News

Virginia Catalyst Announces Round 17 of Grant Funding

The Virginia Catalyst, also known as the Virginia Biosciences Health Research Corporation (VBHRC), today announced that it is accepting letters of intent (LOI) for Grant Round 16 to fund the development and commercialization of life science projects that address major unmet needs for improving human health and advance Virginia’s economy.

“The mission of the Catalyst is to foster collaborations with our research universities and industry, to commercialize our university innovations and create jobs” said Mike Grisham, CEO of Virginia Catalyst. We strongly encourage interested parties to visit the Virginia Catalyst website and apply.”

Letters of Intent (LOI) must be received by July 17, 2025 at 5:00 PM EDT. Projects that meet funding criteria will be invited to submit a full application. Applications will be reviewed and scored by an independent review team of scientists, venture capitalists and CEOs of Virginia-based life science companies. The top eight applicant teams will be invited to present their proposal the week of September 9, 2024. Awards will be announced in September 2024. The LOI submission form, along with funding criteria and frequently asked questions, are available on the Virginia Catalyst website (www.virginiacatalyst.org/apply.html).

We encourage all interested applicant teams to view our webinar that was co-hosted by Virginia Catalyst and Virginia Bio. This webinar featured an expert panel, facilitated by Mike Grisham, CEO of Virginia Catalyst, to share what it takes to score highly, get funding and position your company and research university for significant follow-on funding from large corporations, venture capitalists, DARPA, NIH and philanthropic foundations. This webinar can be viewed, and the slides downloaded on the home page of Virginia Catalyst at: https://www.virginiacatalyst.org/

Cumulatively through the first 16 funding rounds, Virginia Catalyst has dedicated a total of nearly $31 million for 61 collaborative projects. Together, these projects have created over 400 new jobs and have attracted an additional $821 million of investment capital from venture capital, private equity, corporations and government agencies including DARPA, NIH and NSF.

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