Small Business Grants in North Dakota

North Dakota's main door for a scalable startup, and it is shut. Innovate ND pays back up to $50,000 of eligible expenses across two $25,000 phases, delivered through three entrepreneur centers, and the application period is closed for the 2025 to 2027 biennium. The next realistic reopening depends on the 2027 legislative session. Retail, hospitality and local service ventures are not eligible even when it is open, which surprises a lot of applicants. Note the state's own grant index quotes $22,500 per business, the programme page says $50,000, and the programme page is the one to trust.

Funds the development or expansion of tourism attractions that strengthen North Dakota's economy. Requires a 1-to-1 match (cash or in-kind). For-profit businesses, nonprofits, and tourism entities are eligible.

Closed and fully awarded. Commerce put $600,000 into 15 Native American owned small businesses and the recipients are named on the programme page. This is one of the few North Dakota programmes where the applicant genuinely was the business rather than a city or a council. No per business award range has ever been published, so treat any range you see elsewhere with suspicion. Awarded funds must be spent by June 30, 2027.

A small business cannot apply for this one, its city can. Eligible applicants are political subdivisions, tribal entities and regional councils, and the money buys projects in communities of 4,500 or fewer, with half the pot reserved for communities of 1,500 or fewer. Up to $500,000 per applicant against a one to one non state match. The window is closed, $2.5 million was appropriated for July 2025 to June 2027 and reimbursements have to complete by June 30, 2027.

Finished, and it was never a small business award. The $7.5 million went out as two grants, $7 million to Grand Farm and $500,000 to Greenfield Robotics, both funded at 93 percent of what they asked for. The programme page is now an awards announcement with no window, no deadline and no application link. Commerce's own grant index still advertises it as requesting proposals of up to $7,500,000, which is where a lot of stale listings come from, including ours.

A rural grocery store owner cannot apply for this, and that is the fact most worth carrying away. Eligible applicants are political subdivisions, regional councils and tribal entities, so the town applies and the store benefits. The cap is $150,000 per applicant, the $1 million appropriation is fully committed and the window is closed. Be careful reading the state page, it carries a closed banner and, directly beneath it, legacy text still inviting 2025 applications.

A one for one match on what you pay an intern, and every dollar for this funding year has already been applied for. New submissions join a waitlist in case an awardee does not use its award. The caps are worth knowing before you plan around it, $5,000 per intern, $25,000 per round, $50,000 per biennium, five interns per round, two rounds per biennium. Targeted at energy, advanced manufacturing, value added agriculture, tourism, technology and autonomous systems employers.