BU Ignition Awards
The Ignition Award program awards funds to researchers to advance an idea with clear commercial potential to a valuable inflection point milestone. Designed for researchers who are committed to bringing an idea to market, Ignition Awards funds are often used to achieve milestones such as generate compelling data, show proof-of concept, create a prototype, etc. Letters of intent are due on November 1 of each year.
Learn MoreExternal Funding Opportunities
| AUDIENCE | DESCRIPTION | FUNDING | |
| Abbvie Global Grant | Educators, medical professionals, and occasionally researchers | Seeking self-proposed grants that focus on education and therapeutics in immunology, oncology, virology, neurology, women’s health. | Proposed by applicant |
| Alexandria Seed Capital Platform | Early stage life science companies | An innovative funding model that brings together leaders from the life science community to catalyze early-stage investment in cutting-edge companies. Interests include drug discovery, diagnostics that are highly differentiated. | N/A |
| Amgen Ventures | Seed-stage R&D in therapeutics and digital health | Seeking R&D with a focus on oncology, immunology, cardiology, nephrology, neurology, and metabolic disorders. | ~$5M-$15M |
| Boston-based VC | See link | Full list of VCs in link. | N/A |
| Bristol Myer Squibb Independent Research | Any individual or team of researchers | Focus areas of hematology, immunology, and oncology are more likely to be funded. Competitive research grants are also offered but none available as of 1/15/21. | N/A |
| BusinessUSA | Small businesses not qualified for SBIR/STTR seeking local – federal funding | Government loan programs that will offer financial support for a new or expanding business. | Varies based on funding program. |
| Hello Tomorrow Global Challenge | Startups in “deep tech” (AI, medical and industrial biotech, drug development, environment, energy, aeronautics) | A competition for startups at least a year old that have raised less than $250K and are seeking equity-free funding. | ~$120K for first prize, $10K for winner in each industry track |
| Johnson & Johnson Innovation (JJDC) | Seed-level R&D companies | Focus on early-state, pre-POC innovation in medical devices, infectious disease, immunology, neurology, and oncology. | N/A |
| Khosla Ventures Seed Fund | Early stage tech startups (biotech, pharmacy, consumer tech, industrial tech, full list on link) | Seeking a team of skilled individuals and unique and/or original ideas over refinement of existing experiments and products. | N/A |
| M2D2 $200K Challenge | Any company (existing legal entity) centered in MA with demonstrable technology | International competition for early-state medical device and biotech technologies. | Up to $200K split between up to 20 finalists |
| Massachusetts Life Science Center Seed Fund | Pre-seed and early stage life science companies | Targets life sciences companies broadly, which includes therapeutics, medical devices, diagnostics, and bioinformatics/digital health technologies with at least one full-time Massachusetts employee. | $250K in convertible note and up to $1m in capital investment available |
| Merck Compound Challenge | Individual or teams of scientists from around the world (not open to healthcare professionals) | Competition identifying the best submitted synthetic route for a given small molecule as determined by number of synthesis steps, obtained yield, achieved purity, and feasibility of subsequent steps not performed. | $12K |
| Merck Machine Learning Challenge | Anyone, individual or teams | Create a software tool to predict future citation counts of peer-reviewed scientific publications (Only the first 50 submissions are judged). | $12K |
| Merck Research Grants | Scientists affiliated with research-based institutions, universities or companies | A series of research grants focusing on drug discovery, machine learning, AI, and novel infectious diseases (you may apply for more than one focus topic). | $122K – $608K per year for up to three years |
| NSF’s America Seed Fund | Transformative, high-risk, scalable small research-based businesses | Seeking companies with <500 employees operating in the US that are looking for equity-free funding under SBIR. | Up to $256K for Phase I funding |
| Pfizer Ventures | Early stage companies with focus on transformative therapeutics | Funding opportunity with emphasis on inflammation, immunology, rare diseases, oncology, neurology, and internal medicine. Pfizer may receive board seats, collaborate with other Pfizer groups, Pfizer may guide/advise research focus, product rights negotiable. | Up to $10m in first investment |
