The Computomatix Times

The US government will give your startup up to $1.55M and take 0% equity.

@NSF's America's Seed Fund is open again after Congress reauthorized it in April.

Three tracks:
- Phase I: up to $305K to prove the idea
- Phase II: up to $1.25M to build it
- Fast-Track: up to $1.55M, both phases in one go

Who can apply:
- US-based startups with 500 or fewer employees
- 51%+ owned by US citizens or permanent residents
- Not majority owned by VCs
- All the work done in the US

How it works:
- Send a 3-page Project Pitch first
- NSF invites the best ones to submit a full proposal
- Next full proposal deadline: Nov 4

Phase I funding rates have run about 10 to 20%. It's work, but nobody takes your cap table.

Application link 👉 seedfund.nsf.gov

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Well deserved! Congrats @NousResearch @Teknium @Kshitijjkapoor . You've built something amazing here. Thank you!

The Claude Startups program is expanding to more founders.

Members can get a year of Claude Team, API credits, special offers on the tools a startup runs on, and office hours with Anthropic’s Applied AI team.

Where can startups win in consumer AI?

We @a16z mapped out where we see early winners - search, creative tools, productivity 👇

We're still waiting for winners everywhere else - social, marketplaces, travel, finance, hiring, dating, gaming, media, and more

Qatar's entire startup ecosystem raised $11M in venture capital in 2023. This new program writes single checks of $5.5M. One company can now land half the country's annual VC flow just by agreeing to move to Doha.

Here's the mechanism underneath it. Cities with real startup density charge you to be there. San Francisco collects it in rent, New York collects it in salaries, and founders pay gladly because the customers, talent, and capital are all within a mile. Cities without that density have to run the trade in reverse. They pay you.

So the $5.5M is Doha putting a price on the network effects it doesn't have yet.

The regional race explains the urgency. Saudi Arabia pulled in $1.4B of venture funding in 2023, 52% of all MENA. The UAE led the region in deal count. Qatar took 6% of deals. In a three-country contest for Gulf tech, third place pays cash.

The structure shows how targeted this is. It's equity, drawn from a $100M fund managed by Qatar Development Bank, disbursed on milestones, and relocation is mandatory. A $100M fund writing checks up to $5.5M caps out around 18 companies at the top track. They're running an auction for a few dozen anchor startups, and the visas and subsidized housing exist to tip founders who are already indifferent between Gulf cities.

This playbook has worked before. Singapore's Economic Development Board spent the late 1960s paying companies to show up, and Texas Instruments went from decision to production in Singapore in about 50 days in 1968. GDP per capita there was around $500 at the time. Today it's roughly $90,000.

The unsolved part is retention. Checks get companies to land. Density is what makes them stay, and density only arrives after enough checks pile up in the same place at the same time. Singapore cleared that threshold. Qatar is betting $100M it can too.

Up to $5.5M to move your startup to Qatar.

Just an MVP gets you in the door.

The Startup Qatar Investment Program (backed by QDB) funds tech startups to launch or expand in Qatar.

Two tracks:
START: up to $1.1M if you have a proof of concept or MVP
GROW: up to $5.5M if you're already established and expanding

What else you get:
- Entrepreneur visa + flexible work visa
- Registration and license fees waived
- Subsidized housing
- Subsidized co-working space
- Access to R&D and innovation grants
- Mentoring, training + help hiring talent and interns
- Your product showcased at exhibitions

Sectors they want:
- AI & ML, B2B SaaS, FinTech, HealthTech, Cybersecurity, Climate Tech, Robotics + more
- Not on the list? It's open to any innovative startup

Apply link below 👇
startupqatar.qa/en/investment-program

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