Galaxy Grants $2,250 to a US woman or minority-owned business, from the nonprofits Galaxy of Stars and Hidden Star. Bonus: refer a founder, and if they win, you win too. Closes October 31 - APPLY

Hey Helen Grant $10,000 in unrestricted cash to one woman founder every month, from Visionaries. Your US business needs to be at least 50% woman-owned and under $1M in revenue. Pre-revenue is fine. Apply once and you stay in the running for 12 monthly rounds. There’s a $15 fee. October round closes October 31 - APPLY

Capital One Catapult Six months of free coaching from Capital One’s team, a dedicated advisor, and a closing pitch competition at HQ. Two of the in-person sessions are in Plano. You need a diverse-owned business certification, three years in business, and $1M to $15M in revenue. Closes November 2 - APPLY

Horowitz Andreessen Academy Know a young builder who’d rather ship than sit in lectures? a16z’s new tuition-free fellowship in San Francisco comes with $50,000+ in compute credits and a $5,000 project budget. Built for recent high school grads who already have something to show. Early deadline November 5 - APPLY

Equalize A pitch competition and symposium for women academic founders in therapeutics, medtech, research tools and the physical sciences. Mentorship and training lead up to a final pitch. Closes November 13 - APPLY

SXSW Pitch 2027 A shot at pitching 40 investor judges in Austin next March. Past participants have raised $22.5 billion combined. Your product must have launched after January 1, 2024, and you need to be under $10 million raised. Heads up, there’s a $225 entry fee. Closes November 13 - APPLY

Techstars Spring 2027 $220,000 and three months inside a Techstars accelerator, including the fully remote Anywhere program. This one takes equity, so read the terms. Closes November 18 - APPLY

Entreprenista Evolve Grant $5,000 for a woman founder ready for the next step, from Entreprenista and IT Cosmetics. US business, at least a year old, doing $100,000+ in revenue. Closes November 30 - APPLY

Skip $10K Growth Grant $10,000 to one US entrepreneur or small business owner, no strings. Anyone 18 and up can apply, with no revenue or stage requirements. It’s a short set of written questions, so it’s worth 20 minutes. Closes December 17 - APPLY

Verizon Digital Ready Grant $10,000 grants every month through the end of 2026. Finish two free Digital Ready courses, apply once, and you stay in the running all year. Open to US for-profit small businesses. Monthly picks through December - APPLY

Braze Tech for an Equitable Future Twelve months of the Braze customer engagement platform for free, plus support to get it running. Built for underrepresented founders with under $30 million raised and fewer than 100 employees. Closes January 15 - APPLY

The Amber Grant $10,000 to a woman-owned business every month, plus a startup track if you’re still pre-revenue and a $50,000 prize at year end. One application covers it all, with a $15 fee. October’s category grant goes to creative arts. Monthly - APPLY

Warrior Rising Up to $20,000 in non-dilutive funding for veterans and military spouses building a business. The path is free: start at Warrior Academy, and founders with real traction get invited to pitch. Rolling - APPLY

America’s Seed Fund (NSF) Up to $2 million for deep tech, and the NSF takes no equity and no IP. AI, energy, medtech, robotics, semiconductors. Project pitches are open year round, so there’s no deadline to miss. Rolling - APPLY

Claude Startups Anthropic just opened its startup program wider. Members get up to $45,000 in partner credits and discounts, office hours with Anthropic’s Applied AI team, and invites to founder events. Backed by a partner VC? You may qualify for up to $100,000 in API credits on top. Open to startups founded in the last five years or funded in the last two, bootstrapped included. Heads up: the free Claude Team year and $1,000 credit offer is over capacity right now. Rolling - APPLY

NVIDIA Inception Free cloud credits, technical training, hardware discounts and VC intros for AI startups. No fees, no equity, no cohort. You need to be incorporated, under 10 years old, with a working site and at least one developer. Rolling - APPLY