Detroit, Michigan – Detroit has officially started a $700,000 Startup Fund to help the city’s tech sector expand faster, support new businesses, and encourage local talent to establish and stay in the city. The announcement of the new program, which is said to be the first of its type for Detroit, was made in front of more than 200 people from the tech community at Newlab at Michigan Central, one of the city’s newest innovation hubs.
The fund will give out 26 awards over the next year. Applications for the first round are already open and will close on August 25. Entrepreneurs can apply for funding through the city’s new site at detroitmi.gov/startup. This portal also links them to other resources.
There will be two types of funding: 20 seed grants of $15,000 each and six scale grants of $50,000 each. In late 2025, the first thirteen recipients will be announced. The second round will start in early 2026. The fund is expected to create more than $1 million in economic activity, which will directly help Detroit-based companies grow.
To be eligible, applicants must be building in Detroit, have a business that is less than ten years old, and have a product or service that can grow and help people or make city services better. Additional criteria include registration as a Detroit-based business and a willingness to report progress back to the city. People who want to get the bigger $50,000 grants must also show that they have been able to get private investment—at least $100,000 in the past 18 months and a commitment to obtain $250,000.
The fund’s goal is to make Detroit a friendlier and more accessible place for new businesses, especially those who are trying to solve real-world problems. City authorities say the goal is not just to bring in money, but also to make it easier for brilliant people to stay in Detroit and grow enterprises in the city.
“Detroit always has been a city of innovators willing to take risk to create something new. The Detroit Startup Fund is one of the ways we are making Detroit the easiest and most supportive city anywhere to start and grow innovative new companies,” said Mayor Mike Duggan.
“Because we already have so much talent here in Detroit, the Startup Fund also creates another reason for that talent to stay here and be part of something special.”
This new investment adds to Detroit’s increasing reputation as a digital hub. The city has drawn billions of dollars in innovation infrastructure with projects like TechTown, the University of Michigan Center for Innovation, and new advances in health and mobility technology. Startup Genome recently rated Detroit the best place in the world for new startups to expand.
Local officials in economic development believe that the fund is part of a bigger plan to make it easier for entrepreneurs to start businesses and create jobs in the long run. The city wants to generate a ripple effect by helping startups as soon as possible. This will not only keep talented people in Detroit, but it will also encourage others to establish and grow firms there.
More statements and photos of the event are available on the City of Detroit website.