Small Business Grants in Arizona

Arizona's largest state business award pays a minimum of $50,000 in non dilutive funding to up to ten startups a round, released after three months of milestones with an ACA Entrepreneur in Residence. The Fall 2026 round is SaaS only and the gate is narrow, incorporated after August 2023, a working product with paying customers, and monthly recurring revenue between $5,000 and $50,000. Semifinalists who lose still get a place on Venture Raise, a twelve week accelerator, which is worth more than the win rate suggests.

A deal closing fund the Arizona Commerce Authority negotiates directly with large employers relocating to or expanding in the state. There is no application form and no window. In the January to March 2026 quarter it committed $6 million across two awards, $5 million to Amkor Technology against 1,319 jobs and $1.227 billion of capital investment, and $1 million to Northrop Grumman. Statute reserves a share for rural, tribal and microenterprise projects, but that share has historically gone to intermediary programmes rather than to individual businesses.

Federally funded through the SBA, AZ STEP pays back what an Arizona small business spends entering a new export market, trade missions, trade shows, export training, website localisation and market entry support. There is no form. You start by contacting the ACA International Trade team, and the Authority publishes no per company cap, so ask for the current one before you budget.

Money and training to help an Arizona business write a stronger SBIR or STTR proposal. Six applicants a round receive up to $3,000 each. You must meet SBIR eligibility, so a for profit US business, majority owned by citizens or permanent residents, under 500 employees including affiliates. The spring 2027 round runs March 1 to March 19.

A semiconductor and hard materials startup gets half price time on ASU Core Facilities, the Advanced Electronics and Photonics lab, NanoFab and the Eyring Materials Center, matched one for one up to $75,000. No cash reaches your account, the money pays your equipment bill. You must be a for profit corporation, LLC or partnership with net assets under $10 million excluding investor capital. Sole proprietors cannot apply. An out of state company may apply if it plans to move part of its operation to Arizona.

Free legal, accounting and financial advisory help for very small and underserved Arizona businesses getting ready to borrow or raise. The Commerce Authority is blunt about what this is, its own page says the SSBCI programme is not a grant programme. You receive advisers, never money. The capital it prepares you for sits in three separate places, the Arizona Loan Guarantee Program through eleven partner lenders, Arizona Venture Co Invest, and the multi fund venture programme.

A state funded loan, not a grant, for Arizona businesses with five or fewer employees. You borrow $2,000 to $50,000 from a regional CDFI or nonprofit lending partner, with training attached, and it can cover working capital, equipment, property or refinancing. Two counties still have no dedicated partner, so a Maricopa applicant goes through Growth Partners Arizona and a Pinal applicant through CIC or Groundswell Capital.