Frequently Asked Questions

Arch Grants is a source of equity-free funding for early-stage startups, and also an opportunity to grow your business within St. Louis’ expanding entrepreneurial hub surrounded by a community of mentors, collaborators, and resources. Arch Grants Companies receive $75,000 and access to an ecosystem of resources and support to help grow and scale their businesses.

Arch Grants is a nonprofit organization whose purpose is to improve the St. Louis economic landscape by championing extraordinary entrepreneurs. We do not take an equity stake in the companies to which we award grants. Our return on investment is the success and growth of our portfolio companies and their economic impact on the St. Louis region.

Arch Grants Companies must meet the following requirements to receive the grant:

• Headquarter the business or establish significant operations in St. Louis for at least one year
• At least one member of the founding team must reside in St. Louis for at least one year
• 51% of the full-time founding team or one full-time founder and 51% of full-time staff must have an operational presence in St. Louis for one year
• Meet additional participation requirements, including program attendance, company data submissions, and civic engagement

Arch Grants has funded 270+ companies since our first Competition in 2012. Of these companies, more than 200 are still active, with 84% of those choosing to maintain operations in St. Louis. Arch Grants supports our portfolio companies with mentorship, help in securing follow-on capital, assistance hiring key talent, and access to our robust network of connections in the St. Louis business community. In addition, established companies within the Arch Grants portfolio are readily available to newer startups for peer-to-peer learning and connections. While our companies have a high success rate, Founders of several Arch Grants companies that are no longer in operation have gone on to start their second company in St. Louis. Collectively, Arch Grants Companies have created more than 4,000 jobs in Missouri, generated more than $1.2 billion in revenue, and attracted more than $870 million in follow-on capital.

Our mission is to advance economic development in the St. Louis region by attracting and retaining innovative entrepreneurs. Our model is an aggressive effort to inspire the next generation of employers, civic leaders, and philanthropists in St. Louis. Our return on investment is the creation of jobs and revenue generated by Arch Grants companies that contribute significantly to our region’s economic development.

Arch Grants is largely funded through the generous support of the St. Louis community – numerous individuals, corporations, and foundations make up a significant portion of Arch Grants’ annual budget. In addition, Arch Grants also receives funding through Missouri Technology Corporation and other state and federal programs.

Prospective applicants may email us at competition@archgrants.org. If you are interested in supporting our mission, please consider applying to judge or donating. For general questions, please email info@archgrants.org.

The Arch Grants Startup Competition accepts applications annually during a six-week period. The 2025 application window opens on February 19 and will be open until March 31.

Please review our Competition timeline for more information.

Preliminary Round:

Qualified applications are reviewed and evaluated by a panel of volunteer judges.

Semi-Finalist Round:

Semi-Finalists must submit additional information and materials, participate in a virtual interview, and pass due diligence.

Finalist Round:

The top-ranking companies from the first two rounds are invited to participate in Finalist Pitch Day, which includes a live pitch followed by Q&A with a panel of Finalist Judges. Finalist Judges are a group of dedicated volunteers who lend their expertise and experience to Arch Grants and evaluate Finalists for fit with the program and St. Louis.

Finalists awarded Arch Grants are notified by end of August and publicly announced at our neXus Gala in late fall.

Arch Grants invites business professionals, industry experts, university leaders, entrepreneurs, past Arch Grants Founders, and supporters to serve as volunteer judges and evaluate applicants. These individuals lend their expertise to Arch Grants in a volunteer capacity to evaluate qualified applicants and determine which companies should be awarded Arch Grants. Since 2012, we have invited over 5,000 individuals to participate as judges and we are grateful for their support.

All submissions receive notification of whether they are proceeding to the next round. Those chosen to proceed to the next round of the Competition will receive specific instructions on next steps.

Applicants will not be informed of which judges review their application.

Finalists are invited to St. Louis to pitch live in front of a panel of judges for final award consideration. During this time, Finalists will have the opportunity to meet with Finalist Judges and network with previous Arch Grants Founders.

No, the Finalist Pitch events are invitation-only. Attendees will include Finalist Judges, members of the Arch Grants Board of Directors, Arch Grants staff, and select invited guests. Finalists may invite team members to observe their company pitch, but Finalists are permitted to view other pitches.

Your presentation deck will be loaded up in your assigned presentation room, and a clicker will be provided to advance your presentation slides. Finalists will have 5-7 minutes to pitch followed by 13-15 minutes for Q&A.

