NSW revamps the MVP grants program with tighter rules and competitive selections

The NSW government has overhauled its MVP Ventures Program, introducing a competitive selection process.

It is also launching a targeted funding stream for underrepresented founders, including women, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses, and regional entrepreneurs.

The update follows weeks of uncertainty around the 2025–26 grant round, which was originally scheduled to open on July 1.

MVP Ventures structure

A spokesperson from Investment NSW told SmartCompany the changes are part of the state’s broader Innovation Blueprint and are designed to address systemic barriers in early-stage funding.

“We’re taking an important step in that process by revising the guidelines for the MVP Ventures Program,” the spokesperson said.

Under the revised structure, the program will offer two funding streams. Stream 1 offers up to $50,000 in matched funding with a 50% co-contribution, open to all eligible startups.

Stream 2 offers up to $75,000 with a 25% co-contribution and is available only to eligible women-founded, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, and regional businesses.

“The changes increase support for underrepresented groups in the innovation ecosystem, including women, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses and regional entrepreneurs,” the spokesperson said.

“We are committed to addressing the equity challenges that exist. For instance, just 7% of venture capital in NSW goes to women-founded businesses. That’s despite women founding approximately 27% of businesses in NSW.”

Investment NSW also said the program will shift to a competitive selection process, “which promotes fairness, transparency, and ensures public funds are allocated to projects with the strongest innovation potential, commercial viability and support the missions in the NSW Industry Policy”.

However, the department did not respond to questions from SmartCompany about how the competitive assessment will operate in practice, including whether external assessors will be used, what evaluation criteria will be published, or how funding will be split between the two streams.

According to newly released guidelines, several key conditions and eligibility requirements have changed. Startups must now be headquartered in NSW and have no more than 10 full-time employees, including founders. The annual turnover cap has been reduced from $1 million to $400,000.

Grant funds must be used on eligible commercialisation activities, and only 50% of the grant can be spent on consultants. The maximum project duration has also been extended from three to five years.

The program will now operate on a milestone payment model. Forty percent of the grant is provided upon contract execution, with two subsequent 30% payments tied to progress reporting and approval.

Metro bias

The program changes follow previous reporting by SmartCompany, which revealed that 80% of first-round recipients under the rebooted MVP Ventures Program were based in affluent Sydney suburbs.

At the time, Investment NSW stated the location of a business was not a factor in the assessment process. However, the concentration of grants in urban areas sparked concern among regional and rural founders, and the new eligibility stream for regional businesses appears to directly address that imbalance.

Investment NSW has confirmed all 76 grants from the 2024–25 round have now been signed, and recipient information is available on the NSW Grants and Funding website.

While the funding has now been distributed, SmartCompany had previously reported the department had received enough expressions of interest by September 2024, but left the application window open through November.

• This story first appeared on SmartCompany. You can read the original here.