Startups can get equity-free funding from private grants, government R&D programs, competitions, and cloud credits. Open options in late 2026 include the .tech No Excuses Fund (up to $1 million in equity-free grants, applications close Dec 15, 2026), the Thiel Fellowship, Emergent Ventures, and the US SBIR/STTR programs. None of them take equity or use a SAFE.
The first money you take shapes what comes after it: your cap table, your next round, and how much of the company you still own when it works.
Plenty of founders take dilutive money first because they don’t know what else exists.
I went through the questions founders type into Google and ChatGPT when they’re trying to fund a startup, such as “where can I get equity-free funding?” and “is there a fund with no SAFE?”, and answered 21 of them with real numbers and the catches you should know about.
Before we get into the 21 questions, here’s a quick introduction to the The .tech No Excuses Fund. With up to $1 million in equity-free grants across three cohorts, in amounts of $10k, $50k or $100k. Cohort one closes December 15, 2026.
What is the .tech No Excuses Fund?
The .tech No Excuses Fund is a programme by .tech Domains that gives up to $1 million in equity-free grants to builders, from day zero to pre-Series A. Every eligible application is considered for a grant of $10,000, $50,000 or $100,000, and the fund takes no equity, SAFE, convertible note or board seat.
To apply, your product must be working, public and live on a .tech domain. The fund doesn’t accept decks or idea-only submissions. A panel that includes Ryan Hoover of Product Hunt, Matt Biilmann of Netlify reviews applications, and recipients can also get mentorship, VC introductions and partner credits.
Cohort one closes December 15, 2026, and decisions are announced January 15, 2027. Apply here.
Is the .tech No Excuses Fund legit?
Yes. The No Excuses Fund is run by Radix Technologies, the registry operator of the .tech domain, and paid for entirely by .tech domains. Its official rules are public and cover eligibility, judging, payment and taxes, with disputes governed by California law.
The rules state there is no fee to apply. Grants are paid in US dollars within 60 days of completed verification, and the panel members are named on the fund’s site. Apply only through noexcuses.get.tech.
What is non-dilutive funding for startups?
Non-dilutive funding is money a startup receives without giving up ownership. It includes grants, government R&D awards such as SBIR, competition prizes and cloud credits. Unlike a priced round or a SAFE, it adds no investors to your cap table, so founders keep their full equity.
The trade-off is that grants are usually smaller and more competitive than equity rounds, and some carry conditions, such as the .tech domain requirement on the No Excuses Fund.
Where can I get startup funding without giving up equity?
There are four main sources, and most founders only look at the first one.
- Private grants from companies, foundations or individuals, which take nothing back. Examples include the Thiel Fellowship, Emergent Ventures, and corporate-backed funds like The .tech No Excuses Fund.
- Government R&D grants. In the US that means SBIR and STTR, which pay well but move slowly and need a lot of paperwork.
- Competitions and prizes, such as pitch competitions, hackathons and university contests. The amounts are usually smaller.
- Credits for cloud, AI and developer tools. They aren’t cash, but they lower your burn.
If you already have something working, start with private grants. They usually move the fastest and ask the least of you.
The .tech No Excuses Fund is paid for by .tech domains, and it considers every eligible application for $10k, $50k or $100k. It takes no shares, no SAFE, no convertible note and no board seat.
Is there a startup fund that doesn’t use a SAFE?
Yes. The .tech No Excuses Fund, the Thiel Fellowship, Emergent Ventures and SBIR grants all fund startups without a SAFE, though most early investors still use one.
A SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity) is how most accelerators and angels invest early. You get cash now, and they get shares later when you raise a priced round. It’s quick and fairly founder-friendly, but it’s still equity, and it lands on your cap table later.
A convertible note works the same way, except it’s technically debt, with an interest rate and a maturity date. A grant has neither: nothing converts and nothing comes due.
If avoiding a SAFE matters to you, look for a program that puts it in writing. The No Excuses Fund’s official rules say the award is not an investment or loan and that .tech receives no equity, options, securities, revenue share or ownership interest. Be wary of any program that calls itself equity-free but won’t say so in its terms.
Can I get startup funding with just an idea?
Sometimes, but idea-only funding is far more competitive than it used to be. AI tools have made a first version cheap to build, so investors and grant panels increasingly expect to see one, and an idea with no product is up against founders who shipped something last weekend.
You don’t need much. A working MVP that solves one problem well usually beats a polished deck.
If you’re at the idea stage, The No Excuses Fund gives you a deadline to work toward. You can register now with just an idea, then submit a working build by December 15, 2026. Even if you don’t win, you’ll end up with a live product, which other funders will want to see anyway.
What equity-free startup grants are open right now?