Arch Grants will not release your application to the public. We limit access to submitted application information to our staff, due diligence team, volunteer judges, and Board of Directors. Competition judges are seasoned professionals who are accustomed to dealing with confidential materials on a regular basis. While Arch Grants requests that all volunteer judges keep your information confidential, judges are comprised of a wide swath of technical experts, entrepreneurs and sector experts, and Arch Grants cannot make any guarantee of confidentiality. We therefore ask that applicants not include any information in their application that they feel to be highly confidential, including trade secrets, intellectual property and/or other confidential information.

• For-profit entities with technology-enabled products, services, or solutions.
• Startups from all industries. Arch Grants is industry-agnostic.
• Startups with scalable business models
• Early-stage companies (includes validated idea, bootstrapped, pre-seed, and seed stage)
• Startups that have at least one founder working on the company as their primary or full-time professional role. This requirement must be met by the time funding is provided.

Unfortunately, Arch Grants does not consider applications submitted by nonprofits.

All applicants must be incorporated as a for-profit entity, and we require companies to be at least at the validated-idea stage, which would include having a minimum viable product, customer discovery, or some other market research beyond gathering data online to demonstrate that the idea has been validated.

Arch Grants is industry agnostic, and we encourage startups from all industries to apply.  We are committed to growing the geospatial, agtech, and advanced manufacturing sectors in St. Louis, and award companies in these emerging industries. We also award companies across all other industries, including consumer products, logistics and transportation, medical devices, healthcare technology, software as a service (SaaS), and others.

Preliminary and Finalist Judges will review the following:

• Innovation aspects of the product, technology, or service
• A sound and scalable business model
• The team’s experience and capability to execute on the business initiatives in the near-term
• The Company’s interest and ability to contribute to the St. Louis ecosystem

Applicants must be at least 18 years of age.

Note: At least one Founder is required to work full-time on the business during the program year.

No, Arch Grants encourages startups from all over the United States and the world to apply for the Startup Competition. All awarded companies will be required to relocate to St. Louis for at least one year. This includes the business headquarters, significant operations, and 51% of the Founding Team (or 1 Founder and 51% of the team).

Yes. Non-U.S. citizens need to have appropriate work authorization to legally work on their business full time in the United States for the duration of the entire program year, as the Arch Grants program requires at least 51% of full-time founding team or one full-time founder and 51% of full-time staff to St. Louis for the year-long program.

Applicants are eligible to apply on behalf of one startup per competition cycle. Arch Grants encourages applicants to apply using their most compelling, scalable business idea.

If you are selected to receive an Arch Grant, you will need to be located in St. Louis, full time, eight weeks after award notification. Exact dates will be sent to you with your acceptance notification.

Although we aim not to, we may fund companies that compete with each other in some capacity. This is inevitable as we have over 270 companies in our portfolio and will continue to grow our portfolio each year. We support each company to the best of our ability, without regard to other competing brands within our portfolio.

Yes, applicants are required to disclose all sources of funding already received and/or committed in the application process.

Staff and board members of Arch Grants and their immediate family members (spouse, child, parent, sibling) are ineligible to apply to the Startup Competition.

Arch Grants Founders who are currently going through their cohort year are not eligible to apply under a new company until their cohort year is complete.

Arch Grants does not accept applications from companies that directly produce, manufacture, or distribute cannabis. A product or service that’s related to cannabis but doesn’t directly involve cannabis is eligible.

Companies headquartered in the Greater Kansas City area are not eligible and should consider applying to LaunchKC instead. The LaunchKC Grants Program supports early-stage tech startups with grants, networking opportunities, and business support in exchange for headquartering their business in Downtown Kansas City, Missouri for at least one year. Applications typically open in August, with awards announced in the Fall. For more information, please visit www.launchkc.org.

No. Our organization provides grants to early-stage startups at no cost to applicants. We hold an annual event called the Startup Competition that involves a thorough, multi-stage application process. Arch Grants will never ask you for money or charge a fee to apply for or receive a grant. If anyone claiming to represent our organization requests payment related to an Arch Grant application or award, do not remit payment and report it to us immediately as this is not a legitimate request.

Visit our application reminder form to sign up for Competition reminders, and visit our Competition page to apply.

