Growth Accelerator Fund Competition: Find Startup Support

The Growth Accelerator Fund Competition (GAFC) funded entrepreneurial support projects during 2014–2025. Its awardee lists can help you find an accelerator or other organization that works with technology startups. A past GAFC prize is not a current cash grant for your startup, and a 2025 award announcement is not a 2026 application window.

For a startup: look for services you can use

The 2025 competition awarded $75,000 prizes to entrepreneur support organizations under Lab-to-Market and Capital Formation themes. Those organizations can be a starting point for help with research commercialization, mentorship, or access to investors. Their prize amount does not become an amount that every business using their services can claim.

1. Find a relevant organization. Browse the state and organization names in the 2025 GAFC awardee directory. Match the organization to your industry, location, and stage; awardee status by itself does not mean it serves all businesses nationally.
2. Ask about a current service. Contact the organization about the specific help you need, such as testing a commercialization plan, preparing for investors, or moving a technology toward a market. Confirm that it is currently accepting firms and what eligibility, timing, application, or selection process applies.
3. Check the participation terms. Ask about fees, any equity or intellectual-property terms, required time commitment, and what the organization will actually provide. A federal prize to an accelerator does not automatically make every service free or guarantee investment in your company.

If the organization has no suitable opening, use the Lab to Market resource finder to select your need, industry, business type, and location. For research project funding rather than accelerator services, compare the SBIR and STTR routes against an actual agency solicitation.

For a support organization: identify an open competition first

An accelerator, incubator, university program, or other support provider should begin with the specific dated competition, its eligible applicant types, and its service-delivery purpose. Do not reuse an old GAFC form or assume that the program opens annually with the same themes and award amounts.

A small business applying to run an entrepreneurial support project has a different role from a startup seeking money to develop its own product. Eligibility as a particular legal entity does not remove the competition's requirement to deliver the proposed support services.

A separate 2026 Supply Chain Acceleration and Logistics Enablement (SCALE) opportunity supported organizations helping small businesses overcome supplier-readiness and production barriers. Its opportunity record is archived as of September 12, 2026. It is not an open application or the old GAFC prize form.

For a new opportunity, confirm the deadline and submission method before investing in a proposal. Build the proposal around the businesses you will serve, the gap to address, specific services, staff and partner capacity, an itemized budget, and measurable outcomes required by that notice. Use its actual registration and document requirements rather than a general grant checklist.

After a submission or service application

Save the submission receipt and monitor the named portal or contact channel for requests. A receipt shows the application was submitted; it does not establish selection. If selected, review the written award or participation terms before committing funds or promising services. If not selected, use any feedback or review process the particular competition allows; do not assume every prize or service application has an appeal right.

For a business seeking assistance, ask a provider that turns you down whether the issue is location, industry, stage, capacity, or timing, and whether it can refer you elsewhere. Bring a concise description of your technology and the immediate problem you need to solve so the next contact can assess fit.