Omaha and Nebraska Startup Resources: 27 Programs Checked
This is a directory of the programs a founder in Omaha or elsewhere in Nebraska can use: state grants, investors, accelerators, free and low-cost advisers, university programs and community organisations. Every listing was verified against its official page in November 2026, and each row says what the program offers, who it is for, and where to read the current terms. Programs we could not confirm are named at the end rather than listed.
Nebraska's Business Innovation Act funds prototypes up to $150,000 and seed rounds up to $500,000
The Nebraska Department of Economic Development runs four Business Innovation Act programs for early-stage companies, and all four list application windows for the fiscal year that began in July 2026, open until funds run out. Each requires matching money from a non-state source, so the match is the part to arrange first.
| Program | What it offers | Who it is for | Official page |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nebraska Innovation Fund Prototype Grant | Up to $150,000 per project for product development, reimbursed at 66% of costs, with at least a 50% cash match and 24 months to finish | Nebraska businesses with fewer than 500 employees in non-retail primary industries | opportunity.nebraska.gov |
| Nebraska SBIR/STTR Grant Program | Up to $5,000 toward a federal Phase I proposal; matches on federal Phase I and II awards up to $150,000 and $300,000, or 65% of the federal grant if less | For-profit small businesses doing at least 51% of the federal project's work in Nebraska | opportunity.nebraska.gov |
| Nebraska Academic Research and Development Grant | Phase I awards up to $100,000 and Phase II up to $400,000, matched 1:1, for research done with a Nebraska college or university | For-profit businesses with physical operations in Nebraska | opportunity.nebraska.gov |
| Nebraska Seed Investment Program | Equity investments up to $500,000, placed and held by Invest Nebraska, against a 1:1 match raised within six months | High-growth Nebraska companies with 500 or fewer employees commercialising a product or process | opportunity.nebraska.gov |
| SBIR and STTR, America's Seed Fund | Non-dilutive federal research funding in phases; the government takes no equity or intellectual property | Small businesses with research that has commercial potential | sbir.gov |
| ImagiNE Nebraska Act | Tax credits for new jobs and investment at qualifying locations, including computer systems design | Companies adding employees or making large investments at a qualifying location; the smaller levels ask for 5 to 30 new jobs | imagine.nebraska.gov |
Value-added agriculture projects get a lower match on three of the state programs: 25% instead of 50% or 1:1. The ImagiNE row is for companies at the hiring stage; our article on building software in Omaha explains its levels in more detail.
Invest Nebraska, the Nebraska Angels and NMotion write early checks
Invest Nebraska is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) venture firm that, by the Department of Economic Development's description, places and holds the state's seed investments. Its own site gives an average first check of $250,000 into Nebraska companies showing early signs of product-market fit, in any industry.
| Program | What it offers | Who it is for | Official page |
|---|---|---|---|
| Invest Nebraska | Seed investment, venture debt for venture-backed companies, and a loan fund that partners with local lenders | High-growth companies located in Nebraska | investnebraska.com |
| Nebraska Angels | A member-led network of accredited investors, founded in 2006, that reviews applications for funding | Early-stage, high-growth companies; investors can apply for membership | nebraskaangels.org |
| NMotion, powered by gener8tor | A 12-week accelerator in Lincoln: $100,000 for 7.5% equity through a SAFE, six startups per cohort, two cohorts a year | Early-stage, high-growth companies in the Great Plains region, any industry | nmotion.co |
| Techstars Founder Catalyst | A part-time, 10-week virtual pre-accelerator with masterclasses, workshops and one-to-one mentoring; Fall 2026 was the third Omaha cohort | Early-stage founders from Techstars partner communities, which include Omaha | techstars.com |
| Biotech Connector | Wet-lab incubator space on Nebraska Innovation Campus in Lincoln, from 6 feet of bench to over 2,000 square feet, managed by Invest Nebraska | Early-stage biotech companies and corporate research teams | biotechconnector.com |
| The Combine | Advisers, marketing help and a founder network for agtech companies, supported by the Nebraska Corn Board | Food and agriculture technology founders | nebraskacombine.com |
NMotion's terms are the most specific in this group, and the only ones that state an equity price outright. Read every term sheet against them. The Techstars program is run locally through Open Range, listed below, whose November 2026 Startup Week schedule included showcases for both the Founder Catalyst and NMotion fall cohorts.
The SBA, the Nebraska SBDC and SCORE advise Nebraska businesses at no or low cost
The advisers in this group cost a founder little or nothing, and several are backed by the SBA. The U.S. Small Business Administration's Nebraska District Office is at 10675 Bedford Avenue, Suite 100, Omaha, according to its May 2025 office directory.
| Program | What it offers | Who it is for | Official page |
|---|---|---|---|
| SBA Nebraska District Office | Help registering a business, finding lenders and reaching state and federal programs, plus local events | Anyone starting or running a small business in Nebraska | sba.gov/ne |
| Nebraska Small Business Development Center | Confidential consulting at no or low cost on business plans, financial forecasts, loan packaging, exporting and succession, run by the Nebraska Business Development Center at UNO | Anyone operating or starting a for-profit business in Nebraska | unomaha.edu/nbdc |
| Nebraska APEX Accelerator | Government contracting help: bid preparation, agency research and workshops, with basic services at no charge | Nebraska businesses selling to federal, state or local government | unomaha.edu/nbdc |
| NBDC SBIR and STTR help | Guidance on federal SBIR and STTR proposals | Nebraska companies preparing a federal research grant | unomaha.edu/nbdc |
| SCORE Greater Omaha | Volunteer business mentors offering advice at no cost by email, phone and video, plus workshops | Small business owners and people planning one | score.org |
| GROW Nebraska Women's Business Center | One-to-one and online counselling, training and access to SBA programs; one of 20 Women's Business Centers newly funded by the SBA in 2021 | Women entrepreneurs, with support for minority and veteran owners, in the Omaha metro and across Nebraska | grownebraska.org |
One caveat on the SCORE row. The chapter's own page refused our automated check, so its description comes from the SBA's page on SCORE mentoring, which states that SCORE mentors offer advice at no cost. Confirm current workshop dates with the chapter directly.
