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By Nalin Vahil | Last updated: July 6, 2026 | Cada Grant Strategy
If you've won a federal SBIR or STTR award, you're probably not thinking about state government money. You should be. As of July 2026, 34 states run a matching grant program that pays you cash -- often $25,000 to $500,000 -- for the sole reason that you already won a federal SBIR or STTR award. Most require almost no new proposal work beyond what you already wrote for the federal agency. This is the state-by-state map, including the seven programs that don't show up in the usual roundups and the two "programs" that other sites will tell you exist but that were never actually signed into law.
What Is a State SBIR Matching Grant?
A state SBIR matching grant is cash a state government pays a small business because it already won a federal SBIR or STTR award. Amounts typically run $15,000 to $500,000, layered on top of the federal money. Most programs require in-state headquarters and a fixed application window after the federal award.
Some programs go further: a small number specify who can serve as principal investigator, whether the money arrives upfront or as reimbursement, and whether it's a grant or a loan. The state-by-state table below covers all of it, and the section after that covers the gotchas most roundups miss.
Why This Is Worth Your Time
A federal SBIR Phase I award is commonly $275,000 (NIH's standard cap) to $2 million or more for some Department of Defense components. State matches add another $15,000 to $500,000 on top of that, and here's the part that matters for a founder with limited hours: state match applications are almost always shorter and less competitive than the federal application that unlocked them.
Nebraska's program pays up to $150,000 (65% match) on Phase I and $300,000 (65% match) on Phase II. Hawaii pays up to $500,000 on Phase II. Massachusetts pays up to $500,000 on Phase II through MassVentures. None of these programs ask you to re-pitch your science to a study section. They ask you to prove you already won the federal award and meet a handful of state-residency requirements.
This is why Cada treats state SBIR matching as its own category in a company's funding roadmap, sequenced alongside federal awards and foundation grants rather than chased as an afterthought. If you've already done the hard part (winning the federal award), the state match is close to the easiest money in the entire portfolio.
The State-by-State Database (34 States With Real Programs, Plus Virginia's Non-Match Entry)
This table covers every state we could verify has an active state SBIR/STTR matching program as of July 2026, plus one flagged exception. Seven of the 34 real programs (Arkansas, Delaware, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, South Dakota, Utah, marked with *) don't appear in most existing roundups -- we found them through direct verification of state agency and legislative sources, not by copying an aggregator list. Virginia's row is included for completeness but is not one of the 34 -- see its "Not for SBIR match" entries below.
| State | Program | Administering Agency | Phase I Max | Phase II Max | State Nexus | Apply By |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AK | Alaska SBIR Matching Grant Program | Alaska DCCED | $25,000 | $100,000 | Required | Within 12 months of federal award |
| AL | Innovate Alabama SBIR/STTR Matching Grant | Innovate Alabama | $100,000 (50%) | $250,000 (50%) | Required | Within 6 months of award notification |
| AR* | Arkansas SBIR Matching Grant Program (ArSBIRMGP) | AEDC Division of Science and Technology | $50,000 (50%) | $100,000 (50%) | Required | Phase I: after award. Phase II: while proposal pending |
| DE* | Delaware Technical Innovation Program (DTIP) | Delaware Division of Small Business | $50,000 (bridge grant) | Not offered | Required | After Phase II proposal submitted, before Phase II award received |
| FL | Florida High Tech Corridor SBIR Matching Program | FHTC / UCF / USF | $150,000 | Not offered | Required | -- |
