTR contracts and grants.

The FAST program provides awards for a base period of 12 months, plus four optional continuation periods of 12 months each.

The FAST grantees are as follows: