Crucible Accelerator Fall 2026: no-equity defense dual-use program
The Crucible Accelerator (Inland Empire Tech Bridge, powered by FedTech) runs an 8-week virtual Fall 2026 cohort from October to December for 12 defense and dual-use startups, taki…
Founders News
News for Hardware / IoT founders.
Updates relevant to Hardware / IoT, plus broadly-applicable ones. 36 in total.
Industry Growth Program: federal commercialisation grants $50k-$5M (currently paused)
The Australian Government's Industry Growth Program, run by the Department of Industry, Science and Resources, offers matched grants of $50,000 to $250,000 for early-stage commerci…
Google Workspace July drop: Gemini auto-builds on-brand Slides decks and Docs visuals
Google's July 30, 2026 Workspace feature drop lets Gemini generate a complete slide presentation that matches your existing brand formatting by describing it and referencing prior…
US industrial vacancy dips to 6.5% in Q2 2026, first drop since 2022
CBRE reports the US industrial and logistics vacancy rate fell 20 basis points quarter-over-quarter to 6.5% in Q2 2026, its first decline since Q2 2022. Net absorption of 85.1 mill…
Court strikes down $100,000 H-1B fee; First Circuit lets ruling stand (July 2026)
A September 19, 2025 presidential proclamation imposed a one-time $100,000 fee on new H-1B petitions for beneficiaries processed abroad. On June 8, 2026 a federal judge vacated the…
SBA opens $9M SCALE program: 20 supply-chain accelerator grants up to $500K
On July 23, 2026 the SBA launched the Supply Chain Acceleration and Logistics Enablement (SCALE) program, awarding 20 grants of up to $500,000 each ($9M total) over a two-year peri…
Etched raises $300M at $10.3B valuation for transformer-only AI inference chips
On July 23, 2026 AI-chip startup Etched — founded by three Harvard dropouts in 2022 — closed a $300M Series C led by Sequoia at a $10.3B valuation, with a16z, Jane Street and SK Hy…
Y Combinator: 4 batches/year, $500K standard deal — check for the next open batch
Y Combinator runs four batches a year (Winter/Spring/Summer/Fall); its standard deal is $500,000 plus a ~3-month in-person program in San Francisco, with acceptance around 1-2%. Th…
Antler pre-team founder program applications close September 30, 2026
Antler's next cohort has an application deadline of September 30, 2026. Antler specializes in pre-team, pre-seed founders, helping individuals find a co-founder and secure first fu…
Techstars Founder Catalyst Fall 2026: free, equity-free virtual pre-accelerator
Techstars is running its Founder Catalyst Global Fall 2026 pre-accelerator, a 10-week, fully virtual, non-equity and free program from Sept 22 to Nov 27, 2026. Applications close A…
xAI ships Grok 4.5, an 'Opus-class' coding model at $2/$6 per M tokens
xAI released Grok 4.5 on July 8, 2026, priced at $2 per million input tokens and $6 per million output tokens, with public access the next day. Elon Musk called it 'an Opus-class m…
SBA doubles combined 7(a)+504 loan cap to $10M
Effective July 4, 2026, the SBA raised the cumulative cap a borrower can hold across its two flagship loan programs from $5 million to $10 million — up to $5 million through the 7(…
Ontario cuts small-business corporate tax rate to 2.2% on July 1, 2026
Ontario's 2026 budget lowers the small-business corporate income tax rate for Canadian-controlled private corporations (CCPCs) from 3.2% to 2.2%, effective July 1, 2026, prorated f…
IRS interest rate climbs to 7% for Q3 2026 underpayments and refunds
The IRS underpayment and overpayment interest rate rose to 7% for the quarter beginning July 1, 2026, up from 6% in Q2 2026, and applies to both individuals and corporations. The r…
FTC pivots to case-by-case noncompete enforcement; states pass their own bans
There is no federal FTC noncompete ban in effect — the 2024 rule was blocked and the FTC dropped its Fifth Circuit appeal on September 5, 2025. Instead the FTC is enforcing case-by…
O-1A stays the top founder visa; Entrepreneur Parole thresholds and fees rise
A January 2025 USCIS policy update confirmed that a founder-owned company can petition for an O-1 visa on behalf of its own owner, and the O-1A (extraordinary ability) has ~94% app…
Government Start Up Loans: £500–£25,000 personal loan at 6% fixed plus 12 months free mentoring
Interest is now 7.5% fixed for new loans (loans taken before 6 April 2026 keep 6%), and eligibility is businesses trading under five years (60 months), not under three years. £500–…
$20,000 instant asset write-off to become permanent from 1 July 2026
In the 2026-27 Budget (announced 12 May 2026) the Australian Government said it will permanently set the small business instant asset write-off at $20,000 from 1 July 2026. Small b…
