Build to Scale (B2S)

Build to Scale (B2S) is sponsored by U.S. Economic Development Administration. Funds organizations to strengthen regional entrepreneurial ecosystems, supporting innovators, entrepreneurs, and startups in transforming ideas into emerging technologies, with focus on job creation, capital deployment, and new business formation.

EDA Build to Scale Grant Guide: How Economic Development Organizations Can Win Join our Global FounderX Conference in Silicon Valley Your location preferences AI Arabia Company Builder (In-Person) Adelaide - Australia Spring 2026 Advisor GovTech Lab Brazil 2026 Amsterdam - Austria Fall 2026 Armenia - Central Eastern Europe Fall 2026 Atlanta - Silicon Valley Fall 2026 Barcelona - Spain Fall 2026 Belgium - Austria Fall 2026 Belo Horizonte - Brasil Winter 2026 Bolivia - Latam Fall 2026 Brasilia - Brasil Winter 2026 Brisbane - Australia Spring 2026 Buenos Aires - Latam Fall 2026 Campinas - Brasil Winter 2026 Canberra - Australia Spring 2026 Hungary - Central Eastern Europe Fall 2026 Moldova - Central Eastern Europe Fall 2026 Central Eastern Europe Fall 2026 Czechia - Central Eastern Europe Fall 2026 Poland - Central Eastern Europe Fall 2026 Croatia - Central Eastern Europe Fall 2026 Georgia - Central Eastern Europe Fall 2026 Czechia - Central Eastern Europe Fall 2026 Romania - Central Eastern Europe Fall 2026 Cincinnati - Midwest Fall 2026 Cologne - Germany Fall 2026 Colorado -Silicon Valley Fall 2026 Columbus - Midwest Fall 2026 Cotswold - London Fall 2026 Curitiba - Brasil Winter 2026 Defense & National Security Fall 2026 Denmark - Nordics Fall 2026 Dominican Republic - Caribbean Fall 2026 Ecuador - Latam Fall 2026 Finland - Nordics Fall 2026 Florianopolis - Brasil Winter 2026 Frankfurt - Germany Fall 2026 Greece - Central Eastern Europe Fall 2026 Guadalajara - Latam Fall 2026 Ho Chi Minh - Vietnam Autumn 2026 Honduras - Latam Fall 2026 Ireland - London Fall 2026 Jamaica - Caribbean Fall 2026 Las Vegas - San Francisco Fall 2026 Londrina - Brasil Winter 2026 Luxembourg - Austria Fall 2026 Maldives - South Asia 2026 Medellin - Latam Fall 2026 Melbourne - Australia Spring 2026 Minneapolis - Midwest Fall 2026 Monterrey - Latam Fall 2026 Munich - Germany Fall 2026 New Zealand - Australia Spring 2026 Norway - Nordics Fall 2026 Oakland - San Francisco Fall 2026 Pakistan - South Asia 2026 Paris - Austria Fall 2026 Perth - Australia Spring 2026 Portland - San Francisco Fall 2026 Porto Alegre - Brasil Winter 2026 Ribeirao Preto - Brasil Winter 2026 Rio de Janeiro - Brasil Winter 2026 Salvador - Brasil Winter 2026 Tijuana - Latam Fall 2026 Tunis - Morocco Fall 2026 Uruguay - Latam Fall 2026 Valencia - Spain Fall 2026 Veteran and Military Family Fall 2026 Wisconsin - Midwest Fall 2026 The EDA Build to Scale grant distributes approximately $50 million per year to economic development organizations, entrepreneur support organizations, universities, and regional coalitions building startup ecosystems across the United States.

It is one of the most direct federal mechanisms for funding entrepreneurship infrastructure. It is also one of the most consistently misapplied.

If your organization is evaluating the Build to Scale program, deciding between the Ignite, Build, or Scale tiers, or preparing an application after a previous cycle did not advance, this guide covers eligibility, program requirements, the strategic mistake that eliminates most proposals, and what reviewers consistently reward in winning submissions.

What the EDA Build to Scale grant funds and who it is for Tiers, eligibility, and match requirements The stage-skipping problem that sinks most applications What a competitive five-stage program design looks like How subcontractors change a proposal's credibility Application checklist before you submit Frequently asked questions What the EDA Build to Scale Grant Funds: Who It Is For and What It Requires The Build to Scale program , administered by the U.S. Economic Development Administration, funds organizations strengthening regional entrepreneurial ecosystems with a focus on technology-driven business creation.

The program is built around a specific theory of economic impact: more high-growth startups in a region means more jobs, more capital deployed locally, and more long-term GDP growth. Research consistently supports this. New businesses create virtually all net job growth in the U.S. economy, adding an average of 3 million jobs in their first year while existing firms cut approximately 1 million net jobs annually.

Every 1 percent increase in entrepreneurial activity in a U.S. state correlates with a 2 percent decline in poverty. Build to Scale exists to fund the infrastructure that makes entrepreneurial activity happen at regional scale. The program does not fund activity.

It does not reward convening stakeholders, hosting pitch nights, or producing ecosystem strategy reports. Reviewers draw a sharp line between organizations building durable program infrastructure and organizations proposing a schedule of programming. That distinction separates advancing applications from those that do not move forward.

The program has two competition tracks. The Venture Challenge supports igniting and accelerating regional startup growth through technology-based economic development. The Capital Challenge supports increasing access to risk capital in communities where early-stage investment is scarce.

EDOs and entrepreneur support organizations should identify which track maps to their most critical ecosystem gap before designing a program strategy. Applications that try to address both tracks simultaneously tend to underperform on both. Tiers, Eligibility, and Match Requirements Build to Scale offers three award tiers based on the maturity of the applicant's existing ecosystem.

Choosing the right tier is one of the most important decisions in the application. Applying for a tier that does not match your ecosystem's actual stage creates credibility problems throughout the review process.

Tier Award Amount Best For Ecosystem Stage Key Evidence Required Ignite Up to $300,000 Building first infrastructure Emerging Documented regional gap; no prior outcomes required Build Up to $750,000 Formalizing and expanding existing programs Developing At least one active program with initial outcomes data Scale Up to $2,000,000 Systematizing mature ecosystem programs Advanced Significant proven outcomes and full compliance readiness Eligible applicants include economic development organizations, entrepreneur support organizations, universities and research institutions, innovation hubs, nonprofit startup support programs, regional development coalitions, and public-private partnerships based in the United States.

Match requirements. All Build to Scale applicants must demonstrate matching funds, which can include cash and in-kind contributions from local government, private sector partners, foundations, and state programs. Organizations in states with active SSBCI 2.

0 deployment have significant leverage available: Florida ($488 million), Texas ($472 million), and Georgia ($200 million) have among the largest state allocations and can serve as meaningful components of a capital match alongside the federal award. The Stage-Skipping Problem That Eliminates Most Applications There is a structural mistake at the center of most Build to Scale applications that do not advance.

It is not a writing problem or a budget problem. It is a program design problem, and it shows up the same way across regions of every size. The mistake is starting at the wrong stage.

Most economic development programs, including most Build to Scale proposals, are designed to accelerate and fund founders who already exist. They open with a pitch competition, a cohort selection process, or a demo day. They assume the pipeline is someone else's responsibility.

But in most regions, the pipeline does not exist at the scale the program requires. Capital does not flow to ecosystems where deal flow is thin. Accelerators cannot select strong cohorts when the applicant pool is weak.

The problem is not acceleration. The problem is that the earlier stages were never built. This is what Founder Institute has observed across 200 cities and 1,200 accelerator cohorts: most economic development initiatives invest in tractors while neglecting the soil.

They fund acceleration and capital deployment while skipping the earlier work of educating the entrepreneurial class and identifying the people within the community who have the potential to become founders. Then they wonder why their accelerator is struggling to recruit quality applicants and why local investors are complaining about deal flow. Reviewers see this pattern constantly.

