Ignition Grants
Funding Opportunity
Ignition Grants are financial grants to assist Columbia University engineering students in launching new businesses, social and not-for-profit ventures. Ignition Grants support the initial stages of early venture development from formation, IP protection, and incubation to building prototypes and creating proofs of concept. Teams that have won the Technology Challenge or received Ignition Grants in the past will not be eligible. Applicants must have a current SEAS student on the team to apply.
There are varying levels of Ignition Grants: Formation, Incubation. All grants are non-dilutive. Judges will decide the level of funding (ranging from $5k – $10k) for teams based on their applications.
- Formation Level: Formation level grants will be awarded that allow ventures that have demonstrated sufficient seriousness and have well-defined teams to pay for incorporation, founders’ agreements, trademark searches, domain names, etc.
- Incubation Level: Incubation Level grants will be awarded for well-formed teams to offset incubation expenses including one year at Columbia Startup Lab facilities and non-salary operating expenses.
For more information please contact Ivy Schultz (is2350@columbia.edu).
For applicants who applied to Startup Columbia round 2, a small update to your existing application is requested (you may un-submit and then re-submit a video and pitch deck with any updates based on judges’ feedback). Please review the instructions below.
Previous Ignition Grants
COVID-19 and Ignition Grants
In 2020 our Columbia Engineering Ignition Grants supported student-led response efforts for COVID-19. The goal of the support is to scale some of the exceptional work our students are leading in the fight against the pandemic. Ignition grants are funds given to current Columbia Engineering students to support the development of prototypes and the initial stages of venture development, specifically in the response efforts for the COVID-19 pandemic. As you may know, many faculty members are supporting the COVID Tech Innovation Group for healthcare related projects and with technology to support work/life aspects related to COVID-19. All project ideas are welcome – projects with an engineering and technology focus are highly encouraged, as well as collaborative projects with students outside of science and engineering.
Teams that have received Ignition Grants in the past will not be eligible for additional grants. Teams that are awarded grants will also have access to Boot Camp programs run at SEAS.
Ignition Grants at Columbia Engineering
Ignition Grants are financial grants to assist Columbia University students in launching new businesses, social and not-for-profit ventures. Ignition Grants support the initial stages of early venture development from formation, IP protection, and incubation to building prototypes and creating proofs of concept. Teams that have received Ignition Grants in the past will not be eligible for additional grants.
There are varying levels of Ignition Grants: Formation, Incubation. All grants are non-dilutive. Judges will decide the level of funding (ranging from $5k-$10k) for teams based on their applications.
- Formation Level: Formation level grants will be awarded that allow ventures that have demonstrated sufficient seriousness and have well-defined teams to pay for incorporation, founders’ agreements, trademark searches, domain names, etc.
- Incubation Level: Incubation Level grants will be awarded for well-formed teams to offset incubation expenses including one year at Columbia Startup Lab facilities and non-salary operating expenses.