Advanced Industries Early-Stage Capital and Retention Grant

To apply for the Advanced Industries Early-Stage Capital and Retention Grant, your business and project need to:

• develop an advanced technology and influence one or more of Colorado’s advanced industries (see below)
• be registered with the Colorado Secretary of State and in Good Standing
• have headquarters in Colorado or have at least 50% of your employees based in Colorado
• identify a funding ratio of 2-to-1 non-State funding to State funding (For example, if you request a grant of $250,000, you need to identify $500,000 in cash from other sources. Other sources may include any unspent portion of federal grant, venture capital funding, and angel investment)
• have received fewer than $20 million from grants and third-party investors since inception
• have annual revenues of fewer than $10 million
• show that the technology is viable through the proof of concept phase through proof of principle study; owning valid IP and trade secrets; and having a completed prototype, technical validation, and commercialization plan that includes a market assessment confirming market need/opportunity and initial start-up activities
• explain how the project can be created or manufactured in Colorado

Preferred qualifications

Global Business Development staff will prioritize projects and businesses that:

• have a significant influence on multiple advanced industries
• develop technology licensed from a research institution in Colorado
• have participated in an entrepreneurship program, or engaged with incubator/accelerator program, or were referred by a venture capital or angel investor group that decided the technology has commercial potential but is too early for the group’s investment criteria

 Applications will open on July 1, 2021. Please sign up for the advanced industries email updates to stay updated on when this application will open. 

Applications are open twice a year from January to March and July to September. The next application period will be July 1, 2021 to September 1, 2021. 

Your application needs to include a:

• detailed project description
• timeline for the project
• budget outlining all anticipated expenses
• strategy for raising matching funds or proof that you already have matching funds

Application materials

Milestone

To help us understand your plan, write milestones with goals. Use our Milestone Template (XLS) and upload with the application.

Budget 

Include a detailed budget outlining all expenses for the project. Use our Budget Template (XLS) and upload with the application.

When listing expected personnel and equipment expenses, be as detailed as possible. Category labels such as “manufacturing equipment” and “management personnel” are too generic. 

Do not include equipment or salaries of personnel that the project team needs for operations outside of this project.

Matching funds

Your grant request needs to have a funding ratio of 2-to-1 non-State funding to State funding. For example, if you request a grant of $250,000, you need to find $500,000 in cash from other sources. 

Tell us in detail how you will get the matching funds. You do not need to have the matching funds in hand when you apply for the grant or when we approve your project for funding. However, you have six months from the date of your application approval to raise the funds.