Catalyst and DICES

Yes, you are still eligible to apply if you have secured funding from elsewhere. Start-ups and companies are required to not receive more than Two Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($2,500,000) in combined debt or equity financing, grant funding, and revenues over the past five (5) years. There are no financial limitations for academic institutions or non-profits.  

We recommend reviewing section VI of the RFP to view full eligibility requirements.

No, the project or start-up does not have to fit within the four focus areas. We also accept projects that provide or enable significant decarbonization.  

We recommend reviewing Section I of the RFP to read more.  

An eligible applicant must be one of the following:  

• A Principal Investigator (“PI”) at a Massachusetts-based nonprofit research institution. 
• A Massachusetts-based early-stage climatetech company that has four or fewer full-time equivalent employees. 
• A student (or group of students) led by a faculty member or researcher who will act as the PI.  

We recommend reviewing Section VI of the RFP to view full eligibility requirements.

Our ability to fund your project depends on whether it meets the program's goals and eligibility requirements. The goal of the Program is to stimulate the commercialization of “Climatetech” (as defined in Section VI of the RFP) and related innovation between Technology Readiness Level 2 (technology concept and/or application formulated) and 4 (Component and/or process validation in laboratory environment). If it fits within these technological readiness levels, requires additional research and testing to fully commercialize, and meets the other eligibility requirements outlined in the RFP, we can consider it for funding. We recommend reviewing Section IV and VI of the RFP for full eligibility details.

Other than deleting italic prompts, for consistency, please use the rest of the template as is.

As long as the company’s primary manufacturing operations (if applicable), headquarters, primary sales and marketing, and primary research and development operations are located in Massachusetts you are eligible. We recommend reviewing Section VI of the RFP for full details.

Interns do not count toward the full-time equivalent employee eligibility. There are no restrictions for the program on the number of interns you can hire before or after the grant application.

You can include the intern stipend/payment in the budget of the Catalyst grant proposal. We also have an internship program at MassCEC. You may not charge an intern’s internship hours to a Catalyst or DICEs grant if they are also getting paid through the separate internship funding program. Visit the Clean Energy Internship Program for more information.

Yes, you are eligible to apply as an out-of-state company, however, you must make note in your proposal of your concrete plans for relocating to MA before the time of award announcement. Your award will be contingent on meeting the MA presence requirement in the RFP.