Key takeaways for Texas
- There is no open, general-purpose small business grant from the State of Texas. Real grants are targeted: rural, research, disaster, workforce.
- Texas has 3.5 million small businesses, 99.8% of all businesses in the state (SBA Office of Advocacy, 2025) — competition for any open grant is heavy.
- USDA Rural Development's Texas office publishes the rural business grant programs that apply in the state; SBIR/STTR covers federally funded R&D.
- Office of The Governor of Texas is the state agency behind Texas's business capital programs — about $472.1 million in federal SSBCI funds — but those are lender-backed loans, not grants.
- Free application help: the Texas SBDC regional networks and the SBA's Dallas / Fort Worth District, El Paso District, Houston District, Lower Rio Grande Valley District, San Antonio District and West Texas District offices.
- If the money is needed this month, banks lent $9.6 billion in loans under $100,000 to Texas businesses in 2023, and revenue-based funders can approve within a day.
Does Texas offer small business grants?
Not as a standing program anyone can apply to. Texas's state-level business capital is administered by Office of The Governor of Texas, and it is structured as loan support — guarantees, loss reserves and co-lending — under the federal State Small Business Credit Initiative, not as grants.
State grant money, when it exists, is tied to a purpose: a disaster declaration, a workforce-training initiative, an innovation or export program, or a specific industry the legislature wants to grow. Those programs open and close on their own schedules and are announced by the agency that runs them, so the place to watch is Office of The Governor of Texas. Cities and counties across Texas — including Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Austin, Fort Worth and El Paso — also run occasional storefront, façade and revitalization grants through their economic development offices.
What Texas does fund: Texas operates three small business financing programs: one capital access program (CAP), one loan guarantee program (LGP), and one loan participation program (LPP). The Office of the Governor of Texas (OOG) through its Economic Development and Tourism Office (EDT) is the implementing entity and the Texas Economic Development Bank within OOG/EDT is the administrator for the programs.
The credit-support programs — Texas Small Business Credit Initiative Capital Access Program, Texas Small Business Credit Initiative Loan Guarantee Program and Texas Small Business Credit Initiative Loan Participation Program — are described in detail on our business loans in Texas page.
Who qualifies for targeted grants in Texas?
Eligibility for most real grant programs turns on who owns the business, where it is, and what it does. In Texas, women own 44.9% of businesses (1,417,149 firms), veterans own 5.6% (175,458), and 424,098 businesses are in rural areas versus 2,642,654 in urban ones — the split that decides USDA eligibility.
Hispanic owners hold 33.0% of Texas businesses. The state's largest small business sectors by count are professional and technical services, construction and transportation and warehousing. 37,283 small Texas firms exported goods in 2023, which opens the SBA's State Trade Expansion Program (STEP) — a real grant, administered through the state, that reimburses export-development costs. Where those numbers point: agricultural and food producers fit USDA Value-Added Producer Grants; technology and professional-services firms doing R&D fit SBIR/STTR; businesses in the 424,098 rural locations fit Rural Business Development Grants and REAP; women- and veteran-owned firms should check the SBA's Women's Business Centers and Veterans Business Outreach Centers, which track private grant competitions aimed at them. Texas small business employment grew by 41.8 percent between 1998 and 2022, which exceeded the national small business employment growth rate.
Source: SBA Office of Advocacy 2025 profile (Annual Business Survey and Nonemployer Statistics by Demographics, 2022; Census import/export profile). Ownership shares include equal and majority ownership.
Which federal grants are available to Texas businesses?
Two federal channels produce most real small business grants in Texas: USDA Rural Development, for businesses in rural areas, and the SBIR/STTR programs, for companies doing research and development that a federal agency wants.
USDA Rural Development's Texas program list covers Rural Business Development Grants, Value-Added Producer Grants, the Rural Energy for America Program and the Rural Microentrepreneur Assistance Program; eligibility depends on the location's rural designation, and the Texas state office handles applications. SBIR/STTR awards go to small firms developing technology a federal agency needs — not to retail, service or trade businesses. Our business grants guide walks through each federal program and how the application process works.
What if a grant will not come through in time?
Grants are slow and competitive; most Texas owners who need money this quarter use a loan or a revenue-based advance instead. The lowest-cost route is a bank loan, often backed by an SBA guarantee or one of Texas's SSBCI programs. The fastest is a revenue-based product that approves on bank deposits.
In 2023, banks reporting under the Community Reinvestment Act made $24.3 billion in new loans of $1 million or less to Texas businesses — $9.6 billion of it in loans of $100,000 or less. For speed, Same Day Business Fund refers business owners to ROK Financial, whose revenue-based programs typically need about 4 months in business and $10,000 or more in monthly sales. We may be compensated when a referral results in funding; that never changes the price you pay. Same-day products are priced with a factor rate, not an interest rate — read what same-day funding costs first. Note that Texas's Texas commercial sales-based financing law (HB 700, Texas Finance Code Ch. 398) requires covered providers to give you standardized cost disclosures before you sign.
See all options on business loans in Texas, or our guides to business grants and bad-credit business loans.
Texas small business facts
| Measure | Texas |
|---|---|
| Small businesses | 3.5 million (99.8% of all businesses) |
| Small business employees | 5.1 million (44.4% of employees) |
| Establishments opened / closed, March 2023–March 2024 | 86,385 opened, 78,648 closed (net increase of 7,737) |
| Net jobs from small businesses | increase of 148,641 (84.0% of total) |
| CRA-reported loans ≤ $1M (2023) | $24.3 billion |
| CRA-reported loans ≤ $100K (2023) | $9.6 billion |
| SSBCI programs | 3 (3 credit support), run by Office of The Governor of Texas |
Source: SBA Office of Advocacy, 2025 Small Business Profile for Texas (Census, BLS, FFIEC CRA data); U.S. Treasury SSBCI program list.
Where can Texas business owners get free help?
The Texas SBDC regional networks gives no-cost, confidential consulting — including help finding programs you qualify for and preparing applications. The SBA's Dallas / Fort Worth District, El Paso District, Houston District, Lower Rio Grande Valley District, San Antonio District and West Texas District offices connect owners to lenders, SCORE mentors and Women's Business Centers.
- Texas SBDC regional networks
- South-West Texas Border SBDC (San Antonio)
- Texas Gulf Coast SBDC (Houston)
- Northwest Texas SBDC (Lubbock)
- SBA Dallas / Fort Worth District Office
- SBA El Paso District Office
- SBA Houston District Office
- SBA Lower Rio Grande Valley District Office
- SBA San Antonio District Office
- SBA West Texas District Office
Frequently asked questions
Does Texas give grants to small businesses?
Which federal grants can a Texas business apply for?
Where can I get free help finding and applying for grants in Texas?
Are there grants for women, minority or veteran-owned businesses in Texas?
What are my options if a grant will not come through in time?
Sources
- SBA Office of Advocacy — 2025 Small Business Profile: Texas
- USDA Rural Development — programs in Texas
- U.S. Department of the Treasury — SSBCI programs and contacts
- SBA — Grants; America's SBDC — state network directory