| SBIR/STTR Seed Fund | Sole proprietors and small businesses (defined by SBA regulations) | Seeking small businesses looking to collaborate with the government agencies listed in the link. Can apply prior to establishing business fully. | Varies based on department of interest, average $50-$250K |
| Y Combinator | Startup owners looking to participate in a biannual incubator-style program (Demo Day) | Provides seed funding for about 140 tech startups (including life sciences) per biannual batch, with 7% equity in return for investment. | ~$125K ($100K for non-profits) |
Lab Space, Incubators & Accelerators
| NAME | AUDIENCE | DESCRIPTION | LOCATION | |
| Lab Space | Agility Labs | Emerging life science and medical device companies, product development | Full wet lab with maintenance, conference rooms, office space, machine shop + 3D printer | Boston, MA |
| Lab Space | Alexandria LaunchLabs | Seed to early stage life science companies | Shared wet lab space, operational support, connections to other Alexandria companies; Fees vary, starting at $2K | Cambridge, MA |
| Lab Space | Cambridge Scientific Arsenal Lab Space | Any science start-up | Wet lab (PCR, microscopy, HPLC, LCMS lab) | Watertown, MA |
| Lab Space | LabCentral | Bioresearch startups and individuals | Large shared wet lab space, office, meeting rooms; $3610-$4340 monthly for an individual lab bench | Cambridge, MA |
| Lab Space | LabShares | Life science and biotech startups | Wet lab (tissue culture, lentiviral work, rDNA, bacterial research), shared office space | Newton, MA |
| Lab Space | Nest.Bio Labs | Life science and biotech startups | 24/7 wet lab, bio focused | Cambridge, MA |
| Lab Space | SmartLabs | Scientific discovery and therapeutics, teams of any sizes | Extensive wet and dry labs (focus towards biotech and pharmacology) and private office space with fees varying by team size | Boston, MA Cambridge, MA |
| Lab Space | Tufts LaunchPad Biolabs | Biotech and life science startups | Fully equipped wet lab (linked), seminars, connections, MassBio membership; $3600/month per bench, $400/month per person, $600/month per workstation | Boston, MA Cambridge, MA |
| Accelerator | MassChallenge | Ocean, enterprise, and security tech. Partnered with US Air Force for aeronautics | Zero-equity model, global network, mentorship, potential scholarships | Boston, MA |
| Accelerator | Techstars | Any sort of startup, take co-ownership status of company (seems less focused on research) | 3 month program with a $20k+ stipend, mentorship, office space, Demo Day event for investors – Must work at techstar faciliity, techstar takes co-ownership of your startup | Boston, MA |
| Incubator | Cambridge Innovation Center | Most tech startups, some life sciences | Shared workspace with office resources; $1400 per person per month (negotiable) | Cambridge, MA |
| Incubator | Cogo Labs | Mainly tech start-ups (web and consumer tech) | Contact for further details | Cambridge, MA |
| Incubator | Qubic Labs | Financial , government, and civic tech early stage businesses | Office space, global network fo capital providers connections, mentorship | Quincy, MA |
| Hybrid (Incubator/Accelerator + Lab Space) | UMASS Boston Venture Development Center | Seed stage life science/innovative tech company | Extensive wet and dry labs, private offices, work spaces, mentorship, interns, connections; 13% acceptance rate, pay monthly fee ($750-$10k) to use spaces and services | Boston, MA |
| Hybrid (Incubator/Accelerator + Lab Space) | MedChem Partners | Early to mid stage drug discovery and chem companies | Chemistry lab w 24/7 access, start-up support and management, program initiation and due diligence assistance; Comfortable with high risk projects and moving targets | Lexington, MA |
| Hybrid (Incubator/Accelerator + Lab Space) | Greentown Labs | Climate and clean tech startups | Wet lab, prototyping space, electronics lab, machine shop, desk space | Somerville, MA |
| Hybrid (Incubator/Accelerator + Lab Space) | Creagen C2I Life Science Accelerator | Must be in life sciences | Shared/private lab and office space, tissue culture labs, chem labs, conference rooms, mentorship, network access, business dev workshops | Woburn, MA |
Additional Search Terms & Listings
No list will be comprehensive of every funding source, which is why it’s also essential to know how to research opportunities via web search when you’re on the hunt. Below is a list of search terms and listings that may be helpful if you’re just getting started.
Insert industry, application, company, or subject of interest, then add any of the following keywords:
- Research grants
- Public grants
- Research funds
- Incubator/accelerator
- Venture capital
- Seed fund
- Competition
- Startup competition Massachusetts
- Startup competition New England
- Lab space startup Boston