Non-Dilutive Funding Webinar Series

UNCW CIE - GE Extend North Carolina

Capitalizing on Non-Dilutive Funding

Where the SBIR/STTR money is right now, what the reauthorization changed, and where AI helps or hurts your application. In person and online.

In partnership with the UNCW Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the North Carolina Biotechnology Center

Wednesday, November 4, 2026, 11:00 AM ETUNCW CIE, Event Space, 803 South College Road, Wilmington, NC 28403, and online via Zoom

Save your spot

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.

The SBIR/STTR landscape has changed. Reauthorization brought new rules, proposal caps, and foreign risk requirements, and AI tools are now part of how many teams write their applications. Knowing which agencies have funds right now, and how to compete for them, matters more than ever.

Join Grant Engine, the UNCW Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and the North Carolina Biotechnology Center for a practical session on where the non-dilutive funding is, what it takes to write a winning application, where AI helps and where it quietly costs the award, and how to build a funding strategy that compounds over time. Attend in person at the CIE Event Space or join online via Zoom.

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 team
Leave with a clear sense of your next funding step

Your speakers

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.

Local host, Q&A and Meet the Team

Joseph Ruiz, PhD

Lead Writer, Grant Engine

Joe is based in Wilmington and is co-founder and President of Epigenos Bioscience, an NC Biotech Center loan portfolio company. He holds a Ph.D. in Biology with postdoctoral training in Developmental Biology at Columbia and Harvard Universities, and 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.

See you on November 4

Seats are limited. Register now to save your spot.