United States / Funding / By state / Illinois
Funding for startups in Illinois
Illinois runs 6 programmes of its own, and 6 of them take applications right now. The 63 federal programmes further down are open to Illinois companies too. We read each one on its official site and note the date we checked.
Run by Illinois and local bodies
Advantage Illinois
Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) · Illinois
State-backed credit support of $10,000 to $2 million, arranged through an enrolled lender, for Illinois businesses that can't get financing otherwise.
EDGE for Startups
Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) · Illinois
Withholding-tax credits for Illinois startups under 10 years old that hire employees, with no minimum investment required for smaller companies.
Illinois Angel Investment Credit Program (Qualified New Business Venture)
Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) · Illinois
Gets angel investors a 25-35% state tax credit on money they put into a certified early-stage Illinois company, helping it raise capital.
Illinois EDGE Tax Credit (Economic Development for a Growing Economy)
Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) · Illinois
Illinois's primary job-creation tax credit, reinstated and revised by the legislature, scaling reward against new hires, retained jobs, and training spend for up to 10-15 years.
Illinois Enterprise Zone Program
Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO), locally administered · Illinois
Sales, utility, and construction tax exemptions for businesses investing in one of Illinois's certified economically-distressed enterprise zones.
iVenture Accelerator
Gies College of Business, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign · Illinois
Non-dilutive funding up to $20,000 for University of Illinois student startups, with no equity taken.
Want to filter these by amount or stage? Open them in the full directory.
Federal programmes open to Illinois 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 Illinois deadline funders will ask about
Most programmes above ask for financials and a company in good standing. In Illinois that means the Annual Report — Not confirmed. No official Illinois source could be reached to verify the filing deadline.
This page exists because Illinois has at least 2 verified programmes of its own. See every state, or tell us about a Illinois 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 Illinois books in that shape year-round, so applying is an export rather than a rebuild.