The bipartisan Build to Scale Reauthorization Act of 2026 was introduced on May 15 by Congresswoman Haley Stevens (MI-11) and Rep. Jim Baird (R-IN), along with several co-sponsors. Additionally, more than sixty organizations and associations in 25 states endorsed the bill, which is designed to help Americans move new products, technologies, and medical inventions to market faster.
“The Build to Scale program allows any U.S. region to make its local companies more competitive at a time when global pressures demonstrate that we need that most urgently. And in turn, those innovative startups and manufacturers create critical high-wage job opportunities in communities big, medium, and small; rural, suburban, and urban,” said Mark Skinner, president & CEO of SSTI. “Our nation’s regional innovation initiatives thankrepresentatives Stevens and Baird for their leadership.”
Since 2014, the EDA’s Build to Scale program has invested $272 million in 426 projects nationwide, supporting more than 58,600 jobs and 6,200 startups. There is $150 million waiting for release of the next program funding announcement sometime this spring.
SSTI asked previous B2S awardees how the funding may have impacted their regional innovation strategies. Following is a sampling of testimonials SSTI received and shared with the legislation’s sponsors.
The increased ability to directly support innovation entrepreneurs and startups was a widely recurring theme in responses. For example, Christon Hill, program manager at Georgetown Tech Ventures, wrote, “…The primary impacts of the grant include:
-
“…(T)he launch of nine new deep-tech startups since October 2023…. These ventures are actively securing millions in early-stage capital….
“…(A) strategic collaboration with BioHealth Innovation (BHI)… embedded seasoned Entrepreneurs-in-Residence (EIRs) to evaluate new ventures and provide hands-on commercialization mentorship to faculty and student founders.
-
“…(T)he IMPACT @ Georgetown program… (trained) 134 participants… to build investor-ready pitch decks, define their value propositions, and structure strategic industry partnerships….”
Linda Olson, CEO and president of Tampa Bay Wave, shared testimony she gave at the U.S. House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology in December 2022. The testimony stated:
…WAVE runs the only 90-day accelerator program in Central Florida focused on tech startups that are “Seed to Series-A ready,” typically 2-3 cohorts per year (28 accelerator cohorts in total since that 2012 grant)…. In 2021, WAVE launched its first cybersecurity-focused program, CyberTech|X Accelerator, and ran a second cohort in early 2022. In partnership with the University of South Florida, WAVE also launched the FinTech|X Accelerator, a fintech-focused program earlier this year. And thanks to the 2022 Build to Scale grant that we were recently awarded, WAVE will run nine industry-focused accelerator cohorts over the next three years and focus on growing regional innovation clusters in cybersecurity, fintech, and (now) healthtech in the greater Tampa Bay region.
There are many other awardees across the nation who attest to the impact of Build to Scale on support for entrepreneurship and startups, including:
-
The Build to Scale program has helped to fuel some of our region's longest-standing and most impactful entrepreneurship programs, such as Digital Sandbox. (Melissa Roberts Chapman, president, KC BioHub)
-
… Build to Scale funding increases the likelihood that promising companies will start, scale, and remain headquartered in Kentucky. (Lisa Bajorinas, executive director, Kentucky Innovation Hubs, Kentucky Science & Technology Corp.)
-
…This [B2s funded] programming served 894 startups, delivered 4,184 mentoring hours, and helped companies raise over $154 million in capital during the grant period alone, far exceeding every program target, including a 502% achievement rate on investor connections. (Charles Layne, technology advancement director, Launch Tennessee)
-
In the grant that Rev1 leveraged, (the Build to Scale program) helped the organization to … strengthen programming that supports diverse, high-growth startups. (Kristy Campbell, president & COO, Rev1 Ventures)
The impact on rural areas has been a particularly strong outcome of this grant. Here are two examples:
-
…Build to Scale is one of the few federal programs explicitly designed to grow tech-based entrepreneurship outside major metro areas, giving rural communities a credible on-ramp to innovation economies that private capital alone will not build. (Matt Dunne, founder and CEO, Center on Rural Innovation)
-
…Build to Scale validates and elevates regions that are outside of traditional coastal tech hubs. It helps signal to investors, founders, and partners that innovation is happening here—and that it’s worth paying attention to. That credibility has a compounding effect: it attracts talent, unlocks additional funding, and strengthens partnerships across public, private, and academic stakeholders. (Caleb Talley, executive director at the Startup Junkie Foundation)
The Build to Scale awards also played an important role in building investor networks in regions that previously did not enjoy this essential ingredient of economic development. Below are a few examples:
-
As a recipient of a Build to Scale award in 2023, the program has been instrumental in helping our region expand its angel investor and seed-stage capital support networks. Since the program launched, we have added dozens of active angel investors to our network and supported more than $35 million in seed-stage capital access.” (Mike McCann, COO at the Entrepreneurs' Center)
-
Build to Scale has helped us develop and execute SPV-based micro-funds, the "Invest Blue" initiative we developed with assistance from the University of Kentucky, investing in small businesses and activating private capital via a larger number of smaller checks and move dollars off the sidelines into productive use in Kentucky-based startups. (Kelby Price, managing partner, Keyhorse Capital)
-
The Build 2 Scale program (award) we received was instrumental in creation of a $15 million privately funded venture capital fund as well as numerous associated initiatives focused on moving technologies across the so-called "valley of death" into commercial practice. (Jim Baker, sr. assoc. vice president for research, Michigan Technological University)
-
Another aspect of building capital support networks supported by the Build to Scale program was training new investors. Cara O'Hare, vice president of operations at StartUpNV, reported that their AngelNV bootcamp trained 78 new investors in 2025, noting that this training is the foundation that enables unrelated capital programs like SSBCI to deploy dollars effectively. “Without trained investors, matched capital has nowhere to go,” she wrote.
Ensuring the program receives its full $50 million authorized appropriation level each year is a top priority for SSTI's Innovation Advocacy Council. (Please consider becoming a member of SSTI and joining IAC so both can maintain and expand their efforts on behalf of the field).