The quick version
- Australian founders have access to a range of startup support programs, from government grants and accelerators to the R&D Tax Incentive (R&DTI)
- Key federal programmes include the Industry Growth Program (currently paused to new applications), Export Market Development Grants, and Cooperative Research Centres Projects
- Accelerators like Startmate and CSIRO ON Accelerate offer funding, mentorship, and networks, while state governments run their own innovation programmes
- The R&DTI provides eligible companies with a cash refund on R&D expenditure, but the refund can take 12 months or more to arrive after year-end
- R&D finance lets founders borrow against eligible R&D spend they’ve already incurred, closing the gap between spending and rebate
Starting an Australian business has never looked more promising on paper. Venture capital is flowing, the government is expanding R&D incentives, and a Dealroom and AWS report found Australia produces billion-dollar companies more efficiently than the US, UK, or China. But if you’re actually in the early stages of building something, the view from the ground is messier.
Most founders aren’t short on ambition. They’re short on clarity about where to find funding that doesn’t cost them half their company. And one of the first questions that comes up is: what startup support programs does Australia actually have available to me?
The answer is more than most founders realise, and less tidy than anyone would like. Government grants open and close on their own schedules. Accelerator cohorts run on fixed timelines. Tax incentives have eligibility requirements that take time to understand. None of these things announces themselves clearly when you’re heads down building a product.
This guide walks through the main categories of startup support programs Australia has to offer right now: government grants, accelerators and incubators, state-based innovation programmes, and the R&D Tax Incentive. It also covers a funding option that sits alongside all of them, one that specifically addresses the cash flow problem the R&DTI creates for startups spending heavily on research and development.
Government grants for startups
Federal government grants are one of the more visible startup support programs Australia offers, but availability shifts regularly. Here’s where things stand in mid-2026.
Industry Growth Program (IGP)
The IGP was launched in 2023 as a $392.4 million programme to help startups and small businesses commercialise new technologies. It replaced the former Entrepreneurs’ Programme and offered advisory services plus matched grant funding between $50,000 and $5 million for projects within National Reconstruction Fund priority areas.
As of May 2026, the IGP is paused for new applications. The 2026–27 Federal Budget flagged the pause as part of broader portfolio savings. Since its launch, the programme has awarded 96 grants totalling $143 million, but $102 million in uncommitted funding was removed at the December 2025 MYEFO. Founders should keep an eye on the business.gov.au IGP page for updates on whether and when new applications reopen.
Export Market Development Grants (EMDG)
Administered by Austrade, the EMDG programme supports Australian SMEs expanding into overseas markets. Round 4 (covering FY2025–26 and FY2026–27) committed $218.1 million across 2,232 grant agreements, with individual grants ranging from $20,000 to $80,000 per financial year, depending on tier.
The EMDG requires at least two years of trading history under the same ABN and a turnover under $20 million, which makes it more suited to founders who’ve already found product-market fit domestically and are looking to export. Round 4 is closed, and Round 5 isn’t expected until mid-2027 at the earliest. Worth putting on your radar, but not an immediate funding option for most pre-revenue startups.
Cooperative Research Centres Projects (CRC-P)
CRC-P grants fund short-term, industry-led research collaborations between businesses and research organisations. Matched funding ranges from $100,000 to $3 million per project over up to three years, and the lead applicant must be an SME.
Round 19 opened in March 2026 with $20 million earmarked specifically for AI projects under the Government’s AI Accelerator initiative. If your startup has research ties to a university or CSIRO, CRC-P is worth investigating. For founders without those connections, it’s less likely to be a fit.
Accelerators and incubators
Accelerators are structured programmes designed for early-stage startups, providing trading capital and mentorship for equity. Incubators tend to offer workspace, resources, and support without necessarily taking a stake. Both can help founders move faster, and Australia’s accelerator network has matured significantly.
Startmate is the most established. Since 2010, it has invested in over 350 startups, now collectively valued at more than $4.5 billion. The programme runs for 12 to 14 weeks and invests $120,000 per startup for a 7% equity stake. In 2025, Startmate introduced four specialised streams: AI, hardware, B2B, and consumer, each led by experienced founders from companies including Canva and Microsoft.
For deep tech founders, CSIRO’s ON Accelerate programme is worth knowing about. Run by Australia’s national science agency, it’s a three-month programme for research-driven ventures from universities and publicly funded research organisations. The programme is fully funded (valued at over $150,000), entirely non-dilutive, and offers up to $80,000 in additional funding per team. The ON Accelerate 9 cohort collectively raised over $33.8 million in grants and investment.
Other programmes worth exploring include Cicada Innovations (deep tech, Sydney), Skalata Ventures (Melbourne, bridging product-market fit to institutional VC), and muru-D (Telstra’s accelerator, 90+ startups supported).
State-based innovation programmes
Beyond federal funding and accelerators, there are startup support programs that Australia funds at the state level. These vary considerably in scope and stability.
Queensland’s Advance Queensland initiative has been running since 2015 and currently offers programmes including the Innovation Events Fund, the SEQ Innovation Economy Fund, and support for Indigenous entrepreneurs and circular economy R&D. It’s one of the more active state programmes at the moment.
In New South Wales, the MVP Ventures Program offers matched funding of up to $25,000 for tech startups with a working minimum viable product. The 2025–2026 programme ran across three funding rounds.
