Grant Round 19 - Now Open!
October 22, 2025 – Now accepting Letters of Intent (LOI) for Grant Round 19
January 16, 2026 5:00 PM Eastern Deadline to submit LOI for consideration in Grant Round 19
Invitation to submit a full application will be sent to Applicant Teams whose LOI meets funding criteria
March 20, 2026 5:00 PM Eastern Deadline to submit full application for Grant Round 19
April 2, 2026 Invitation to present proposal in person to our Project Management and Oversight Panel (PMOP) will be sent to the top 8 applicant teams as determined by scoring and ranking of applications
Week of April 20, 2026 Proposal Presentations (date subject to change)
Week of April 27, 2026 Virginia Board of Directors final funding decision for Grant Round 19 (date subject to change)
May 2026 Grant Round 19 Awardees announced
January 16, 2026 5:00 PM Eastern Deadline to submit LOI for consideration in Grant Round 19
Invitation to submit a full application will be sent to Applicant Teams whose LOI meets funding criteria
March 20, 2026 5:00 PM Eastern Deadline to submit full application for Grant Round 19
April 2, 2026 Invitation to present proposal in person to our Project Management and Oversight Panel (PMOP) will be sent to the top 8 applicant teams as determined by scoring and ranking of applications
Week of April 20, 2026 Proposal Presentations (date subject to change)
Week of April 27, 2026 Virginia Board of Directors final funding decision for Grant Round 19 (date subject to change)
May 2026 Grant Round 19 Awardees announced
The Letter of Intent (LOI): What You Need to Know
A Letter of Intent (LOI) is required in advance of a full application submission. These will be reviewed by our Project Management and Oversight Panel (PMOP) to ensure that funding criteria are met. Those Applicant Teams whose LOI meets funding criteria will be invited to submit a full application.
LOI Guidelines
Address the following Funding Criteria:
LOI Guidelines
Address the following Funding Criteria:
- Market Need: the unmet need and the size of the market in dollars and numbers of patients
- Proposed Solution: the product or service to be commercialized to meet the need
- Significant Collaboration: the synergistic compliments of the team members and how they will work together and collaborate to achieve the goals of the project
- Economic Impact for Virginia: positive economic impact for Virginia through increased revenues, profitability, job creation, and follow-on funding
- Matching Funds: the source(s) of the matching funds (minimum of 1:1 matching fund requirement)
What happens after submission of a Letter of Intent (LOI)?
- LOIs will be reviewed to determine if the funding criteria are met.
- The proposals that meet funding criteria will be invited to submit a full application, which is then reviewed, scored, and ranked by our PMOP.
- The top 8 ranked teams will be invited to present to our PMOP for final scoring and ranking (irrespective of initial scoring)
- Using final scoring and ranking, our PMOP will make funding recommendations to our Board of Directors (BOD).
- Our BOD makes all final funding decisions.
- Applicant Teams will be notified of the decisions of our BOD.
- If awarded grant funding, a Grant Agreement contract between the Virginia Catalyst, Industry Partner, Prime University, and Partner University(ies), will be executed and subsequently, initial award disbursements will be made.
