Israel IIA Startup Fund Pre-Seed

Israel IIA Startup Fund Pre-Seed

Funds Israeli pre-seed startups with early capital for first experiments and customer discovery.

The Israel Innovation Authority (IIA) Startup Fund Pre-Seed track is the earliest-stage government funding instrument administered by Israel's national innovation agency, targeting technology companies at TRL 1–3 that are forming their initial team and conducting early feasibility or concept validation work. The IIA is a statutory body established under the Israeli Innovation Authority Law, operating within the Ministry of Economy and Industry, with a mandate to support Israel's research-and-development-intensive private sector through non-dilutive royalty-backed grants.

Under the Pre-Seed track, eligible Israeli-registered companies can receive royalty-backed conditional grants of up to approximately USD 400,000 (equivalently structured in NIS) to fund early-stage R&D activities. The instrument is structured as a conditional grant: recipients repay the grant as a royalty on future sales revenues once commercialisation occurs, but there is no equity dilution and no repayment obligation if the project does not generate revenues. This royalty-back structure is standard across IIA programmes. Eligibility is open to Israeli-registered for-profit companies across all technology sectors with no explicit sector restriction — the IIA's portfolio spans software, hardware, life sciences, agtech, materials, and defence-adjacent technologies.

Applications are submitted through the IIA's online portal and evaluated by an independent committee of industry and scientific experts on the basis of technological innovation, commercial potential, and team capability. The Pre-Seed track is one of two Startup Fund tiers — the companion Seed track covers TRL 2–4 with awards up to approximately USD 1,400,000 — making the Pre-Seed instrument the appropriate entry point for concept-stage Israeli startups before a founding team has assembled a full commercial proof of concept.