| GA | GRA Ventures SBIR Matching | Georgia Research Alliance Ventures | $50,000 | $100,000 | Required | -- |
| HI | HTDC SBIR/STTR Matching Grant | Hawaii Technology Development Corporation | $75,000 (50%) | $500,000 (50%) | Required | Within 90 days of federal award |
| IA | IEDA SBIR Matching Grant | Iowa Economic Development Authority | $50,000 | $25,000 | Required | -- |
| IL | Illinois DCEO SBIR/STTR Matching Grant | Illinois DCEO | $75,000 | $250,000 | Required | Within 12 months of federal award |
| IN | Applied Research Institute SBIR Match | Indiana IEDC / ARI | $50,000 | $75,000 | Required | -- |
| KS* | Kansas SBIR/STTR Matching Program (ACCEL-KS) | Kansas Department of Commerce | $25,000 | Not offered | Required | Fixed biannual application rounds |
| KY | Kentucky Innovation Act SBIR/STTR Matching Grant | KY Cabinet for Economic Development | $100,000 | $150,000 | Required | Within 12 months of award date |
| LA* | Louisiana Innovation Retention Grant (IRG) | Louisiana Economic Development | $50,000 | $100,000 | Required | Award must post-date June 15, 2022 |
| MA | MassVentures SBIR Phase II Matching Grant | MassVentures | Not offered | $500,000 | Required | -- |
| MD | TEDCO Maryland SBIR/STTR Matching Fund | Maryland TEDCO | $25,000 | $75,000 | Required | Within 12 months of federal award |
| ME* | MTI Accelerator Grant | Maine Technology Institute | $15,000 (20%) | $50,000 (10%) | Required | Within 90 days (Phase I) / 180 days (Phase II) of contract |
| MI | MEDC Economic Transformation Fund SBIR Match | Michigan Economic Development Corp | $25,000 | $125,000 | Required | -- |
| MN | Launch Minnesota SBIR/STTR Matching Grant | Launch Minnesota (DEED) | $35,000 | $50,000 | Required | -- |
| MT | Montana SBIR/STTR Matching Grant | Montana Department of Commerce | $30,000 | $30,000 | Required | -- |
| NC | One NC Small Business Program | NC Office of Science, Technology, and Innovation | $60,000 | Not offered | Required | Within 90 days of federal Phase I award |
| NE | Nebraska SBIR/STTR Matching Grant | Nebraska Department of Economic Development | $150,000 (65%) | $300,000 (65%) | Required | Within 12 months of federal award |
| NJ | NJEDA SBIR Bridge Loan / Matching Grant | New Jersey EDA | $25,000 | $50,000 | Required | -- |
| NM | NM EDD SBIR/STTR Matching Grant | New Mexico Economic Development Department | $50,000 | $100,000 | Required | -- |
| NY | Empire State Development / NYSTAR SBIR Matching | Empire State Development | $100,000 | $200,000 | Required | Within 12 months of federal award |
| OR | Business Oregon SBIR/STTR Matching Grant | Business Oregon | $50,000 | $100,000 | Required | -- |
| RI | STAC SBIR Matching Grant | RI Commerce / Science and Technology Advisory Council | $75,000 | $150,000 | Required | Within 12 months of federal award |
| SC | SCRA SBIR Phase I Match | South Carolina Research Authority | $50,000 | Not offered | Required | -- |
| SD* | SD Proof of Concept SBIR Supplement | South Dakota GOED | Not offered | $25,000 (10% match req.) | Required | Rolling |
| TN | LaunchTN SBIR/STTR Matching Grant | Tennessee Technology Development Corp | $100,000 (50%) | $300,000 (50%) | Required | Within 12 months of federal award |
| UT* | UTIF Gap Funding Nonrecourse Loan | Utah GOEO / Nucleus Institute | Not offered | $50,000 (loan, not grant) | Required | 4+ weeks before Phase II submission deadline |
| VA | VIPC Catalyst Commercialization Grant | Virginia Innovation Partnership Corp | Not for SBIR match | Not for SBIR match | Required | -- |
| VT | ACCD SBIR Matching Grant | Vermont ACCD / VCET | $50,000 | $50,000 | Required | -- |
| WI | WEDC / CTC SBIR Match | Wisconsin Economic Development Corp | $75,000 | $200,000 | Required | Within 12 months of federal award |
| WV | WV SBDC Economic Innovation Initiative SBIR Match | West Virginia SBDC | $100,000 | $200,000 | Required | -- |
| WY | Wyoming Business Council SBIR/STTR Matching Grant | Wyoming Business Council | $100,000 | $200,000 | Required | -- |
Every state in this table requires "state nexus" -- but what that means varies more than founders expect. Keep reading before you assume you qualify.
