When in the early stages of launching a startup, getting support, guidance and direction – both financial and educational - is critical to success.

There are numerous government-backed grants and programs toaid founders on their journey and below we’re breaking down the key ones available to help your company succeed and grow. 

Grants & Funding

Ignite Ideas Fund | Queensland Government

The Ignite Ideas Fund supports small to medium businesses/enterprises (SMEs) that have high growth potential to undertake commercialisation projects that will strengthen key industries in the state, diversify the state’s economy, compete in global markets, engage or benefit regional Queensland and create new jobs.

It is targeted at businesses whose offering is at a minimum viable product stage or beyond.

The fund enables businesses to take to market, or take into new markets, innovative products and services, with grants of up to $200,000 available.

The funding is separated into two tiers:

• Tier 1: grants of up to $100,000 for projects 12 months in duration.
• Tier 2: grants of between, $100,000 and $200,000 for projects within 12 to 24 months duration.

Applicants will be assessed on innovation, market potential, technology/market readiness, project feasibility and management capability, and the benefits to Queensland.

To find out more about eligibility and to apply, click here.

Accelerating Female Founders Program | QueenslandGovernment

This grant is targeted at organisations offering business support initiatives for female founders in Queensland.

It seeks to target organisations that provide services that will grow, upskill and connect female founders to grow their businesses.

All applications for this grant must target innovation, high growth potential startups and scaleups.

Some examples of business support initiatives grant applicants may offer include accelerators, pre-accelerators, mentoring programs and more.

Grants of $10,000 to $100,000 are available for organisations with business support services targeted to female founders.

Applications are open and need to be submitted by 3^rdApril 2023. For more information, click here.

Female Founders Co-Investment Fund

This fund is targeted at female-led organisations to leverage funding and secure new investment to build business capacity.

The fund provides grants from $50,000 to $200,000, matched at a third of any previous investment funds raised.

It aims to support Queensland female founders to grow their innovative business and increase the number of females participating in the innovation ecosystem. 

For more information, or to apply, click here.

CSRIO Kick-Start | CSRIO

The CSRIO Kick-Start program provides matched funding for startups and SMEs to access CSRIO’s research capabilities to help grow their business.

Participants will receive matched funding between $10,000 -$50,000 to research a new idea with commercial potential, develop a product or process, test a product or material, and more.

Application scan be submitted anytime here.

Advancing Renewables Program | Australian Government

The Advancing Renewable Program provides businesses with matched funding to develop renewable energy technologies.

Matched funding between $100,000 and $50 million is available for businesses focused on renewable energy projects. Some project examples include:

• Reduction in the cost of renewable energy.
• Increase in the value delivered by renewableenergy.
• Improvement in technological readiness andcommercial readiness.
• Removal of barriers to uptake.
• Increase in skills, capacity and knowledge relevant to renewable energy.

For more information and to apply, click here.

Social Enterprise Growth Grants | Queensland Government

Round 2 for the Social Enterprise Growth Grants will open on 1 March, 2023.

This program provides grants for eligible established Queensland social enterprises for building capacity and capability that supports their business to scale up.

The social enterprise must have the potential to grow the business’ social impact and number of employees within the next two years. 

For more information, click here.

AusTrade’s Export Market Development Grants

Round 3 for the Export Market Development Grants program is set to open before the start of the 2023/2024 financial year.

The program helps Aussie businesses grow their exports into international markets under the categories of ‘ready to export’, ‘exporting and expanding’ and ‘exporting, expanding and strategic shift’.

For more information and to prepare for the grant opening, click here.

Educational Programs & Mentorship

Ignite+ | Queensland Government

The Ignite+ program provides business founders the opportunity engage in a tailored business support program to expand their commercial skills.

But to be eligible for this program, you need to have received funding through an Advance Queensland grant or participated in one of their other programs, as this program is invite only.

Pursing avenues to engage in this program is well worth it as participants will be able to access tailored mentoring, comprehensive business assessment to assess priorities, professional development in key areas, virtual workshops and networking, and connection to an ecosystem of potential investors.

To find out more, click here.

One Business

The One Business program is available to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to grow their businesses.

It is hosted through TAFE Queensland and provides workshops, training, support and advice to bring ideas to life.  

Find out more here.

Innovate to Grow | CSRIO

Innovate to Grow is a 10-week program for SMEs who want to progress their research and development opportunities.

The program allows participants to examine their technical and/or business challenges, explore innovation opportunities and develop actionable business and funding plans with the help of experienced researchers and innovation experts.

For more information and to apply, click here.

Accelerating Commercialisation | Australian Government

This program falls under the AusIndustry Entrepreneurs’ Programme and provides participants with advice and then possible funding to get their product, process or service to market.

The first stage – the guidance stage – connects participants with a facilitator to develop recommendations and a plan for commercialising a project.

After this, participants can apply for a grant under theprogram to help get the project to the commercialisation stage after receiving guidance.

There are various forms of grants and funding available.

To find out more and to apply, click here.

Austrade Landing Pads | Australian Government

Austrade’s Landing Pads provide support for Aussie tech companies to grow into international markets.

Participants are able to receive support to validate market entry into a particular locality, plus advice and connections to scale into global markets.

For more information, click here.

The information above provides a comprehensive round up of the key grants, education and mentoring currently available in the state and broader Australia for startups.

If you’d like some further advice on accessing informationto these programs, or would like to discuss investment in your startup, please pitch to us.