Traction Report NO.5 - SBA Accelerator Grant

SBA Accelerator Fund Competition Grant for CTN

CTN applied for the SBA's Growth Accelerator Fund Competition’s Stage One Grant. The result will be announced in April, 2025!

The SBA's Growth Accelerator Fund Competition (GAFC) empowers entrepreneurial support organizations (ESOs) like CTN nationwide by providing funding to strengthen innovation ecosystems. Through a two-stage process, the GAFC awards grants to ESOs that identify and address critical entrepreneurial challenges, particularly in undercapitalized regions, with a focus on themes like "Lab-to-Market" and "Capital Formation (this is what CTN applied for)." The competition aims to foster collaboration, expand access to resources, and ultimately catalyze connectivity and capacity within the American entrepreneurial landscape, promoting national innovation and economic growth.

The SBA's Growth Accelerator Fund Competition (GAFC) employs a two-phase funding structure: Stage One grants $75,000 to Entrepreneurial Support Organizations (ESOs) for ecosystem analysis and solution development, while Stage Two provides an additional $150,000 to successful Stage One participants for scaling and implementing their proposed solutions. This phased approach ensures that initial funding is used for strategic planning and partnership building, with subsequent funding dedicated to impactful execution and measurable results within the targeted innovation ecosystems, ultimately fostering national entrepreneurial growth.