Explore federal, state, and local grants, loans, and guarantees that are available to qualified businesses to fund the growth of their companies. The nonprofit lender LiftFund is hosting a one-hour webinar to help small business owners and entrepreneurs determine which option is best for their business before spending time researching irrelevant programs. The event takes place online on Wednesday, October 14, 2026, at 10:30 am MDT.
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Child Care Businesses Get Access to Tools and Funding
When the New Mexico Legislature passed landmark legislation to cement Universal Child Care in state law, the nonprofit lender WESST was already geared up. The WESST childcare accelerator program was training and providing funding for new childcare businesses to meet the needs of parents of preschoolers. WESST, long established as an expert in business consulting, training, incubation and lending, expanded to helping individuals start and grow sustainable child care businesses.
Continue readingSmall-Grant Program Accepting Applications
Businesses in Northern New Mexico can apply for up to $3,000 in funding from the Regional Development Corporation’s Micro-Grant program. Businesses must be headquartered within the RDC’s service area and owners must attend a webinar scheduled for April 12, 2022.
Continue readingPropel Your Innovation
The New Mexico SBIR/STTR Innovation Summit will be held virtually on December 15, 2021, from 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM MDT. The Summit brings together small businesses, federal program managers, defense representatives, experts, and local organizations vested in driving innovation through the SBIR and STTR programs. The event offers opportunities for entrepreneurs to discuss their innovations with experts in one-on-one meetings.
Continue readingSecond Round of LEDA Grants Opens
The New Mexico Finance Authority, which manages the state’s LEDA pandemic grant program, is accepting applications under a second round of funding. The first-round application period was widely publicized to end on June 15, 2021. A second-round application period opened as soon as the first round closed. The deadline for application acceptance in the second round is slated for June 30 at 12:00 noon, and additional rounds may be added if funding is available.
Continue readingUSDA Helps Businesses Install Renewable Energy Systems
The U.S. Department of Agriculture provides grants to agricultural producers and rural small businesses interested in saving money as they save energy. The Rural Energy for American Program (REAP), which aims to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas pollution that affects the climate, helps businesses purchase and install renewable energy systems and make energy-efficiency improvements.
Continue readingEDD offers Grants to “High-Growth” Science & Tech Businesses
New Mexico companies in a science and technology field, with fewer than 50 employees, and who are deemed to be “high growth” may qualify for a grant up to $25,000, courtesy of the state Economic Development Department Office of Science & Technology. The department will accept 2021 applications until 5:00 pm on Monday, March 29.
Continue readingInnovation Vouchers help NM technology businesses thrive
Image of Teeniors. Article by Jason Gibbs.
Early-stage science and technology companies in New Mexico occasionally need a little boost, and the state’s Innovation Vouchers program, first launched in 2017, is there to lend a hand.
Managed by the New Mexico Economic Development Department’s (EDD) Office of Science and Technology, the program offers competitive grants of small amounts — $2,000 per individual per award — to help a company during critical moments of growth and development. According to Jessica Mraz, communications and marketing coordinator for the EDD, Innovation Vouchers build on the state’s history of successful research and development and help to commercialize innovative technologies from the state’s research universities and federal laboratories. Continue reading
Two Programs Reimburse Employers for Training New and Veteran Workers
Sara Haring, Manager, JTIP
Job creation is on the minds of many as the economy continues its slow but steady climb from recession. In New Mexico, job creation has been on the agenda of the state Economic Development Department since 1972, when the New Mexico Job Training Incentive Program (JTIP) was launched to help businesses defray the cost of hiring and training new employees.
JTIP is one of the most generous training incentive packages in the country, funding classroom and on-the-job training for new jobs in businesses that are expanding in New Mexico or moving here. The department supplemented JTIP in 2005 with STEP-UP to help qualified companies train their existing workforce in new technologies or skills.
Fund Accelerates Product Commercialization
Monica Abeita, Regional Development Corp. for NNM Connect
A $100,000 award from the Venture Acceleration Fund in 2011 helped Santa Fe startup Vista Therapeutics speed up the commercial introduction of the NanoBioSensor, which employs nanowires to measure in real time the multiple blood proteins and other biomarkers the body produces in response to trauma or disease. Biomarker measurement is especially critical for emergency room doctors, who have little time to gauge the severity of a patient’s condition and choose a proper intervention. Benefits continue during recovery, when ongoing monitoring is essential.
As the first commercially available device capable of such on-the-spot analysis, the NanoBioSensor is expected to improve the lives of people and also reduce the suffering of research animals: Pharmaceutical scientists and other biomedical researchers often must sacrifice many animals to obtain sufficient blood or tissue samples for analysis of biomarker changes over time. The sensitivity and rapidity of Vista’s sensor will allow many biomarkers to be monitored with a simple nick of the research animal’s tail or ear.