An application that jumps straight to acceleration without a credible pipeline strategy (specifically: how participants will be identified, recruited, and prepared before entering the program) signals that the proposed program will face the same bottleneck every other program in the region has faced. It is not a fundable plan. It is a funded version of a problem that already exists.

Understanding why this matters also requires understanding the ecosystem dynamics it creates. When the early funnel is not built (the path from community members with entrepreneurial potential to qualified startup applicants), mid-stage programs starve for deal flow. Local investors find few fundable companies.

Capital that should stay regional flows out to other ecosystems where deal flow is stronger. The pipeline problem is the root cause of most of the outcomes that EDO leaders report as frustrations: low cohort quality, weak investor engagement, poor startup survival rates after programming ends.

For a deeper look at how the six components of a complete startup ecosystem relate to this pipeline gap, and which components most regional programs are missing, that framework maps directly to the gap analysis section of a Build to Scale proposal.

What a Competitive Five-Stage Program Design Looks Like The applications that score highest are designed around a sequenced five-stage framework that moves the ecosystem from talent identification through capital access. Each stage builds on the one before it. None can be skipped without creating the pipeline problem described above.

Stage 1: Educate. Before people can become founders, the entrepreneurial mindset has to be cultivated. This stage creates community-level events, self-learning tools, and accessible introductory programming that reduces the perceived barrier to entrepreneurship.

The goal is not to train founders but to surface the people in the region who might want to become founders and give them a low-risk first step. Most government startup programs skip this stage entirely. That is precisely why their applicant pools are thin.

Stage 2: Identify. This is the stage where the applicant's proposal needs to be most specific. How does your program find the people in your community with the highest entrepreneurial potential, including those who have never considered starting a company?

What tool or methodology creates a systematic, scalable answer to that question? A psychometric assessment designed specifically to identify entrepreneurial potential can screen a workforce cohort, a university population, or a community program participant pool and produce a talent map that transforms recruitment from guesswork into a data-driven process.

This is the single most underdeveloped capability in regional startup ecosystems in the United States today. Stage 3: Activate. High-potential individuals who have been identified need a specific kind of programming: structured, mentor-guided, focused on the early decisions every founder must make, and safe enough to experiment and fail without catastrophic consequences.

This is not an accelerator. It is the programming that prepares people to enter an accelerator successfully. Without it, even well-designed acceleration programs lose participants early and see weak cohort performance.

Stage 4: Accelerate. This is where most regional programs currently begin. With Stages 1 through 3 in place, the accelerator cohort is populated by people who have been identified as high-potential, have gone through activation programming, and are entering with a validated concept and basic founder skills.

Cohort quality increases. Mentor engagement improves. Completion rates go up.

Outcomes improve not because the accelerator itself changed but because the pipeline feeding it was built. A winning Build to Scale application names the specific programs, tools, partners, and operators responsible for each stage. It specifies what technology platform tracks participant progress from identification through graduation and how that platform produces the compliance reports EDA requires.

It commits to specific outcome metrics (jobs created, businesses formed, capital raised, revenue generated) and maps each metric to the stage that produces it. How Subcontractors Change a Proposal's Credibility Subcontractor selection is where many Build to Scale applicants gain or lose competitive ground. Reviewers treat subcontractors as risk signals.

A nationally recognized program operator with documented outcomes across comparable regions tells reviewers that the proposed program is not being invented under a federal timeline. The methodology, technology, and mentor infrastructure already exist and are being deployed, not built from scratch.

The capability that EDOs and entrepreneur support organizations most consistently lack internally is Stages 1 and 2 of the framework above: population-level talent identification and pre-pipeline activation programming. Most local accelerators, university programs, and small business development centers require participants to bring an existing concept or early company.

Nobody in the typical regional ecosystem is creating founders from scratch using a validated, scalable methodology. That is the gap that a Build to Scale subcontractor relationship should fill first.

