2024 Funding and Business Resources

About Her Microgrants - Micro grants are open to Caribbean and African women + women of African and Caribbean descent, who are entrepreneurs, creatives and non-profit founders, based in their home countries or anywhere around the world. Applicants must demonstrate that their projects are positively impacting culture and community. Funding of $500. Applications due in immediately - https://aboutherculture.com/micro-grant-opportunities/

Amazon App Store Small Business Accelerator - The Small Business Accelerator Program allows developers that earn less than 1 million USD in total annual revenue in the previous calendar year to access additional benefits up to or equivalent to 20% of Appstore revenue. If eligible, you’ll receive a 10% increased royalty payment and AWS credits equivalent to 10% of your app revenue. - https://developer.amazon.com/apps-and-games/small-business-program

Amazon Small Business Success Studio - The free service offers lessons in finance, marketing, procurement and operations, along with tips from founders -https://business.amazon.com/en/small-business/success-studio/welcome

American Express Leadership Academy - The Academy is for people in the non-profit sector who are intentionally striving to be better equipped to respond adaptively to challenges, and to keep going in the face of adversity. -  https://commonpurpose.org/american-express-leadership-academy#anchor1

Antler Global Startup Program - Antler is a global early-stage VC that runs multiple programs for business startups around the world. See the website for more info about the program and application dates. - https://www.antler.co/platform/#apply-now

Awesome Foundation - Foundation distributes $1,000 grants, no strings attached, to projects and their creators. At each fully autonomous chapter, the money is pooled together from the coffers of ten or so self-organizing “micro-trustees”.  Awarded monthly - https://www.awesomefoundation.org/en

AWS Startup Loft Accelerator - AWS Startup Loft Accelerator equips your technical team with tech resources, guidance and a community of peers. From technical deep dives to round tables on day-to-day CTO challenges, including: recruiting, managing an engineering team, building a minimum viable product, and design principles for cloud architecture.  Provides $25,000 in AWS credits - https://aws-startup-lofts.com/emea/program/accelerator

Canva Pro For Nonprofits - If you are a nonprofit, you can register now to get Canva’s premium features for free. - https://www.canva.com/canva-for-nonprofits/

Emergent Ventures Grant/Fellowship Application (through Mercatus Center at George Mason University) - Emergent Ventures, a fellowship and grant program from the Mercatus Center, seeks to support entrepreneurs with highly scalable, “zero to one” ideas for meaningfully improving society. Projects will either be fellowships or grants: fellowships involve time in residence at the Mercatus Center in Northern Virginia; grants are one-time or slightly staggered payments to support a project. https://www.mercatus.org/emergent-ventures

Etsy Disaster Relief Fund - Sellers will be eligible for a grant if they experienced a federally declared natural disaster within the past year, have been an active seller on Etsy for at least one year, and their Etsy account is in good standing. Grants for $2,500 - https://advocacy.etsy.com/etsy-emergency-relief-fund-at-cerf/

F6S List of Accelerators and Pitch Competitions - Provides a list of accelerators, contests and pitch competitions around the world. https://www.f6s.com/

48 in 48 - Website Build Event - 48in48 provides free websites to empower nonprofits. They recruit teams of talented designers, developers, project managers and content writers come together and create amazing websites over just one weekend. Non-profits with less than $3MM in revenue are welcome to apply. Their next event focuses on global nonprofits. Register by 9/13/24 - https://48in48.org/events/

Future of Capitalism Tech Startup Pitch Competition - The competition is on the lookout for Tech that can transform how businesses operate – from customer experience, admin/management systems, financial processes, logistics, marketing or anything else. This is open to startups based anywhere in the world however the entry and pitch process will all be in English. Prize of $1,000,000. Apply by 9/30/2024 - https://www.futureofcapitalism.tech/

LG NOVA InnoFest Startup Pitch Competition - LG NOVA is calling innovative startups to apply for LG NOVA InnoFest Pitch Competition to create a positive impact on people and the planet to join them on stage at InnoFest 2024. Focus areas include HealthTech, CleanTech, AI and Life Sciences. Funding of $150,000. Apply by 8/23/2024 - https://www.lgnova.com/innofest/pitch-competition-application

Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub - Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub helps startups radically accelerate innovation by providing access to industry-leading AI services, expert guidance, and the essential technology needed to build a future-proofed startup. Up to $150K in Azure credits - https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/startups

Milken-Motsepe Prize in FinTech - The Milken-Motsepe Prize in FinTech encourages established companies with a proven track record of reaching underserved communities to apply. Participants can be a single individual or a team of individuals. Prize of $1,000,000. Apply by 8/6/2024 - https://milkenmotsepeprize.org/fintech/

Pollination Project - Grants to global non-profits. Annual budget for your group or organization must be less than $50,000. The total cost for the immediate project for which you are requesting funding must be less than $40,000 - https://thepollinationproject.org/apply/

Roddenberry Catalyst Fund - The Catalyst Fund is offering grants to Nonprofits & Social Enterprises to fund ideas or early-stage projects that have a high potential for large-scale impact and sustainable change.  You can be a seasoned social entrepreneur or a first-time changemaker. Eligible candidates for the Catalyst Fund may be individuals, teams of individuals, non-profit organizations, or social enterprises. Funding up to $15,000 - https://roddenberryfoundation.org/our-work/catalyst-fund/

Savvy Fellowship - Savvy is a 12-week virtual Fellowship program for young professionals seeking to be part of the new generation of impact entrepreneurs. Applicants should be 40 or younger - https://savvyfellows.com/team/

SheTrades Accelerator - SheTrades Accelerator Programme for women entrepreneurs and business support organizations in the Apparel, Accessories and Home Décor sectors is targeting women-led businesses (WLBs) and Business Support Organizations (BSO) in the Apparel, Accessories, and Home Decor sector from Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Senegal, and South Africa. - https://shetrades-accelerator.converve.io/

SPC Founder Fellowship Fall 2024 - Fellows become lifetime members of a talent-dense community in technology, including access to SPC's community spaces in San Francisco, New York City, and Bangalore. All fellows are expected to work out of San Francisco or New York City spaces for at least the duration of the 8 week curriculum.  Fellows received $400,000 for 7% equity.  Apply by 8/9/2024 - https://blog.southparkcommons.com/spc-founder-fellowship-fall-2024/

Techstars Accelerators - Techstars accelerators have one goal: to help entrepreneurs succeed. During each three-month program, they surround companies (companies should be based in North American time zones) with the best mentors and an unrivaled network of corporate partners, investors, and alumni.  Companies can receive $20K for 6% of company.  Various locations and due dates - https://www.techstars.com/accelerators/

We Make Change - Global initiative that matches small businesses (mainly not for profits) with volunteers who are professional individuals or are from companies (including blue chip) that have an interest in supporting not for profits. Helps impact startups build a remote volunteer team for free - https://www.wemakechange.org/

Y Combinator - Y Combinator is accepting applications for the Winter 2025 funding cycle. The batch will take place from January–March 2025 in San Francisco. The batch will take place in-person in San Francisco. It kicks off with a 3-day, in-person retreat and features weekly meetups in San Francisco.  Funding of $500,000. Apply by 10/15/2024 - https://www.ycombinator.com/apply

AFRICA-SPECIFIC OPPORTUNITIES

Founders Factory Africa Gen F Incubator - Gen F is for exceptional founders/aspiring entrepreneurs looking to build out and test their ideas, achieve commercial success, and create outsized, systemic impact and founders looking to build tech solutions that solve Africa’s largest problems and catalyze change. Funding up to $250,000 - https://www.foundersfactory.africa/gen-f-eir-initiative

Grindstone incubator - Incubator will include training, corporate advisory, coaching, mentorship and funding. Specific interventions for each company include a structured gap analysis, understanding of the company value system, building a digital go-to-market strategy, financial modelling, intellectual property assessment, strategic and financial valuation as well as populating a data room - https://www.grindstonexl.com/grindstone-accelerator