The Gotchas: Where Founders (and Other Websites) Get This Wrong
Give-away-secrets time. These are the details that separate a real application from a rejected one, and in two cases, they're details that separate a real program from a program that simply does not exist.
"State nexus" doesn't mean the same thing in every state. Most programs require your headquarters to be in-state. Arkansas goes further: an Arkansas resident or employee must serve as the project's principal investigator or project manager, not just the company address. Delaware requires a physical presence, not a mailing address. Read the nexus definition before you assume your remote-first company qualifies.
Some of these are loans, not grants. Utah's UTIF Gap Funding program pays up to $50,000, but it's a nonrecourse loan. If your technology succeeds commercially, you repay it (interest-free if repaid quickly, otherwise over up to 5 years with interest). Repayment is only waived if the technology is judged to have no viable commercial path. If you're counting this as free money in your cash flow model, you're modeling it wrong.
Some are bridge grants, not matches. Delaware's DTIP doesn't pay you a percentage of your Phase I award. It pays you during the specific gap between submitting a Phase II proposal and actually receiving the Phase II award -- and only if you haven't received that Phase II award yet. Miss that window (apply too early or too late) and you're not eligible.
Reimbursement is not upfront cash. Arkansas and South Dakota both pay on a reimbursement basis: you spend the money first, document the expenditure, then get paid back. If your runway depends on this money arriving before you spend it, plan around that.
Timing windows are real deadlines, not suggestions. Maine gives you 90 days after your Phase I contract executes and 180 days after Phase II -- miss either window and you're disqualified, no exceptions found in the program's published rules. Kansas only accepts applications during two scheduled rounds per year. North Carolina requires you to apply within 90 days of your Phase I award. If your federal award notice sits in your inbox for a month before you deal with it, you can burn a real chunk of these windows without realizing it.
Two states have bills, not programs -- but you wouldn't know it from a web search. Colorado's SB24-140 would have created a real matching program (up to $100,000 Phase I, $250,000 Phase II via OEDIT). It was introduced in February 2024, sent to committee, and postponed indefinitely on a 5-2 vote three weeks later. It never became law. Texas's SB209 (2025) would have done something similar; it passed a Senate committee 5-0 but never got a floor vote and also died. Both bills are described as active, operating programs on multiple grant-aggregator and consulting websites. They are not. If you're planning around a Colorado or Texas state SBIR match, stop -- it doesn't exist yet.
City programs get mistaken for state programs. Philadelphia runs a real SBIR/STTR matching grant (up to $20,000 Phase I services, $50,000 Phase II) -- but only for Philadelphia-headquartered life-sciences companies, and it's a city program, not a Pennsylvania state program. San Antonio runs a similar city-level match (up to $50,000 Phase I, $75,000 Phase II) for San Antonio companies only. If your company is in Pittsburgh or Austin, neither applies to you, even though both show up when you search "Pennsylvania SBIR match" or "Texas SBIR match."
16 States With No State Match (What They Offer Instead)
Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Washington have no active state cash match tied to a federal SBIR/STTR award as of July 2026. Virginia is the sixteenth: its VIPC Catalyst Commercialization Grant is tracked in Cada's program database as SBIR-adjacent, but both its Phase I and Phase II match fields currently show no available amount, so treat it as not offering a live match rather than assume it does because it's listed at all.
That doesn't mean these states offer nothing. Most run a "Phase 0" program instead: a smaller grant ($1,000 to $7,500) that pays for proposal-writing help before you've won anything, not matching cash after. Arizona's FAST Partnership, California's CalOSBA support, Ohio's FAST program through the Ohio Aerospace Institute, and North Dakota State University's Phase 0 fund are all examples. Useful, but a different tool solving a different problem -- they help you win the federal award, they don't multiply it once you have.