Five university programs in Omaha and Lincoln work with founders beyond the lab
The University of Nebraska and Creighton run programs that reach outside their own students, though each has a different front door. Two of them, UNeTech and NUtech Ventures, start from university inventions. The others start from people.
| Program | What it offers | Who it is for | Official page |
|---|---|---|---|
| UNeTech Institute | A startup incubator run jointly by UNO and UNMC, which describes itself as Omaha's only university-affiliated entrepreneurial support organisation | Entrepreneurs and investors who want to build companies around university inventions, most of them from UNMC | unetech.org |
| UNO Center for Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Franchising | Pitch and business plan competitions, a student-run business, and advisory services to startups and small businesses in the region | UNO students, and regional startups seeking advice | unomaha.edu |
| Creighton's Greisch Center for Enterprise Value | Hands-on entrepreneurship programs for students, and guidance plus a network of innovators for local business owners | Creighton students and Omaha entrepreneurs | creighton.edu |
| NUtech Ventures | The University of Nebraska's nonprofit technology commercialisation affiliate for the Lincoln and Kearney campuses | Researchers and companies licensing UNL inventions | nutechventures.org |
| Nebraska Innovation Studio | A 16,000-square-foot makerspace in Lincoln with metal and wood shops and a rapid prototyping room, with free equipment training for members | Anyone, on a month-to-month membership | innovationstudio.unl.edu |
For a hardware founder, the makerspace is worth a visit before any prototype grant application. The application asks for a budget of anticipated project costs, and a month of shop access is a cheap way to learn what the prototype really takes to build.
Open Range, the Greater Omaha Chamber and the MAC Chamber connect founders to the city
Community organisations are the easiest way to meet the people behind the programs above. These four had current official pages in November 2026.
| Program | What it offers | Who it is for | Official page |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Range | The Omaha partner for Techstars. Runs a Nebraska-wide Startup Week and a 48-hour Startup Weekend, whose June 2026 tickets ran from $50 to $100 | Founders, would-be founders and builders in Omaha, Lincoln and Council Bluffs | openrange.org |
| Greater Omaha Chamber REACH | Training, mentoring, help with City of Omaha small and emerging business certification, and a free Digital Boost toolkit; more than 500 businesses supported since 2015 | Small and emerging businesses, especially construction and professional services firms | omahachamber.org |
| MAC Chamber, formerly the Midlands African Chamber | A membership organisation, founded in 2020, focused on access to capital, contracts and networks | African, African American and other underrepresented entrepreneurs in Nebraska and the Midwest | midlandsafricanchamber.com |
| AIM Institute | Technology education and workforce programs, including hybrid training in software development | People entering tech careers, and employers hiring them | aiminstitute.org |
AIM is a hiring resource more than a startup one. It is here for software founders, whose next problem after funding is usually hiring, and the talent figures for Omaha show how small that pool is.
Not listed: four programs we could not confirm from an official page in November 2026
A directory is only as good as its checks, so these were left out rather than guessed at:
- The Startup Collaborative. Older guides list it as the Greater Omaha Chamber's startup program. Its former web address now redirects to an unrelated site, the Chamber's old startups page returns a 404, and Invest Nebraska lists it only as a portfolio. We found no current program page.
- 1 Million Cups Omaha. Invest Nebraska's site says the Kauffman Foundation's weekly 1 Million Cups program meets in Omaha and Lincoln, but the program's own Omaha page would not load for us.
- UNeTech's Opportunity Corps. UNeTech says the program is on hiatus for one year after it could not secure federal or state grants.
- Nebraska Enterprise Fund. We could not reach a working official website.
Absence here means only that we could not confirm the details, not that a program has closed. Program terms change every fiscal year, so check each official page before you apply, even for programs that are listed.
Five steps from a free SBDC session to a federal SBIR match
The programs fit together in a rough order, and using them in that order saves time:
- Start with free advice. The Nebraska SBDC, SCORE or the Women's Business Center can review a plan before you spend anyone's money on it.
- Line up the match first. Every Business Innovation Act program needs non-state money beside it, from 25% for value-added agriculture to 1:1 for seed investment.
- Apply early in the fiscal year. The state programs accept applications from July until funds run out.
- Use the federal match. A federal SBIR or STTR award qualifies for a Nebraska match of up to 65% of its value, capped at $150,000 for Phase I and $300,000 for Phase II.
- Meet people before you need them. Go to a Startup Week event or a chamber program before you ask anything of the people who run the programs on this list.
For the cost, talent and capital figures behind starting a software company here, read building software in Omaha. If your audience includes Spanish speakers, our piece on four-language websites for Omaha shows what the Census data says and how to build for it.