Mousetrap #254 Grants, Competition & Catchup on OpenAI

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* Reply to this email for info on sponsorship opportunities *Hope you had a fantastic time over Thanksgiving! After all, it really is about friends and family.
Onwards!This is timely, isn’t it? After a wild and whacky week of following the OpenAI saga, (Five Days of Chaos: How Sam Altman Returned to OpenAI – NY Times) In an interview, I heard Sam Altman say they have a grant program. Here’s what they’re supporting right now.

OpenAI Researcher Access Program

We’re interested in supporting researchers using our products to study areas related to the responsible deployment of AI and mitigating associated risks, as well as understanding the societal impact of AI systems. If you are interested in an opportunity for subsidized access, please apply for API credits.

And since AI is widely considered to be the most important and transformative technology,possibly ever, we should all know what the heck is being discussed.

All the AI terms you need to know (Axios)PR Toolkit for Tech Startups, a newly launched education course from tech PR firm LEVEL PR, is designed to help growing startup founders learn more about public relations and DIY strategies/tactics. LEVEL PR is seeking 2-3 startup founders who may be interested in free access to the course and in return seeks detailed feedback about their experiences. If interested, please contact scott@levelpr.co
What’s new this week?Apply (scroll down)
Smart Energy Competition Innovation CompetitionOpenAI Cybersecurity Grant Program

How to donate to help victims of the Israel-Gaza crisis (CNBC)

Housing in New York City (+ other cities)Try NYC Housing a LinkedIn group. Real, verified people with real deals, currently at 3,000+ members and expanding to Seattle, DC, Austin, SF, Vancouver, London, and Bengaluru. Be sure you verify your LinkedIn account before requesting to join the group for any of the cities mentioned above! Good hunting!
A Better Mousetrap partners with companies we believe in. For sponsorship opportunities email marcos@bettermousetrap.nyc

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Be kind to yourself and other,MarcosMarcos DinnersteinFollow me on Twitter (OK, X) @marcosdConnect with me on LinkedIn

Nov 28 Raising Money for StartupsNov 29 Investor Brunch w Starta VCNov 29 Tech:NYC Founder Happy HourNov 30 Climate Capital Stack: Unlocking NYC’s EcosystemNov 30 OneRise – Immigrants Founders&Investors MixerDec 4 Women in HealthTech Monthly Monday MingleDec 5 3 Steps to Turn Your Art Into Passive Income with Art LicensingDec 7 Investor Insights: Sim Blaustein, Partner, BDMIDec 7 Starta Fall 2023 Demo DayDec 8 2023 Nonprofit TechCon ($)

Funding, Grants, Competitions, Training Opportunities

Responsible Tech Job Board Want to improve our tech future? Work in it! Positive change happens from inside tech companies, from outside oversight/research, and from reimagining our possible tech futures. Find or post a job here.Job hunting? Tech: NYC’s Job Board is one more place to look.Free tax prep for freelancers NYC Launches Free Tax Prep For Self-Employed With CWPD And Freelancers Union. Learn more

TechDay 2024 will be at the Javits Center on May 24th. For those who get on board early there are great discounts to be had.Startups save 20% on TechDay exhibit space with exhibit code TDBF used at checkout. Attendees can attend free with code FPF. Offer good until Dec. 1. Do it here!
Energy Innovation Competition 2023 See this LinkedIn post Open to Bootstrapped, Pre-Seed,Seed,Pre-A,
Series A companies.

OpenAI cybersecurity grant program It almost goes without saying why they would want to fund these initiatives…
(Keep and eye on this one) The NYC Small Business Opportunity Fund offers low interest Small Business Loans for startups, growth-stage, or companies needing a boost after the pandemic. The program provides loans up to $250,000 at 4% fixed interest rate, as well as free business support (currently paused due to high demand). This program is currently on hold due to high demand.New York State’s Regional Economic Development Council funding is renewed by the state each year, and divides $225 million annually between 10 regions across the state. Companies can apply for both capital and operating grants, and funding can also support creating new business incubators. Learn more.Tech Forward Life Sciences RFI New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) is seeking input from the innovation ecosystem, in the tech, engineering, and biological disciplines. NYCEDC would like to hear from stakeholders working in these spaces, including startups, academics, industry consultants, private and public investors, venture capitalists, lab and incubator operators, medical institutions, researchers (clinical, translation, applied, etc.), policy and regulatory experts, leaders of workforce development entities and other nonprofit entities, real estate developers or partners and others. Responses should help the City of New York identify specific areas within tech-forward life sciences where we should focus capacity building as it relates to infrastructure, programming, events, activities, training and/or other areas.Learn more and respond by Nov. 29MetaPropUp to $250,000 in financing
• 22-weeks focused on growth and accelerated market penetration
• Access and intros to industry decision-makers, technology pilots, premier sources investment capital and international media
• Participate in Pilot and Demo Days, + discounted or free attendance at industry roundtables and networking events
• Pairing with select C-level mentors from MetaProp’s
Apply by Jan 15, ’24The federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs provide funding and eventually government contracts to innovative companies with under 500 employees developing and researching new technologies, and partners them with nonprofit research institutions. Initial phase funding grants begin at $50,000 and second phase grants are typically $750,000. Learn more.
Blue Ridge Labs Catalyst: AI For Good (For mission-driven startups using AI to improve lives of low-income New Yorkers; Helping turn proven concept into scalable tech; Feb 05 – Jun 21; $90K funding, product support, human capital & community) Apply by Nov 28.Polygon Labs $85M Grant Program to Draw Builders to Its Ecosystem – Grants are for both later stage Co’s (up to $1.5 Mil) and early stage Co’s (quadratic funding grants) Learn more.
The Startup Leadership Program (SLP) is the premier NYC no-equity Fellowship for first-time founders, with 375+ alumni and more than $1b raised.

