United States / Funding / By state / Tennessee
Funding for startups in Tennessee
Tennessee runs 8 programmes of its own, and 8 of them take applications right now. The 63 federal programmes further down are open to Tennessee companies too. We read each one on its official site and note the date we checked.
Run by Tennessee and local bodies
100Knoxville
Knoxville Entrepreneur Center · Tennessee
Five Black founders in Knoxville each get $10,000, five mentors and a five-week programme per cohort.
AssistTN
Fund Tennessee (Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development) · Tennessee
Free legal, accounting and financial advisory help, plus an angel-investor training track, for Tennessee founders seeking capital.
CO.LAB Accelerator
The Company Lab (CO.LAB) · Tennessee
A six-week Chattanooga startup accelerator matching early-stage tech founders with industry partners for real pilots.
InFlight
Nashville Entrepreneur Center (EC) · Tennessee
A 12-week Nashville accelerator for founders past $100,000 in revenue, costing $1,000 with no equity taken.
InvestTN Regional Seed Fund
Launch Tennessee (LaunchTN) · Tennessee
Equity investments of $25,000 to $250,000 in early-stage Tennessee startups, funded through the federal SSBCI program.
LendTN
Fund Tennessee (Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development), via CDFI Participant Lenders · Tennessee
Connects Tennessee small businesses to CDFI lenders offering loans from $1,000 to $5 million from a $47 million pool.
Pathway Lending Small Business Lending
Pathway Lending · Tennessee
A CDFI lending $10,000 to $5 million to established Tennessee small businesses, with a focus on underserved borrowers.
TakeOff
Nashville Entrepreneur Center (EC) · Tennessee
A 12-week Nashville accelerator for founders from MVP to $100,000 in revenue, costing $500 with no equity taken.
Want to filter these by amount or stage? Open them in the full directory.
Federal programmes open to Tennessee 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 Tennessee deadline funders will ask about
Most programmes above ask for financials and a company in good standing. In Tennessee that means the Annual Report — Due the 1st day of the 4th month after the LLC's fiscal year closes (April 1 for calendar-year filers), per Tenn. Code Ann. 48-249-1007.
This page exists because Tennessee has at least 2 verified programmes of its own. See every state, or tell us about a Tennessee 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 Tennessee books in that shape year-round, so applying is an export rather than a rebuild.