Non-dilutive funding for MIT and Harvard founders — grants, pitch competitions, and fellowships
$50K to explore commercial potential of deep tech research. Customer discovery program with 7-week curriculum. Requires NSF-funded research or university affiliation.
Federal R&D grants across 11 agencies. Phase I for feasibility, Phase II for full development. Warning: congressional authority expired Sep 2025 — no new awards until reauthorized.
MIT J-PAL initiative funding rigorous evaluations of AI-enabled clinical decision support tools for frontline health workers. Focus on low- and middle-income countries. Backed by Wellcome Trust, Gates Foundation, and Novo Nordisk Foundation.
MIT initiative tackling global challenges across health, climate, learning, and economic prosperity. Solver teams receive funding, mentorship, and MIT network access.
Grants up to $1M from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center for growth-stage climatetech startups. Includes an Expert in Residence advisor and corporate/university matchmaking.
2-year fellowship for hard tech founders. $100K+ living stipend, lab access, and community. Based at national labs with a Boston cohort. No equity taken.
Zero-equity, zero-cost accelerator with competition-based cash awards. $1.5M+ in total prizes across the cohort. Based in Boston with a global network of 5,000+ alumni startups.
$1K micro-grant for capital-constrained students working on ambitious technical prototypes. No equity, no IP claims, sent via Venmo. From the fund behind Thiel Fellowship alumni.
Seed grants for MIT students exploring innovation-driven entrepreneurship in developing and frontier markets. Covers travel, prototyping, and market research. Fellowships include tuition support.
Selective incubator for Harvard founders with early traction. Structured milestones, expert mentorship, and direct connections to capital. Based at the Harvard Innovation Labs in Allston.
Pre-seed funding and equity-free grants for ventures led by Harvard students. Investment collaborative providing both capital and non-dilutive support through the Innovation Labs.
Federal grants for breakthrough energy and defense technologies. ARPA-E funds transformational energy R&D; DARPA funds defense deep tech. Note: ARPA-E facing proposed 57% budget cut — check current solicitations.
Summer fellowships ($6-7.5K) for MIT students developing social impact projects, nonprofits, or social enterprises. IAP fellowships ($2.5K) also available in winter.
Non-dilutive grants for Harvard student-led ventures advancing social impact in public health, education, sustainability, and economic opportunity. Aligned with the President's Innovation Challenge.
One-year equity-free fellowship up to $100K for builders, researchers, and creatives advancing civilization. No institutional affiliation required. Highly competitive with a strong alumni network.
$200K over two years for founders aged 22 or under willing to leave school to build. Lifelong alumni network includes Vitalik Buterin, Austin Russell (Luminar), and Dylan Field (Figma).
Global student startup competition in partnership with the UN. $1M grand prize for for-profit social enterprises addressing an SDG. Campus qualifiers lead to a Global Accelerator in London.
Global startup competition from Boston-based Pillar VC awarding up to $1M in non-dilutive prizes. Grand prize of $1M or $250K runner-up for ambitious early-stage ventures.
Competition for student-led startups working on sustainable water, food, and agriculture solutions. $50K+ in total prizes. Teams must have received less than $100K in prior funding.
MIT's premier entrepreneurship competition. $100K grand prize plus additional prizes. Teams must have at least one MIT student. Launch round applications open after Accelerate round.
Harvard's largest startup competition with $500K+ in total prizes across multiple tracks. Open to all Harvard students and recent alumni. Applications for 2026 have closed — watch for 2027 cycle.
10 early-stage companies selected to present to 500+ CIOs, CDOs, and senior tech executives at MIT Sloan's annual symposium. Winners featured at exclusive VIP pre-event with industry leaders.
$100K+ in prizes for student-led ventures tackling climate change and the clean energy transition. Applications closed — finalists advancing to Grand Finals on April 23.
Regional pitch competition with mentorship and investment readiness training. Winners advance to TiE U Global Pitch Competition at TiE Global Summit.
MIT's flagship summer accelerator. Up to $75K in equity-free funding + $2,600/month stipend. Teams work full-time June through September with mentorship from HubSpot, Okta, and Kayak founders.
Annual competition for arts-focused startup ventures. $15K grant to the winner. Finalists receive mentorship, workshops, and access to the /START Studio incubator.
Non-dilutive grant funding + entrepreneurship training and mentorship. For scalable innovations addressing social, health, or environmental challenges. Pioneer Workshop: Apr 22-23 in Boston.
NIH challenge for undergraduate teams developing technology solutions to unmet healthcare needs. $190K total prize purse. Winners announced August 25, 2026.
The $100K competition runs across three rounds. Pitch ($5K, Sep) is the entry point, Accelerate ($10K, Mar) is the semifinal, and Launch ($100K, May) is the final.
Grants up to $125K for MIT researchers translating lab innovations into commercial products. Focus on deep tech with clear market potential. Catalyst grants ($50K) also available.
2-year fellowship at LBNL for hard tech innovators. Access to world-class lab facilities, living stipend, and research funding. Focus on energy, manufacturing, and advanced materials.
MIT and Harvard offer some of the most generous non-dilutive funding opportunities for student founders in the world. From the MIT $100K Competition to Harvard's New Venture Competition and President's Innovation Challenge, there are millions of dollars available each year in grants, prizes, and fellowships — with no equity required. TNT tracks these deadlines so our founders never miss an opportunity to fund their startups.
Last updated: March 2026. Submit an opportunity
TNT is a startup accelerator for technical founders building AI-powered companies. $300K+ in credits from Anthropic, Google, AWS, and NVIDIA.