As of late October 2026, four equity-free programs are worth a look: The No Excuses Fund, the Thiel Fellowship, Emergent Ventures and SBIR/STTR. Deadlines change, so check each official page before you plan around one.
| Program | Amount | Equity taken | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| The No Excuses Fund | $10k, $50k or $100k | None | Builders with a working product, day zero to pre-Series A. Closes Dec 15, 2026 |
| Thiel Fellowship | $250k over two years (2026 class) | None | Founders aged 22 or under with no university degree, willing to drop out of school |
| Emergent Ventures | Varies, often small | None | Unusual, high-ambition ideas, worldwide |
| SBIR / STTR | Varies by agency | None | US small businesses doing technical R&D |
SBIR lapsed on September 30, 2025, and was reauthorized through September 30, 2031 by a law signed on April 13, 2026. Older articles that describe SBIR as paused are out of date.
How much equity should I give up at pre-seed?
There’s no fixed rule, but 10% to 20% of the company is a common range for a pre-seed round.
Early equity is the most expensive equity you’ll sell, because you’re selling it at your lowest valuation. Give away 15% at pre-seed, 20% at seed and 20% at Series A, and you own roughly half your company before you’ve reached real scale.
That’s why it makes sense to collect non-dilutive money first. A $50k grant might get you to the milestone that doubles your valuation before you raise, so you sell half as much of the company for the same cash.
What’s the catch with equity-free startup grants?
The only catch with the .tech No Excuses Fund is that your product must run on a .tech domain, and winners must keep it there for 24 months. Every grant exists for a reason: government grants want R&D and jobs, foundations want impact, and corporate grants want something tied to their business.
.tech states this condition upfront: we want more real companies running on .tech. Paying builders directly is a better use of the money than another ad.
The official rules spell out what that means:
- Your product’s primary website must be live on .tech when you submit. A redirect or parked page doesn’t count.
- If you win, you need to keep your primary site on .tech for 24 months, unless you sell the company or shut it down first.
- If you move off .tech early and don’t restore it within 30 days, you may have to repay part of the grant.
- Applicants let .tech use their project name and logo to promote the program for three years. For unsuccessful applicants, that’s limited to public project info and the fact they applied.
There’s no equity, no revenue share and no spending milestones. You’ll still owe any taxes, need to prove you own your IP, and may be asked for a short update within 12 months.
For most early-stage products I think that’s a fair trade, since a domain costs far less than equity. Read the rules and decide for yourself before you apply.
Can I apply for startup funding while I have a full-time job?
Yes, and many founders do. The risk is your employment contract, which may give your employer rights to anything you build, especially if you used company time, laptops or code.
Most grant programs and investors will ask you to prove you own what you built. The No Excuses Fund requires written evidence, before an award is confirmed, that any employer, client or university that could claim rights has released them.
Getting that release can take weeks, so ask for it now. Otherwise paperwork could hold up an award in January.
Can I get startup grants after raising a seed round?
Often, yes. Many startup grants accept seed-funded companies. The .tech No Excuses Fund, for example, accepts teams with seed funding as long as they haven’t raised a Series A.
Existing products and customers are welcome too. The rules note that a very large round labelled “seed” may be treated as Series A-equivalent, so be upfront about what you’ve raised.
Your stage also doesn’t cap your grant. A day-zero builder and a seed-funded team can both receive $100k, because the amount depends on the build and how far it can go.
Should I apply to Y Combinator or go for equity-free grants?
Yes, you can apply to Y Combinator and to equity-free grants like the .tech No Excuses Fund at the same time. YC’s standard deal is $500,000: $125,000 for 7% of your company, plus $375,000 on an uncapped SAFE with most-favored-nation terms. Around 1% of applicants get in.
That equity buys a network, a brand and Demo Day, and many companies find it worth the price. A grant gives you less cash and costs you nothing in ownership. For a lot of founders, a sensible order is:
- Use non-dilutive money to build and get early traction.
- Apply to accelerators or raise from angels once the product is stronger.
- Use that progress to negotiate better terms.
A grant from The No Excuses Fund doesn’t stop you applying to YC later, and there’s no SAFE or cap table entry to complicate things.
Should my startup apply for SBIR grants?
Yes, if you’re a US small business doing R&D. SBIR and STTR, known together as “America’s Seed Fund,” put more than $4 billion a year into US small businesses doing R&D. The amounts are large, they take no equity, and later investors take them seriously.
They’re also slow and competitive, and they’re built for research-heavy work. The 2026 reauthorization added stricter foreign-ownership and security checks, plus limits on how many proposals one company can submit.
SBIR is worth the effort for deep tech, hardware or defense work in the US. If you’re building software and want money this quarter, a private grant with a short decision cycle is usually a better first step. The No Excuses Fund announces decisions on January 15, 2027, about a month after it closes.
Do I have to pay tax on a startup grant?
Usually, yes. In most countries a business grant counts as income for whoever receives it, whether that’s you or your company. What you owe depends on where you live, how you’re set up and what you spend it on.
