The Small Business Development Center at UC Davis Venture Catalyst is hosting a virtual seminar for seed-stage science companies to get federal grant money to launch or validate business ideas.
Phase 1 grants can be up to $250,000 and phase 2 grants can be up to $1.5 million from the National Science Foundation.
“This is great for startups. It is grant money. It is non-dilutive funding, and for startups it means that even if the company fails, you don’t have to pay the money back,” Charles Eason, an adviser with the SBDCtech @ UC Davis Venture Catalyst, told the Business Journal.
The money comes from grants from the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs, which have $3 billion available annually. The virtual workshop will provide an overview of SBIR/STTR funding with a focus on strategies specific to securing it.
The virtual program starts at 1 p.m. on Feb. 3. The seminar is free, but registration is required.
The SBDCtech @ UC Davis Venture Catalyst launched last year. It's a collaboration between UC Davis’ Venture Catalyst program and the Northern California Small Business Development Center Network run out of Humboldt State University in Arcata.
The center at the University of California Davis is specifically oriented to support entrepreneurs working to build companies based on research or ideas in ag-tech or biotech, and especially from research at UC Davis, consistently one of the highest-rated agricultural research institutions in the world.
The new Davis center offers one-on-one business consulting, training workshops and other innovation programs and events, though for the time being, all services will be delivered remotely in a virtual format.
The center supports startups with business planning, investment funding, intellectual property consulting and regulatory compliance.
Candidate companies need to be attempting to commercialize technology that is beyond the conceptual stage and which can show potential market viability.
Last January, the Northern California SBDC Network lead center at Humboldt State asked for requests to host local SBDC operations, and UC Davis sought a center to support the region’s ag-tech and biotech industries. The Sacramento region is an international hub of ag-tech, biological controls and other biotechnology companies.
