SpaceWERX STRATFI

SpaceWERX STRATFI

Funds strategic growth support for United States space firms ready for major technical scale and deployment.

⚠ This may reflect a past cycle — verify the current call on the funder's site.

SpaceWERX STRATFI (Strategic Funding Increase) PY26.1 is a scale-up contract providing $3 million–$15 million in SBIR/STTR appropriations to small businesses holding an active or recently completed SpaceWERX SBIR/STTR Phase II contract. STRATFI sits within SpaceWERX's Accelerate division and is designed to bridge the gap between Phase II prototype development and full Phase III transition into US Space Force programmes of record. In 2023, SpaceWERX invested $72 million through STRATFI and TACFI combined, leveraged to more than $125 million across 14 technology programmes, illustrating the deal-stacking mechanism at the core of the instrument.

STRATFI awards stack the SBIR/STTR government appropriation ($3 million–$15 million) on top of matching investment from both a government program-office partner and private capital — making private co-investment a hard eligibility requirement, not a preference. The recommended technology readiness level range at entry is TRL 5–8. Submission is continuous and rolling; PY26.1 ran from 28 July 2025 through 29 May 2026. Full solicitation documents are distributed through a government-gated Microsoft Teams environment rather than public download, meaning companies must be connected to a USSF program-office partner to access application materials.

To compete for STRATFI, a company should already have its government partner and private matching capital committed before initiating the formal application, as the matching requirement is evaluated alongside technical merit. Companies emerging from SpaceWERX Phase II Open Topic awards should note that the same end-user relationship that produced the Customer Memorandum in Phase II is typically the entry point for identifying a STRATFI program-office partner. PY26.2 was listed as coming soon at the close of PY26.1; applicants should monitor spacewerx.us/stratfi-tacfi for cycle timing.