Washington is a special case worth flagging: Life Science Washington Institute ran a real $25,000 SBIR/STTR matching grant for life-science companies, but it was explicitly announced as completing its "second and final year" in April 2025. If you're reading an older article that lists Washington as an active state, that information is now out of date.
We'd rather tell you a program doesn't exist than send you chasing money that isn't there. Some state legislatures simply haven't funded this yet -- that's not a research failure, it's the honest state of play as of this writing.
How to Sequence State Match With Your Federal Portfolio
State SBIR matching money works best as one piece of a broader plan, not a standalone hunt. Most of these programs require you to already hold the federal award (or have a Phase II proposal actively pending) before you can apply -- meaning state match is a stacking move that happens after you've locked in federal funding, not a starting point for a company with no award yet.
The practical sequence looks like: win the federal Phase I or Phase II award, check whether your HQ state has a program in the table above, apply within that state's window (write the date on your calendar the day you get the federal award letter), and treat any foundation or other state innovation grants as a separate, parallel track. This is the same portfolio logic behind sequencing federal, state, and foundation programs together instead of writing one proposal at a time and hoping the rest falls into place.
Frequently asked questions
What is a state SBIR matching grant?
Cash a state government pays a small business specifically because it already won a federal SBIR or STTR award, layered on top of the federal money. Amounts range from $15,000 to $500,000 depending on the state and phase.
Which states have SBIR matching programs?
34 states as of July 2026: AK, AL, AR, DE, FL, GA, HI, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MT, NC, NE, NJ, NM, NY, OR, RI, SC, SD, TN, UT, VT, WI, WV, WY. 16 states have no active cash match: the 15 covered above (AZ, CA, CO, CT, ID, MS, MO, NV, NH, ND, OH, OK, PA, TX, WA) plus Virginia, whose VIPC Catalyst Commercialization Grant is tracked as an SBIR-adjacent program but currently shows no available Phase I or Phase II match amount.
Do I need to be headquartered in the state to qualify?
Almost always, yes, but "in-state" is defined differently by program. Some require only a headquarters address; others (like Arkansas) require an in-state resident to serve as principal investigator. Check the specific program's nexus definition, not just its name.
Is state SBIR match always a grant, or sometimes a loan?
Usually a grant, but not always. Utah's UTIF Gap Funding program is a nonrecourse loan that becomes repayable if your technology succeeds commercially. Read the fine print before counting it as free money.
How soon after winning a federal SBIR award do I need to apply for the state match?
It varies by state, from no fixed deadline to a strict 90-day window. Alabama gives you 6 months, Hawaii and North Carolina give you 90 days, Maine gives you 90 days for Phase I and 180 for Phase II. Check your state's specific window the day you receive your federal award notice.
A Note on Sources and Freshness
The 28 programs marked without an asterisk in the table above (including Virginia's) come from Cada's internal state-program database, last verified against primary state-agency sources on March 31, 2026. The 7 marked with an asterisk (AR, DE, KS, LA, ME, SD, UT) were independently verified against state agency pages, state statutes, and (for Colorado and Texas) legislative bill-tracking records in July 2026. State match amounts and eligibility rules change; treat anything here older than 6 months as worth a re-check before you rely on it for a filing deadline.
The Bottom Line
If you've won a federal SBIR or STTR award and your company is headquartered in one of the 34 states above, there's real money on the table that most founders never claim, either because they don't know it exists or because they find outdated or incorrect information about it. If you're not sure which programs you qualify for, or how to sequence state match with the rest of a federal and foundation grant strategy, that's exactly the kind of portfolio question Cada's free roadmap consultation is built to answer. No pitch, no obligation, just a straight answer on which programs are real and which ones (like Colorado's and Texas's) are still just bills.