Most programs say this plainly. The .tech No Excuses Fund’s rules make the recipient responsible for taxes and allow the fund to withhold anything the law requires, so budget for it.
I’m not a tax advisor, and neither is any grant program. Talk to an accountant before the money arrives.
How do I make my startup grant application stand out?
To stand out, show a live product, a specific problem, evidence of demand, a plan for the money and honesty about what you built. Panels read hundreds of applications, and the strongest ones do these five things:
- They show the product. A live product beats a description of one.
- They name a specific problem. “Helping small teams” is vague; “cutting invoice reconciliation for 10-person agencies from 4 hours to 10 minutes” gets attention.
- They show that someone cares, through users, a waitlist, a few paying customers or strong feedback.
- They explain what the money unlocks, for example what you’d do with $10k compared with $100k.
- They’re honest about what was built. If you used templates or open-source code, say so. Most programs ask, and being caught hiding it is worse than disclosing it.
The No Excuses Fund’s panel looks at the problem you’re solving, what you’ve built, and your ability to take it forward. Make sure your application answers those three questions first.
Do startup grants come with anything besides money?
The better ones do, and the extras can be worth as much as the check. No Excuses Fund recipients can get:
- Mentorship from Eric Ries (author of The Lean Startup), Chris Yeh (VC, author and Stanford instructor), Arielle Jackson (marketing expert in residence at First Round), Jon Gottfried (co-founder of Major League Hacking), Eli Altman (A Hundred Monkeys) and Taissa Maleh (1752vc).
- Introductions to VCs when you’re ready to raise.
- Credits across cloud, AI, infrastructure and developer tools from third-party partners.
Credits and perks come from partners with their own terms, so they aren’t guaranteed. The cash grant is the core of the program.
Still, an introduction to the right investor can turn a nine-month seed raise into a three-month one. See the full mentor lineup.
Does my startup’s domain name matter to investors?
Yes. Your domain is often the first thing an investor, customer or journalist sees, so it shapes their first impression of the company.
Many founders spend weeks, and sometimes thousands of dollars, trying to buy a .com that someone parked a decade ago while their product sits unshipped. That’s one reason technical startups now launch on extensions that say what they are. A .tech domain tells people you build technology before they’ve read your homepage.
A .tech domain is also the entry ticket to The .tech No Excuses Fund. If you’re already on another domain, you can register a .tech, move your product’s primary site onto it, and then apply. It has to be the real home of your product, not a redirect.
How do I get startup funding as a solo founder with no network?
Apply to programs that judge your work instead of your network. Traditional VC runs on warm intros, which puts you at a disadvantage if you don’t know anyone, but these options don’t depend on who you know:
- Open-application grants that accept anyone, not just referrals.
- Build-first programs that evaluate your product, not your pedigree.
- Public launches on sites like Product Hunt, where some investors look for new companies.
The .tech No Excuses Fund fits the first two, with no pitch meeting, warm intro or deck. AI tools may help screen applications, but humans make every final award decision. The panel also includes the founder of Product Hunt, which helps if you plan to launch there.
Applying puts your product in front of people you’d struggle to reach with cold emails. Submit your build.
Can founders outside the US apply for startup grants?
Yes, many startup grants accept founders outside the US, though government programs like SBIR don’t. Check each program’s eligibility first.
- The Thiel Fellowship and Emergent Ventures accept applicants from around the world.
- SBIR and STTR are for US small businesses only.
- The No Excuses Fund is open in most countries. Applicants must be 18 or older, and residents of some places are excluded, including Brazil, Italy, mainland China, Russia and Quebec (the rest of Canada is eligible). Eligibility depends on legal residence, not citizenship.
Check the full eligibility list before you start building toward the deadline.
What’s the fastest way to get funding for my startup?
Programs with short decision cycles and simple applications pay out fastest. To move quickly:
- Ship something this month, since you can’t get fast money without something to show.
- Apply to grants with a hard deadline. They force you to finish, and they decide on a fixed date.
- Sort out IP releases, company details and bank information early, because they slow payouts more than anything else.
- Apply to several programs at once. Grants rarely require exclusivity.
The .tech No Excuses Fund closes December 15, 2026, announces decisions January 15, 2027, and pays within 60 days of completed verification. For a $100k equity-free grant, that’s a short wait.
How should I combine grants and equity funding?
Build first, collect non-dilutive money, hit a milestone, and then raise equity. If I were starting a tech company today, I’d go in this order:
- Build a working product, which opens more doors than a deck.
- Collect non-dilutive money from grants, credits and competitions.
- Hit a milestone, such as users, revenue or a technical result that makes the company more valuable.
- Raise equity once you have leverage.
Founders who keep more of their companies usually waited longer to sell equity.
If you have something live, or can ship by the deadline, apply to The .tech No Excuses Fund before December 15, 2026. Grants go up to $100k, with no equity and no SAFE.
What’s stopping you from shipping this month?
