Sebrae-SP (Brazilian Support Service for Micro and Small Businesses) and FAPESP (Research Support Foundation of the State of São Paulo) will invest R$ 150 million to develop scientific and technological startups in the state over the next six years. The partnership was announced on Thursday (22).
- Small companies in Brazil show signs of recovery with good numbers
- Online sales are already the main revenue of 31% of micro entrepreneurs
- Sebrae offers free digital marketing journey for companies
Each selected business may receive up to R$1.25 million. The money will be used to pay for research, participate in fairs, attract investments and develop proof of concept, among other advantages. There will also be scientific monitoring by Sebrae to startups. The first public notice, worth R$25 million, will select 20 companies. The intention is to finance, in total, around 150 projects of the PIPE Program (Innovative Research in Small Companies).
The notice will receive proposals from small companies (with up to 250 employees) with a research and development unit headquartered in São Paulo and with sales of up to R$ 4.8 million.
The company selection team will assess the consistency and viability of the business. The startup document should demonstrate its strategy to generate revenue from the proposed research. The notice will be open until October 19th. The manual with details of the notice can be accessed at www.fapesp.br/pipe.
The initiative is part of the Scientist + Entrepreneur Program, launched by Sebrae to support researchers and scientific entrepreneurs to bring innovations to the market.