USDA — SBIR/STTR competition data
Data through FY2024 · USDA uploads award data on a lag; FY2024 is only partially reported so far.
523 proposals → 78 awards. SBA SBIR/STTR Annual Report FY2022 (latest published edition; SBA lags ~2 years).
68 proposals → 34 awards (same source).
2022 Phase I cohort: 39 of 77 won a linked Phase II within 3 years.
49% to first-time winners · n=123 awards.
Awards and typical amounts
| FY | Awards | Phase I | Phase II | Median Phase I | Median Phase II |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 112 | 83 | 29 | $100k | $650k |
| 2021 | 108 | 77 | 31 | $100k | $650k |
| 2022 | 111 | 77 | 34 | $175k | $650k |
| 2023 | 119 | 77 | 42 | $175k | $650k |
| 2024 | 123 | 81 | 42 | $175k | $650k |
Phase I→II conversion by cohort
| Phase I cohort | Phase I awards | Linked Phase II | Conversion | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 81 | 1 | 1% | provisional — cohort still inside the 3-year window |
| 2023 | 77 | 24 | 31% | provisional — cohort still inside the 3-year window |
| 2022 | 77 | 39 | 51% | |
| 2021 | 77 | 28 | 36% | |
| 2020 | 83 | 32 | 39% | |
| 2019 | 79 | 28 | 35% | |
| 2018 | 79 | 22 | 28% | |
| 2017 | 88 | 40 | 46% |
First-timers vs incumbents (Phase I only)
| FY | Phase I awards | First-time winners | 1–4 prior | 5+ prior |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 81 | 74% | 20% | 6% |
| 2023 | 77 | 73% | 23% | 4% |
| 2022 | 77 | 74% | 19% | 6% |
| 2021 | 77 | 74% | 23% | 3% |
| 2020 | 83 | 78% | 17% | 5% |
Most-awarded firms (last 5 FYs)
| Company | Awards | Total obligations |
|---|---|---|
| TDA RESEARCH, INC. | 6 | $1.4M |
| Isotruss, Inc. | 5 | $2.2M |
| GLOBAL NEIGHBOR, INC | 4 | $1.6M |
| APEX BAIT TECHNOLOGIES, INC. | 4 | $1.5M |
| INTEGRATED LIPID BIOFUELS, LLC | 4 | $1.6M |
| ISCA TECHNOLOGIES, INC. | 4 | $2M |
| UNIVERSAL SCHEDULE & BOOKING LLC | 4 | $1.1M |
| APPLICATION INSIGHT, LLC | 4 | $1.1M |
| GUILD ASSOCIATES INC | 4 | $1.6M |
| BIOSTONE ANIMAL HEALTH, LLC | 3 | $450k |
Search USDA awards by topic code →
Sourced vs computed: Phase I/II selection rates (applications → awards) come from the SBA's SBIR/STTR Annual Report — FY2022 is the latest published edition, and SBA itself calls the rates estimates because proposal cohorts span fiscal years. Phase I→II conversion and first-timer shares are computed by us from sbir.gov's public award records. Linked by firm + agency + topic (suffix-tolerant for DOE's phase renumbering) with a title-similarity fallback for NSF; ~90% of links match on topic, ~5% ambiguity.
What nobody publishes: per-topic application counts are published by no one — not the agencies, and not the $500–$42,000-a-year intelligence platforms either; the data simply isn't public. Any per-topic number on this site is award-side only (who won, how often winners repeat), never your odds of selection.
Freshness: USDA uploads award data on a lag; FY2024 is only partially reported so far.
Sources: sbir.gov award data · SBA FY22 Annual Report. Free to use; verify anything critical against the originals.