Grant and Funding Intelligence
Non-dilutive funding is one of the most underutilized resources in early-stage biotech. SBIR/STTR awards alone represent billions of dollars in annual funding accessible to small companies with qualified research programs. Foundation grants, NIH program announcements, and state economic development grants add to the opportunity set. Most early-stage biotechs capture a small fraction of what's available to them.
The reason is not lack of eligibility. It's lack of systematic search. Grant identification and application development are high-effort, and without a systematic process, companies default to the opportunities that happen to surface through personal networks.
What AI brings to grant development
Systematic opportunity identification. AI can continuously monitor grant databases, NIH program announcements, and foundation RFPs for opportunities that match your therapeutic area, technology platform, and company stage. Opportunities that would be missed by manual tracking get surfaced in real time.
Fit scoring and prioritization. Not all grant opportunities are worth pursuing. A program with a 200-hour application investment and a 5% fit score is not a good use of time. AI can score opportunities on fit, award size, deadline, eligibility, and estimated effort required, enabling teams to prioritize the highest-value opportunities.
Past winner analysis. For NIH SBIR/STTR programs, the past award data is publicly available. AI analysis of past winners in your therapeutic area reveals what winning applications emphasize, what technical approaches have been funded, and which program officers have funded similar work. This intelligence dramatically improves application quality.
First-draft application generation. Grant applications have standard sections — technical narrative, specific aims, significance, innovation. AI can generate first drafts of these sections from a structured company and program description, which scientific staff then review and refine rather than writing from scratch.
The SBIR/STTR strategy
Phase 1 SBIR/STTR awards (<$300K, 6-month feasibility) are available to any small company with qualified research and an appropriate principal investigator. They require no dilution and provide data that supports Phase 2 applications (<$2M, 2-year development).
A systematic SBIR strategy — filing 3-5 Phase 1 applications per year across relevant NIH institutes — can generate $1-2M in non-dilutive funding annually at most development-stage biotechs. At a $150K monthly burn, that's 7-14 months of runway that doesn't require a priced equity round.