Economic Development Administration · Economic Development
Build to Scale (BTS) Program
Funds regional innovation strategies that accelerate entrepreneurship, business commercialization, and capital-access initiatives. Cities lead or partner with universities, accelerators, and capital providers.
Program facts
- Typical award
- $400K – $2M
- Non-federal match
- 50% (approximate)
- Audience
- Cities, towns, counties, and tribal governments
- Application window
- Annual NOFO; three component tracks.
- Typical prep time
- 10–16 weeks
- Statutory authority
- Public Works and Economic Development Act §27 (42 U.S.C. §3722)
Catalog entry last verified 2026-05-24 · Verify on the agency page →
Eligibility at a glance
- Cities are eligible applicants.
Venture Challenge, Capital Challenge, and Industry Challenge tracks. Amounts and timing approximate; verify directly with administering agency.
How Strategic Pursuit scores this program
When you run a city dossier, Strategic Pursuit cross-checks the city's demographics, federal award history, disaster history, and CEJST burden categories against this program's eligibility and strategic-fit signals. You see an explicit eligibility / strategic / competitive grade — backed by source citations — instead of a generic "match" badge.
Planning purposes only. Award ranges, match percentages, and application windows on this page summarize the latest publicly available agency guidance and are approximate. Always verify the binding NOFO on the administering agency's page before applying.