During the 6 month curriculum, entrepreneurs learn some of the key fundamentals about starting and growing a company, negotiating a term sheet, developing a marketing strategy, and many other technical and non-technical aspects of leadership. Apply by Nov 29The NYC Proptech Piloting Program provides piloting opportunities, pilot implementation support, and access to talent to support pilots for technologies that address the needs of City government’s nearly 500 million square feet of real estate under management. Learn more.TechImpact Startup Competition (four $25K prizes) fromTech Incubator at Queens College and Accompany Capital
NYC based startups compete for a chance to win $25,000 in each of the following categories: Community Betterment, Health and Wellness, Financial Empowerment, B2B Innovations. Apply by Nov 30

Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub – Up to $150K towards Azure OpenAI Service to supercharge your integrations. Learn more.
FinTech Innovation Lab New York 2024 for early- and growth-stage technology companies with innovative solutions for financial institutions and insurance companies. Also seeking support and partnering companies for finance and insurance companies. Apply by Nov 30NYCEDC Launches Venture Access Alliance that Aims to Build a Tech Ecosystem that Reflects and Leverages NYC’s DiversityThis is super promising, especially given the two people who are co-chairing this initiative. The Alliance is co-chaired by Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures and Jarrid Tingle of Harlem Capital Partners in partnership with the Ford Foundation, Annenberg Foundation, Tech:NYC and more than 70 venture capital firms.NextFab Ventures
Philadelphia, PA, USA | Oct 16 – Jan 15. Helping hardware entrepreneurs jump-start their business by providing them with hands-on technical and business consulting. Funds up to $100k for 6% equity. Rolling AdmissionsThe NYC Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) has a range of Financial Solutions to support:
* Discretionary tax benefits, tax credits, and tax-exempt financing
* Catalytic investment capital in the form of loans, equity, credit enhancements, and other hybrid instruments
* Advisory services for internal and external stakeholders on strategic financial topics Learn more here
Global Millennial Capital’s Accelerator Web3 2023 Program: For early-growth companies to define their business model and expand their network of global relationships. Up to $250,000 per company. Deadline unknown. Learn more
Women Entrepreneur’s Boot Camp (WEB) – an immersive day of workshops and activities for women founders of seed stage tech companies. Ten to twelve founders will spend the day in New York with investors from Amex Ventures, subject matter experts from American Express and Project W, and a cohort of their accomplished peers to dive into strategies for scaling their businesses to get Series A ready. Apply nowFutureworks Makerspace at Brooklyn Army Terminal is a state-of-the-art community workspace for entrepreneurs, makers, architects, and artists. Makerspace supports local manufacturing and entrepreneurship by providing access to tools for local prototyping. Learn more
StartEd Immersion
Transform your EdTech company in just 5 days with StartEd Immersion. Connect with game-changers, build a business strategy and achieve unprecedented growth by joining the final cohort of 2023 from Dec 11 – Dec 15. Virtual workshops, 1-on-1 mentor and investor meetings, and positioning sessions for business owners with up to $5 million in revenue or funding to solve education and workforce challenges. Apply by Nov 27TechStars New York Each company receives up to $120,000 in funding, office space, accounting and legal support, and access to the global Techstars network. Apply by Nov. 29NYCEDC’s Founder Fellowship Program to support Tech Entrepreneurs from Historically Underrepresented Backgrounds. The program provides opportunities to access capital and networks to help scale their companies in New York City. Apply by Dec 5
The New York Fashion Tech Lab is accepting applications for its 2024 cohort. The program is open to women-led, early to growth-stage emerging tech companies that have developed B2B innovations at the intersection of fashion, retail, and technology. Apply by Dec. 14.
NYC Open Data Week 2024 Call for Proposals! Read the full announcement from the Office of Technology and Innovation here.

The eighth festival is scheduled for March 16-24, 2024, features BetaNYC’s in-person NYC School of Data conference on Sat., March 23 and Data Through Design’s week-long art exhibition. Help build the program! BetaNYC is looking for presentations, talks, workshops, demos, and data visualizations that celebrate open data and NYC. Learn more and submit your ideas early!Empire State Dev Pre-seed and Seed Matching Fund Provides $30 mil. for early-stage, high growth start-up companies to grow and develop. The fund offers early-stage businesses equity investments from $50K up to $250K with matching from the private sector (there must be at least $1 of private sector investment for every $1 NY Ventures invests). Targeting Advanced Manufacturing, AgTech, Climate Tech, Consumer Products, Data/SaaS/AI, Fintech, Healthcare, Life Sciences and BioTech, Medical Devices. No known application deadline.

TachyonX Accelerator TachyonX is Consensys’ newest program supporting innovative Web3 founders at the very beginning of their journey, with a $150,000 with a SAFE and token side letter for 4% equity and pro rata token right to insider token allocation and access to the Consensys Mesh network. Rolling admissions so… Get rolling and apply!Company Ventures is now accepting applications for its second cohort of Boost, part of the Founder Fellowship program operated by the New York City Economic Development Corp. Learn more and applyZenBusiness 2023 Small Business $5K Grant Program: Requires being a customer of Zen Business.Awesome Foundation Every month the foundation gives away $1,000 – just like that.