Non-Dilutive Funding Webinar Series
Launch Chapel Hill - GE Extend North Carolina
Capitalizing on Non-Dilutive Funding
Where federal funding stands today, what wins now, where AI helps and where it hurts, and how to build a funding strategy that lasts.
Tuesday, October 6, 2026, 9:00 AM ETLaunch Chapel Hill, 136 E Rosemary St, Chapel Hill, NC 27514Download Resources
Fill out the form below to get the slides and the video recording from the session.
What to expect
- 45 minutes
The session
Funding update and outlook, what it takes to write a winning application, where AI fits, and long-term funding strategies.
- 15 minutes
Live Q&A
Bring your questions for the Grant Engine team.
- 30 minutes
Meet the team
Optional one-on-one in-person consultation after the session.
Federal non-dilutive funding has changed more in the past year than in the prior decade. SBIR/STTR is reauthorized through September 2031, annual proposal caps arrive in FY2027, and every applicant now faces a national security risk assessment. NIH is catching up on a delayed FY26 cycle, with roughly half of its $1.5B SBIR/STTR budget still to obligate in September. Meanwhile, submission volume is up more than 40% in two years and average win rates have fallen by nearly half.
Funding Update & Outlook. Status, budgets, deadlines, and best fit across Life Sciences & Health (NIH SBIR/STTR, ARPA-H, BARDA) and Defense & Dual-Use (DoD SBIR/STTR, DARPA, DIU), plus the reauthorization provisions that matter most, including Strategic Breakthrough Awards of up to $30M, proposal caps, expanded Direct-to-Phase II, and the new foreign risk and security requirements.
Write to Win + AI in Use. What separates funded applications from the rest. Grant Engine's analysis of NIH SBIR proposals shows the Approach section is the strongest predictor of funding, and DoD ranks technical approach above every other criterion. We draw a clear line on AI: where it accelerates the work, where only people can do it, and why paid AI tools are not always private for unpublished data and IP.
Long-Term Funding Strategies. Moving from the next award to the next several years: diversifying across federal, state, non-profit, and global sources, and the plays leading companies use to build durable funding.
What you'll leave with
- Where the money is right now: status, budgets, deadlines, and best fit for NIH SBIR/STTR, ARPA-H, BARDA, DoD SBIR/STTR, DARPA, and DIU
- What just changed: reauthorization provisions, annual proposal caps, Strategic Breakthrough Awards, and foreign risk requirements, and what each means for your filing strategy
- Why applications win or lose, and why the hardest sections to write well are the ones that decide the outcome
- How to win more often: a self-evident story, logical flow, clarity, shoring up the weakest criteria, and independent external review
- The AI boundary: where AI accelerates the work, and where the grant thesis, differentiation, and Specific Aims stay human
- How to protect your IP, since consumer AI terms may permit reuse of your content
- A long-term strategy that compounds each win into the next
Stay for a one-on-one
After the Q&A, the Grant Engine team stays on site for 30-minute in-person consultations.
Meet the team sessions are optional and confidential.
- Discuss your specific company and project in confidence
- Ask the questions that came up during the session
- Get direct input from our program manager and lead writer
- Leave with a clear sense of your next funding step
Your speakers
.png?width=180&name=Sam%20(2).png "Sam Tetlow")
Sam Tetlow, MBA
Founder & CEO, Grant Engine
Sam leads Grant Engine, which has secured over $1B in non-dilutive funding for life sciences, defense, and dual-use companies through NIH, DoD, DARPA, BARDA, and ARPA-H, at win rates 2x to 4x the national average. He also leads Streamline, Grant Engine's AI-powered grant writing and management platform.
He has served as CEO of EpiCypher, General Manager of ILS Genomics, and Executive Chairman of Gentris Corporation. Sam holds an MBA from UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School and a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
Q&A and Meet the Team
Yichao Yang, PhD
Program Manager, Grant Engine
Yichao holds a Ph.D. in Microbiology with postdoctoral training in Infectious Diseases at USDA and Yale University School of Medicine. She has more than 12 years of biomedical research experience and has worked extensively in translational science and life science.
Yichao is also an entrepreneur who has founded two biotechnology startups focused on vaccine commercialization and the development of a non-invasive cancer screening platform.
Joseph Ruiz, PhD
Lead Writer, Grant Engine
Joe holds a Ph.D. in Biology with postdoctoral training in Developmental Biology at Columbia and Harvard Universities. He has led R&D operations at four startup ventures supported by non-dilutive funding and large pharma strategic partnerships.
With more than 30 years of biomedical research experience, Joe has founded two biotechnology startups focused on gene therapies for rare diseases and has served on SBIR/STTR review panels for 16 years.
Get the session resources
Download the slides and watch the full recording from the session.
Download Resources