Page 37 - Innovation Delaware 2021

DELAWARE INCENTIVES
at a glance
For details on incentives, grants, credits, loans and other types of funding available in Delaware,
take a look at these websites.
MIKE BOWMAN
administered the federal CARES grants. “We gave $160 million to 3,200 individual businesses, with grants ranging from $15,000 to $100,000,” DeStefano says.
Add to that the ongoing state incentives that benefit entrepreneurs, such as the Angel Investor Tax Credit (which provides a 25% refundable credit for investors in Delaware-based small businesses) and the Research & Development Tax Credit (which stacks a state credit on top of the federal credit for research activities).
The state’s popular EDGE Grant program, which awards up to $100,000 to STEM businesses and up to $50,000 to non-STEM entrepreneurs, was suspended in 2020 due to the pandemic. But it’s back this year and “better than ever,” DeStefano says.
EDGE grants are available to Delaware businesses less than five years old that have fewer than 10 employees. “After the business submits its application, they may be asked to make a pitch, and some of those will be chosen to go to a Shark Tank round,” DeStefano says.
In 2019, 20 businesses received a collective $1.5 million in EDGE grants, but he says that those who don’t make it the first time learn during the process how to present themselves in future dealings with banks and community lenders and are also invited to try again. “We may also start making smaller grants of $25,000,” DeStefano says, “because, for a company
PUBLIC (STATE OF DELAWARE)
• Angel Investor Tax Credit: business.delaware.gov/angel-investor
• EDGE Grants: business.delaware.gov/edge-grants
• Applied Research Collaboration Grant: cat.dbi.udel.edu/grants.php
• Delaware Technical Innovation Program: www.sbir.gov/node/736197
• R&D Tax Credit: www.delawarebio.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/ RD-Credit-Fact-Sheet.pdf
• SBA loans: www.sba.gov/offices/district/de/wilmington PUBLIC (COUNTY AND LOCAL)
Kent Economic Partnership: www.choosecentraldelaware.com
• NCC Innovates: nccde.ecdev.org
• Sussex County Economic Development: www.excitesussex.com
• Wilmington Mayor’s Office of Economic Development: www. wilmingtonde.gov/government/city-departments/office-of-economic- development
PRIVATE INVESTMENT
• BioAdvance: www.bioadvance.com
• Delaware Innovation Space First Fund Program: www.deinnovates.org/
first-fund-program
• Leading Edge Ventures: www.leadingedgevc.com
• Keiretsu Forum Mid-Atlantic: www.keiretsuforum-midatlantic.com
• Mid-Atlantic Diamond Ventures: www.fox.temple.edu/ institutes-centers/mid-atlantic-diamond-ventures
• Osage Venture Partners: www.osageventurepartners.com
• Robin Hood Ventures: www.robinhoodventures.com
This list was compiled based on the Delaware Prosperity Partnership’s Innovation & Entrepreneurship Ecosystem map. For a more comprehensive list of
resources, turn to page 112.
INNOVATION DELAWARE 35