You may save a draft of your application and make updates prior to the application submission date and during the open application window. After you have submitted your application and/or the application window closes, you may not make updates to your application. If your startup hits significant milestones that were not included in your original application, you will be able to provide those updates should you proceed to the next round of the Competition.

We recommend using the following structure:

• Identification of Problem
• Solution/Technology
• Competition
• Market Opportunity
• Go-To-Market Strategy
• Business Model/Current Traction
• Financial Projections
• Management Team
• Product Development Timeline
• Proposed Use of Grant

• Arch Grants funding is equity-free and is not contingent on completing a set curriculum. Companies receive their funding in several installments throughout the program year.
• The Arch Grants program requires a 12-month commitment by the Founders and Company to reside in St. Louis, MO.
• The program supports businesses where they are in their journey and growth trajectory, and provides educational, networking and mentoring opportunities to help advance the business’ growth during the program year. There is no set program or time commitment other than 24 hours of service to Arch Grants and 24 hours of service to St. Louis during the program year.
• There is no public pitch or demo-day at the end of the program year; however, we offer portfolio companies the chance to participate in our annual Investor Summit.

There are five disbursements of the grant throughout the program year. The exact schedule will be included in the Grant Agreement. Arch Grants Companies are required to provide basic reporting information to Arch Grants on an ongoing basis, for as long as the business is in operation. This information helps us track how our businesses do in the long term. We do not ask for proprietary information or trade secrets.

Yes, we help Founders relocate their business and team to St. Louis. All companies moving from outside of Missouri (and from more than 150 miles from St. Louis Metro Area) are eligible for a $25,000 relocation grant in addition to the $75,000 Arch Grant. While Arch Grants does not provide housing, we can recommend locations, companies and services to help with the transition.

Yes, many Arch Grants Companies pursue fundraising during the program year, and Arch Grants will support these efforts with preparation assistance, mentoring, connections to the local and national investment community, and an opportunity to participate in our bi-annual Investor Summit.

Yes, companies may attend an accelerator or incubator during the program year, as long as it does not impact their business location or Founder location (full-time) in St. Louis, or conflict with the Arch Grants program calendar.

Absolutely. In addition to monetary awards, Arch Grant Companies receive:

• Pro bono and discounted professional services
• Access to venture capital and angel investment networks
• Professional and high-level business mentorship
• Personal introductions to strategic business leaders
• Social support and community integration services
• Inclusion as part of a community of innovative entrepreneurs

As an Arch Grants Company, you are required to have a presence in Downtown St. Louis. You can obtain this presence through a membership at a co-working space such as:

• T-REX
• TechArtista
• CIC St. Louis
• Spark St. Louis

Startups will need to provide proof of their business location in St. Louis in the form of a lease agreement, co-working membership or other business license.

Yes, Arch Grants-awarded companies must be based in St. Louis, MO for the duration of the program year, and 51% of the founding team (or one founder and 51% of the team) need to reside in the area full-time. To ensure the funds are used for their intended purpose, we require you to sign a Comprehensive Grant Agreement before formally becoming an Arch Grants Company.

The purpose of the Growth Grants program is to support high-performing Arch Grants portfolio companies as they grow and scale their businesses in the St. Louis region.

Past Arch Grants Companies are eligible for Growth Grants once they complete their Arch Grants program year. The companies must still have significant operations in St. Louis and intend to stay in St. Louis for at least an additional 2 years.

As a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, our return on investment is companies growing and scaling in St. Louis, thereby generating jobs and revenue within the region. This is an opportunity for Arch Grants Companies to build their runway and leverage investor dollars. We hope that our Founders will pay it forward to future Arch Grants Founders and invest in the St. Louis community in the future.

To apply, you need to complete an application in SurveyMonkey Apply and submit an Executive Summary and Investor Pitch Deck. If you are invited to the Finalist Round, you may need to submit a P&L, Balance Sheet, Financial Projections and/or Org Chart.

Upon closure of the funding round, Founders will need to supply Arch Grants with copies of signed funding documentation confirming the matching funds are approved and the Growth Grant does not exceed 33% of the total funding round.

Please Note: Term sheets do not qualify as confirmation documentation.

VC, Angel Investments, SAFE/Convertible Note/Venture Debt and Grants are approved matching funds.

If the round closes after 9 months from the awarded date, the Founder will need to reapply unless prior approval has been granted to Arch Grants for an extension.

Growth Grants will be disbursed in two allotments – 50% at the round closure and 50% six months later.