40 sources of funding

Finding sources of funding, financing, and investment is one of the most daunting challenges for companies and entrepreneurs, especially for those who want to do business abroad. And in most cases, the limit is not actually the money itself, but the lack of information.

What are the most common sources of funding?

What kind of funding offers the US and Texas?

Which is the best one for your business?

You can start looking at this complete list created by our mentor and facilitator Willy Verbrugghe, from SCORE Houston, with more than 40 sources of funding. You will also find useful sites and links to explore in detail.

Personal sources of funding

• Own personal savings
• Friends and Family
• Personal Credit cards
• Borrowing on personal assets
• Bootstrapping

More traditional sources of funding

• Bank loans: Big banks, small Banks, Community Banks, SBA Guarantee
• Angel Investors groups or networks
• Venture Capitalists (Accelerators and Incubators) + Corporate VCs
• Private Equity
• Family Offices
• Funds of Funds, Sovereign funds
• SPACS
• IPO and stock market, Bond Market, and Private Placements

Funding for existing businesses

• Retained earnings
• Factoring
• Supplier credit
• Customer advances
• Project progressive payments
• Major customer partnership
• Line of credits, letters of credit
• Exim bank, other governmental export assistance

SBA Small Business Administration Grants

• 7(a) loans for working capital
• 504 loans for assets purchase on collateral
• Micro loans for mostly equipment
• Export loans for equipment or projects
• International loans or grants for trade assistance
• PPP EIDL and Disaster loans
• SBA Express for lines of credit
• Veterans, Minorities, and Underserved communities

Alternative sources of funding

• Small business grants, or NSF, SBIR Research grants
• Crowdfunding
• Foundations for nonprofits
• Partnerships with well funded organizations
• Fintech, online lenders
• International development banks + World Bank

Creative sources of funding

• Peer-to-peer loans
• Barter agreements
• Repay loan as you can agreements
• Revenue based loans

Federal, State, and local grants

• Grants.gov – https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/home.html – Federal Grants
• Small Business Development Grants – https://www.sbdc.uh.edu/sbdc/COVID19-Grants.asp – wide range of local and Texas based grants
• Texas Grant Watch – Subscription Fee – https://texas.grantwatch.com/
• SBR /STTR NIH Funding – https://sbir.nih.gov/funding – grants of $100K – $1M o STTR must partner with research institution
• SBR/ STTR Funding – https://www.sbir.gov/funding – grants of $100K – $1M o STTR must partner with research institution
• STEP Grants – https://www.sba.gov/funding-programs/grants/state-trade-expansion-program-step – relatively common focus on exporting
• National Science Foundation – https://www.nsf.gov/funding/
• USDA Rural Development Grants – https://www.rd.usda.gov/programs-services/rural-businessdevelopment-grants
• Homeland Security Grants – https://www.fema.gov/grants/preparedness/homeland-security o Wide range of sub-grants available – nonprofit, state, regional, etc.
• Texas Grants – https://gov.texas.gov/organization/financial-services/grants
• Government Grant Resources – https://governmentgrant.com/grant-information/grant-sources
• USA Grant Applications – https://usagrantapplications.org/v9/ – clearinghouse for all types of grants
• Port of Houston – https://porthouston.com/community-outreach/grantsprogram/
• City of Houston Grants – http://www.houstontx.gov/finance/grants/
• City of Houston Covid-19 Resources including funding – https://www.houstontx.gov/obo/covid19.html
• Rep Jackson Lee Grants – https://jacksonlee.house.gov/services/grants