Weak Subcontractor Signal Strong Subcontractor Signal National brand with no regional outcomes data Documented outcomes across comparable geographies Agreement "pending" at time of submission Finalized partnership agreement included in application Replaces local programs with national platform Fills specific gaps while integrating with existing programs No technology for compliance reporting Program management platform with EDA-ready reporting Covers only acceleration stage Addresses pre-pipeline identification and activation Founder Institute's government partnership programs are designed specifically for this subcontractor role within regional ecosystems and government-funded accelerator initiatives.

With programs across more than 200 cities, a no-equity model suited to public-mandate programs, 40,000+ mentors, and the FounderGen platform for program management and grant compliance reporting, FI fills the pipeline gap at Stages 1 through 3 while integrating with existing regional accelerators and capital programs at Stages 4 and 5.

FI has served as a subcontractor in government-funded programs across the United States and internationally, including partnerships with UNDP, USAID, NASA, and city-level EDOs through programs like Startup 425 in the Seattle region, which achieved 100 percent business formation across its first cohort.

Build to Scale Application Checklist Selected the correct tier based on actual ecosystem maturity, not desired funding amount Documented regional gaps with local data, not general national statistics Program design addresses all five stages: Educate, Identify, Activate, Accelerate, Scale Named all delivery partners with finalized agreements, not pending commitments Identified a specific talent identification methodology for Stages 1 and 2 Specified technology infrastructure for participant tracking and EDA compliance reporting Match funding sources named with amounts, timelines, and commitment documentation Outcome commitments use EDA metrics: jobs created, businesses formed, capital raised, revenue generated Named program director confirmed in place before the award period begins Verified correct track: Venture Challenge vs. Capital Challenge Application language uses economic development vocabulary, not startup ecosystem jargon Before finalizing your gap analysis section, map your region's current ecosystem against all five stages using the Startup Ecosystem Canvas , a free framework developed from 16 years of ecosystem-building work across 200 cities.

It surfaces which stages your region has covered and which ones the proposal needs to address directly. Frequently Asked Questions: EDA Build to Scale Grant What is the EDA Build to Scale grant?

A federal competitive grant program administered by the U.S. Economic Development Administration that funds organizations strengthening regional entrepreneurial ecosystems, with a focus on technology-driven business creation and measurable economic outcomes including jobs, capital, and new business formation. Who is eligible to apply for Build to Scale?

Economic development organizations, entrepreneur support organizations, universities, innovation hubs, nonprofit startup support programs, regional development coalitions, and public-private partnerships based in the United States. What is the difference between the Ignite, Build, and Scale tiers? Ignite (up to $300,000) supports emerging ecosystems establishing foundational infrastructure.

Build (up to $750,000) supports developing ecosystems expanding existing programs. Scale (up to $2,000,000) supports advanced ecosystems systematizing mature, proven models with documented outcomes. Does Build to Scale require matching funds?

Yes. All applicants must demonstrate matching contributions, which can include cash and in-kind support from local government, private partners, foundations, and state programs such as SSBCI 2. 0.

Can EDOs use subcontractors in a Build to Scale application? Yes. Subcontractor relationships are an explicit and encouraged feature of the program.

Credible subcontractors with documented regional outcomes substantially improve a proposal's competitiveness. What outcomes does EDA measure most in Build to Scale reports? Jobs created, new businesses formed, capital raised by program graduates, and revenue generated within the period of performance.

What is the most common reason Build to Scale applications are rejected? Proposing acceleration programming without a credible pipeline strategy for how qualified participants will be identified and prepared before entering the program. Reviewers consistently flag applications that assume the pipeline problem is already solved when it is not.

What does a no-equity startup accelerator mean for EDOs? No-equity programs do not take ownership stakes in the companies they support, which makes them appropriate for government mandates, public funding, and populations where equity arrangements create legal or political complications. This model is also more inclusive: it does not exclude founders who cannot afford to give up early ownership in exchange for programming access.

To discuss a subcontractor partnership for your Build to Scale proposal, including how Founder Institute's five-stage program design, FounderGen platform, and no-equity model fit your region's specific gaps, connect with FI's economic development team at fi. co/government .

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