Grants

Cycle 1

The pot is $50,000, from the house’s own capital. Each grant is between $5,000 and $25,000. Cycle 1 closes on 5 January 2027.

Entering the grants

Every examined company can enter the cycle’s grants. The founder opts in on the platform, at any time from filing the examination until its cycle closes, and opting in carries no fee. A founder who opts in after the cycle in which the examination was delivered has closed is considered in the next cycle. The opt-in opens on your draft before the first founding examinations are delivered.

Opting in confirms that the company is a registered legal entity with a business account in its own name; that it is not connected with a comprehensively sanctioned jurisdiction, nor owned or controlled by a designated person; that no member of the grants committee, or close relation of one, holds an interest in it; and that the founder accepts the Grant Selection Policy.

Who is considered

A company that has opted in is considered in the cycle in which its examination is delivered.

Cycle 1 is awarded among the founding examinations: the fifteen places sold at the founding price, and any founding examination whose fee the house waived, which takes none of the fifteen places. A founding examination delivered after Cycle 1 closes, and any other examination delivered while Cycle 1 is open, is considered in Cycle 2.

From Cycle 2, each cycle runs ninety days, and every opted-in examination delivered within it is considered.

Not considered: a record whose examination fee was refunded, an examination the house declined, a record withdrawn by its founder, a test record, and a company in which a member of the grants committee, or a close relation of one, holds an interest.

How the committee decides

A two-member grants committee of the house decides each award, from what the examination found. A grant plan is asked for only at the shortlist stage: after a cycle closes, the committee shortlists from the examinations considered and asks each shortlisted founder for a one-page plan: the amount sought within the published range, the use of funds, and the milestones that will show it. An award needs both members, and the committee’s decision is final. The examination fee plays no part in the decision, and no founder is promised a grant. Any amount not awarded carries into the next cycle and is published on this page. The Grant Selection Policy sets out the process and the criteria.

How a grant is paid

A grant is paid in tranches under a Grant Agreement the recipient signs with the house, and only to a registered company with a business account in its own name. Before the first tranche, the house will verify the identity of the recipient and its owners and screen them against sanctions lists. Each later tranche is released against evidence of a milestone set in the Grant Agreement.

What a grant is

A grant carries no equity, warrants, revenue share or convertible terms. It is non-repayable, except that where an award rests on a material misrepresentation, or grant funds are misapplied or left unspent when the Grant Agreement ends, the house may require repayment of the amounts concerned, as the Grant Agreement provides. It comes from the house’s own capital alone, and no Fellow, sponsor or investor money enters it. Fellows and Members have no part in grant decisions, and a grant has no bearing on introductions.

Naming

An award is named publicly only with the founder’s consent.

The programme’s terms are in §14 of the Terms of Service, and how the committee selects is in the Grant Selection Policy.