United States / Funding / By state / California
Funding for startups in California
California runs 14 programmes of its own, and 10 of them take applications right now. The 63 federal programmes further down are open to California companies too. We read each one on its official site and note the date we checked.
Run by California and local bodies
Access Plus Capital Small Business Loans
Access Plus Capital · California
Central Valley CDFI lending to underserved California entrepreneurs, part of over $70 million funded since 2008.
Alchemist Accelerator (Flagship Program)
Alchemist Accelerator · California
SF Bay Area accelerator investing about $30,000 for roughly 5% equity in enterprise and deep-tech B2B startups.
California Research Credit (Form 3523)
California Franchise Tax Board · California
California’s state-level companion to the federal R&D credit: 15% of qualified research expenses over a base-period amount for most entities, plus a separate 24% rate for corporate basic research payments, claimed on Form FTB 3523.
CDC Small Business Finance Loans
CDC Small Business Finance (Momentus Capital) · California
San Diego nonprofit SBA lender offering $30,000 to $350,000 small business loans and larger SBA 504 real estate loans.
Disaster Relief Loan Guarantee Program
California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank (IBank) · California
State-backed loan guarantees up to $1 million for California small businesses recovering from a declared disaster.
Expanding Venture Capital Access Program
California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank (IBank) · California
State co-investment alongside a lead VC investor for California startups, aimed at underrepresented fund managers and founders.
Founders First Capital Partners Financing
Founders First Capital Partners · California
San Diego non-dilutive lender offering revenue-based and term loans up to $2 million to growth-stage service and B2B companies.
IBank Small Business Finance Center Loan Guarantee Program
California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank (IBank) · California
California's state loan-guarantee program backs bank loans to small businesses through regional FDC partners, guaranteeing roughly $522 million in loans in FY2024-25.
SSBCI — California (CalCAP Collateral Support & Loan Guarantee)
California State Treasurer's Office (CPCFA / IBank), funded by the U.S. Treasury State Small Business Credit Initiative · California
California's SSBCI-funded credit-enhancement suite backstops small-business loans issued by enrolled private lenders, including a Collateral Support cash pledge of up to $10 million against a loan's collateral shortfall.
TMC Financing SBA 504 Loans
TMC Financing · California
Oakland-based SBA 504 lender financing 90% of owner-occupied commercial real estate for small businesses.
Berkeley SkyDeck Fund
UC Berkeley SkyDeck · California
UC Berkeley's accelerator invests $200,000 in each of about 20 startups it admits per six-month batch.
California Competes Tax Credit
Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz), State of California · California
Competitive California income-tax credit for businesses that create or retain jobs and invest in the state, awarded across three application windows per fiscal year (July 20–Aug 10, Jan 4–25, Mar 1–15 for FY26-27).
CalSEED (California Sustainable Energy Entrepreneur Development)
New Energy Nexus, on behalf of the California Energy Commission · California
Grants up to $700,000 for early-stage California clean energy startups building hardware, software, or combined technology.
Sales and Use Tax Exclusion (STE) Program
California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority (CAEATFA), State Treasurer's Office · California
Excludes qualifying equipment purchases from California sales and use tax for advanced-manufacturing, clean-energy, and advanced-transportation projects, authorized through January 1, 2028.
Want to filter these by amount or stage? Open them in the full directory.
Federal programmes open to California businesses
Grants 23
- AFWERX SBIR/STTR & Army xTechup to $15M
- Amber Grant for Womenup to $50k
- ARPA-E
- ARPA-H
- Comcast RISEup to $5k
- DHS SBIRup to $1M
- DoD SBIR/STTRup to $2.15M
- DOE SBIR/STTRup to $2.15M
- ED/IES SBIRup to $1M
- EDA Build to Scale (B2S)up to $5M
- EPA SBIRup to $400k
- Federal and State Technology (FAST) Partnership Program
- FedEx Small Business Grant Contestup to $50k
- NASA SBIR/STTRup to $1.27M
- NIH SBIR/STTRup to $4.19M
- NOAA SBIRup to $690k
- NSF SBIR/STTR — America's Seed Fund powered by NSFup to $1.25M
- Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) — Renewable Energy Systems & Energy Efficiencyup to $25M
- SBA Growth Accelerator Fund Competition (GAFC)up to $200k
- SBIR/STTR (America's Seed Fund)up to $2.15M
- US DOT SBIRup to $200k
- USDA NIFA SBIR
- Value-Added Producer Grant (VAPG)up to $200k
Loans & guarantees 15
- CAPLines (SBA 7(a) Lines of Credit)up to $5M
- CDFI Fund — Certified Community Development Financial Institution Network
- DOE Loan Programs Office (Office of Energy Dominance Financing)
- Export Working Capital Program (EWCP)up to $5M
- International Trade Loan Program (ITL)up to $5M
- Military Reservist Economic Injury Disaster Loan (MREIDL)up to $2M
- SBA 504 Loan Program (CDC/504)up to $5.5M
- SBA 7(a) Loan Programup to $5M
- SBA Community Advantage Loansup to $1M
- SBA Disaster Loans (Physical Damage & Economic Injury)up to $2M
- SBA Microloan Programup to $50k
- SBA-504 and 7(a) Combined Loan Cap ($10M)up to $10M
- EXIM Working Capital Guarantee Programup to $10M
- SBA Surety Bond Guarantee Programup to $14M
- State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI)
Tax benefits 8
- Federal R&D Tax Credit (Section 41)
- New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC)
- QSBS Section 1202 Exclusionup to $15M
- Qualified Opportunity Zones (QOZ)
- R&D Payroll Tax Offset (Qualified Small Business Payroll Tax Credit)up to $500k
- Section 174A Domestic R&D Expensing Restoration
- State R&D Tax Credits (multi-state landscape)
- Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC)up to $2.4k
Equity 7
- 500 Global Flagship Acceleratorup to $150k
- Antler US Residency
- gener8tor Investment Acceleratorup to $100k
- HAXup to $250k
- Neo Accelerator
- Techstars Standard Investment Termsup to $220k
- Y Combinator Standard Dealup to $500k
Support & credits 10
- AWS Activateup to $200k
- Google for Startups Cloud Programup to $350k
- Microsoft for Startupsup to $150k
- MassChallenge Accelerator Programs (Traction & Challenge)
- MBDA Business Center Network
- NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP)
- NVIDIA Inception
- Plug and Play Accelerator Programs
- SBA 8(a) Business Development Program
- Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) Federal Contract Program
The other California deadline funders will ask about
Most programmes above ask for financials and a company in good standing. In California that means the Statement of Information (Form LLC-12) — Due within 90 days of formation, then every 2 years during the calendar month the LLC was originally formed. There's a 6-month filing window around that anniversary.
This page exists because California has at least 2 verified programmes of its own. See every state, or tell us about a California programme we are missing via the contact page.
Funders read the books before the pitch
Every programme on this page asks for financials in a particular shape. We keep California books in that shape year-round, so applying is an export rather than a rebuild.