Victoria’s startup support scene is in transition. LaunchVic, the state’s dedicated startup agency (which made over 190 investments), is being merged with Breakthrough Victoria into a new entity called Innovation Victoria, expected to begin operating in the second half of 2026. The consolidation followed an independent review recommending the state ‘consolidate and scale back its industry support activities’. What this means for early-stage founder support in Victoria remains to be seen.
The R&D Tax Incentive
The R&D Tax Incentive (R&DTI) is the Australian Government’s principal mechanism for encouraging business investment in research and development. For eligible startups, it’s one of the most valuable startup support programs Australia provides, because it returns actual cash.
Here’s how it works: companies conducting eligible R&D activities in Australia can claim a tax offset on their R&D expenditure. For companies with aggregated turnover under $20 million (which covers most startups), the offset is 43.5%, and it’s refundable. That ‘refundable’ part matters. If the offset exceeds your tax liability, the ATO pays you the difference as a cash refund. For a startup in a loss position, this can mean receiving a significant cash payment from the government based on money you’ve already spent on qualifying R&D.
Eligible R&D activities include core experimental activities (where the outcome can’t be known in advance) and supporting activities directly related to those experiments. You’ll need to register your R&D activities with the Department of Industry, Science and Resources (DISR) before claiming, and the programme is self-assessed, meaning both the ATO and DISR conduct compliance reviews.
The R&DTI is jointly administered by the ATO and DISR, and the ATO’s guide to offset rates is the primary reference for current details.
What’s changing
The 2026–27 Federal Budget proposed significant reforms to the R&DTI, expected to take effect from 1 July 2028 if legislated. Two changes matter most for founders. First, the refundable offset turnover threshold would increase from $20 million to $50 million, meaning more scaling companies can access cash refunds as they grow. Second, refundability would be limited to companies under 10 years old. The offset for core R&D activities would also increase by 4.5 percentage points, while supporting R&D activities would no longer be eligible.
These are proposed changes, not yet law. Current rules apply until at least 30 June 2028. But the direction is encouraging for early-stage companies doing genuine experimental work.
The cash flow problem the R&DTI creates
The R&DTI is genuinely useful. The problem isn’t the incentive itself; it’s the timing.
R&D spending happens continuously. Salaries, contractor invoices, cloud infrastructure costs, and materials don’t pause for the end of the financial year. But the R&DTI refund arrives as a single lump sum from the ATO, well after year-end, once your R&D registration is lodged with DISR and your company tax return is processed. For companies with a 30 June year-end, that means registering by 30 April the following year, lodging the return, and then waiting for the ATO to process it. The gap between spending money on R&D and receiving the refund can stretch past 12 months.
For a startup burning through cash on development, or a scaleup trying to maintain hiring momentum through the second half of the year, that wait is a real problem. It slows startup development at the exact moment founders need to be moving fastest. And it’s a problem that grows as your R&D spend grows.
How R&D finance closes the gap
This is where R&D finance comes in. Founders who are already accruing eligible R&D expenditure can borrow against that spend now, before their R&DTI claim is lodged or processed.
Rocking Horse Group is a lender, not a tax advisor or R&D consultant. They don’t assess R&DTI eligibility or prepare claims. What they do is lend against your year-to-date eligible R&D expenditure, confirmed by your R&D tax consultant via a comfort letter, so you can access capital you’ve already earned without waiting for the ATO.
Funding ranges from $50,000 to $10 million, calculated at up to 80% of your expected R&DTI rebate based on spend to date. There are no monthly repayments; the loan settles automatically when the ATO pays your refund. The structure is non-dilutive: no equity, no personal guarantees, and no restrictions on how you use the funds. Whether you reinvest in R&D, bring forward a hire, fund business growth, or cover operational costs while the rebate makes its way through the system, that’s your decision.
If you don’t yet have an R&D tax advisor, Rocking Horse can connect you with one in their network. But the comfort letter and the R&DTI claim itself sit with your advisor, not with the lender.
Frequently asked questions
What are the main startup support programs Australia offers?
The main categories are federal government grants (such as the Industry Growth Program and Export Market Development Grants), accelerator and incubator programmes (such as Startmate and CSIRO ON Accelerate), state-based innovation programmes (such as Advance Queensland and NSW’s MVP Ventures), and the R&D Tax Incentive. Each has different eligibility requirements, timelines, and application processes.
Do I need to complete my R&DTI claim before accessing R&D finance?
No. Rocking Horse lends against eligible R&D expenditure your company has already incurred during the current financial year, confirmed by a comfort letter from your R&D tax consultant. You can access R&D finance before your R&DTI claim is lodged with the ATO.
Can I use R&D finance alongside other startup support programs?
Yes. R&D finance works alongside other startup support programs Australia offers because it’s a loan secured against expenditure you’ve already incurred, not a grant or equity investment. Founders using accelerator funding, government grants, or venture capital can also access R&D finance, provided they’re conducting eligible R&D activity and have a comfort letter from their R&D advisor. The key thing to understand is that R&D finance and the R&DTI are interconnected: you must be eligible for the R&DTI to access R&D finance.
How quickly can I access R&D finance?
Funding typically arrives within two weeks of approval. You can estimate how much your company could access using Rocking Horse’s R&D expenditure calculator, or talk to the team about your situation directly.