Prepared by Inflection Venture Partners · Embedded Growth Capital Advisory
Grants & Non-Dilutive Funding (Canada + US) · New Engagement
📋 Recap
The data room is populated — forty-plus documents across cap table, incorporation, board minutes, financials, personnel, grant paperwork and letters of support. That closes the biggest gap from week one and means applications can be built without coming back to you for each document.
The US funding landscape scan is delivered: a full client profile, an eighteen-item unified opportunity table and a dated calendar running through September 2027.
Three confirmed near-term items came out of it. The ND Soybean Council FY28 Production Research RFP closes November 12 at 4pm through NDSU's Switch Box portal with Barney as PI — it needs a ten-minute recorded presentation and slides, and excludes capital equipment. The USDA AMS Specialty Crop Multi-State Program closes December 4 at $250,000–$1,000,000 with a 25% match; Lilac cannot lead it, so the first step is asking NDDA whether North Dakota participates.
Further out and mapped: the ND Specialty Crop Block Grant (~January 11, 2027, NDSU or Northarvest must lead), the Nebraska Dry Bean Commission (~January 22, 2027, routed through UNL's Agricultural Research Division), the USA Pulses research call (~December 4), AFRI A1402 for FY27 (~December, caps $650,000–$750,000 against recent awards around $850,000), SCRI for FY27 with a 1:1 non-federal match, and the USDA B&I guaranteed loan on rolling intake at an 85% guarantee under $5,000,000 — which requires a rural site, so Wheatland rather than Fargo.
ND LIFT opened October 5 and closes November 9, reopening in February. Correcting the figure we gave you earlier: the loan runs up to $500,000, at 0% for years one to three and 2% for years four and five. Eligible uses look to include applied research and test batches with the manufacturer; it does not cover capital, consulting fees, academic research or inventory.
One constraint worth knowing: APUC allows only one active grant at a time, which locks that route until May 31, 2027.
On the Canadian side, the manufacturing conversation has given us a concrete starting point — the Alberta facility's Vegreville site sits in a special economic zone that is worth examining as part of the entity decision.
🔭 Outlook
Tuesday October 13, 11am MT — weekly session. The ND LIFT go or no-go is the main item, off the back of your conversation with Cody.
October 15 — the APUC 26-175 Q3 reimbursement for July–September expenses: invoices and proof of payment.
Mid-October — the SBIR Phase I draft comes to us for review on content alignment and completeness.
One question gates the November plan — whether NSF has formally invited a full proposal. The invitation is required for the November 4 submission, and Lilac has already pitched at least twice against a limit of two pitches per year. If the invitation is not in hand, the realistic target becomes March 4, 2027 and the sequencing changes.
Two related items to settle alongside it: whether the external firm submitted to USDA's FY26 Phase I before it closed September 23, and PI eligibility — Barney cannot serve as SBIR PI at 20% time, so this is either a different PI or a switch to STTR.
This month — lining up lead organisations for the January calls: NDSU or Northarvest for the ND Specialty Crop Block Grant, and a UNL researcher for Nebraska.
We owe you the revised funding roadmap with the prioritised pipeline, and the Canadian presence and entity analysis — province options, the Vegreville special economic zone, and the return on each route set against what it unlocks. Both are in progress and come to you at the next sessions.
November 4 — NSF SBIR Phase I submission, contingent on the invitation. November 9 — ND LIFT closes. November 12 — ND Soybean Council.
📝 Notes
The Queen's IP question is paused while George travels. The structure there is unusual — the researcher owns the IP directly rather than the university — and we want it resolved before the cooperative agreement is finalised, including what it means for other lab members who contributed.