SBA rolls out 90% Made-in-America loan guarantee, waived fees for manufacturers
The SBA has introduced a 90% Made in America loan guarantee for small manufacturers and waived loan fees for manufacturing NAICS codes in FY2026, alongside a free 'Make Onshoring G…
SBIR/STTR non-dilutive R&D grant programs reauthorized through 2031
President Trump signed S.3971, the Small Business Innovation and Economic Security Act (Public Law 119-83), into law on April 13, 2026, reauthorizing the SBIR and STTR programs thr…
Budget 2026 gives Singapore companies a 40% CIT rebate plus S$2,000 cash grant
Original Budget 2026 = 40% rebate, S$1,500 cash grant, S$30,000 cap (YA2026). Enhanced (announced 7 Apr 2026) = 50% rebate, S$2,000 cash grant, S$40,000 cap. Use the current enhanc…
UK employer NIC stays 15% on a £5,000 threshold for 2026/27; Employment Allowance £10,500
For the 2026/27 tax year (from 6 April 2026), employer Class 1 National Insurance remains at 15% and the secondary threshold at which it becomes payable stays at £5,000 per year, c…
Provisional tax kicks in above $5,000 RIT; UOMI at 10.96% for 2026-27
The taxpayer's paying (underpayment) UOMI rate is 8.97% p.a. effective 16 January 2026 (down from 9.89%), not 10.96%. Best phrased as 'currently 8.97%, set by Order in Council and…
AEWV minimum pay rises to NZD $23.95/hr from 1 April 2026
Dependent-child sponsorship threshold rose to ~NZ$58,240/yr from 9 March 2026 (80% of the new $35.00/hr median wage), not NZ$55,844 (which held only 10 Mar 2025–8 Mar 2026).
EB-2 NIW green card: founder self-petition path tightens as approvals fall
The EB-2 National Interest Waiver lets a founder self-petition for a green card with no job offer and no PERM labor certification. After USCIS tightened its Policy Manual guidance…
Delaware C-corps must file the annual report and franchise tax by March 1, 2026
Every Delaware corporation must file its annual report and pay franchise tax by March 1 each year (March 1, 2026 for the 2025 report), whether or not it did business or earned inco…
2026: 100% bonus depreciation permanent, Section 179 cap $2.56M
For 2026, the Section 179 expensing limit is $2,560,000, with the phase-out beginning at $4,090,000 of qualifying property placed in service. Separately, the One Big Beautiful Bill…
Texas franchise-tax no-tax-due threshold rises to $2.65M for 2026 reports
The Texas Comptroller set the 2026 franchise-tax no-tax-due threshold at $2,650,000 in annualized total revenue, up from $2,470,000 for 2024-2025. Entities at or below the threshol…
New York minimum wage hits $17 downstate / $16 upstate on Jan 1, 2026
Downstate exempt executive/administrative salary threshold is $1,275.00/week, not $1,275.50 ($66,300 ÷ 52 = $1,275.00 exactly; the annual $66,300 was already correct). Upstate $1,1…
Most US small businesses now exempt from Corporate Transparency Act BOI filing
In March 2025 FinCEN flipped the Corporate Transparency Act rules: entities formerly treated as "domestic reporting companies" are exempt from beneficial ownership information (BOI…
California SDI payroll withholding rises to 1.3% in 2026, still no wage cap
For 2026 California's State Disability Insurance (SDI) employee withholding rate increases to 1.3%, up from 1.2% in 2025, per the EDD (form DE 3395). Since January 1, 2024 there is…
Singapore raises Employment Pass minimum salary to S$5,600 from Jan 2026
S$5,600 (general)/S$6,200 (finance) have applied to new EP applications since 1 Jan 2025; from 1 Jan 2026 they apply to renewals. The Budget 2026 step to S$6,000/S$6,600 from 1 Jan…
US coworking hits ~8,420 locations and 152M sq ft heading into 2026
The US now has roughly 8,420 coworking locations (up from about 7,041 in mid-2024) totaling around 152 million sq ft, still only about 2% of national office inventory. Median membe…
SR&ED enhanced 35% refund now covers first $6M of R&D spend
Canada's Budget 2025 raised the expenditure limit for the enhanced 35% refundable SR&ED tax credit from $3 million to $6 million of qualifying R&D spending per year (a two-step inc…
Employer childcare tax credit jumps to $500K for 2026
Under the One Big Beautiful Bill, for tax year 2026 the IRS increased the maximum employer-provided childcare tax credit (Section 45F) from $150,000 to $500,000 — and to $600,000 i…
Startups can again fully deduct US R&D costs in the year incurred (Section 174A)
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (signed July 4, 2025) added IRC Section 174A, permanently restoring immediate expensing of domestic research and experimental costs for tax years beg…