Accel-KS
at Groover Labs
Accelerating Concept to Commercialization in Kansas, or ACCEL-KS, is a proof-of-concept grant program developed by the Kansas Department of Commerce, run in partnership with Groover Labs. Now in its second year, it helps early-stage Kansas startups move from concept toward commercialization.
The grant program finds technology startups across Kansas and supports them with grants from $5,000 to $25,000, along with wraparound support that helps founders turn early-stage concepts into working prototypes ready for commercialization.
As part of the program, Groover Labs connects founders to organizations active in the regional startup ecosystem, so recipients get the programming and consulting they need to prototype and scale their products.
Read application guidelines here.
Applications
Applications are not open yet, but we expect to announce a date soon. In the meantime, if you would like to receive updates about the program, including important dates and reminders, please click the button below and enter your email address, first name, and last name. You will be the first to know when the applications open.
Latest news
Timeline
the Timeline
We will announce a full program timeline as soon as we finalize the dates, including when the applications open and close.
The process
A review committee evaluates every qualifying application.
Selected applicants are invited to a short virtual presentation, and awardees are chosen from that group
The Work
Then, the real fun begins.
Founders who engage with program support are more likely to succeed.
Together, we’ll sprint from the first tranche distribution all the way to the end of the program in July 2027.
Educational
Programming
Grant recipients can opt into wraparound programming that helps a concept grow into a commercially viable product. The programming is built to support founders with very little startup experience. We connect you with subject-matter experts, equipment and software, and flexible workspace. Programming is available to help take a concept and develop it into a commercially viable prototype. Rarely does innovation emerge without the support of a talented community. If you don’t have one, we do our best to provide one for you.
Most programming is in-person or virtually, depending on the format. Topics include customer discovery, hardware prototyping, business model design, capital strategy, “Design-for” experimentation, and commercialization.
Benefits
Weekly coaching sessions and connections to our startup community.
Technical consulting with experts in hardware product development, Go-to-Market strategy, Product-Market-Fit, intellectual property, commercialization strategies, and more
Startup programming for ecosystem support organization with wide-ranging topics from identifying customers to raising capital.
WorkSpace and Equipment
Software founders receive a hotseat membership at Groover Labs, where they can work and collaborate on their projects.
Hardware members receive a free workbench where they can store tools, equipment and prototypes.
The Maker Labs includes a metal shop, woodshop, fab lab with a variety of 3D printing options, electronics lab, pick-and-place line, and more.
Ecosystem partners
Ecosystem Support Package
Every ACCEL-KS award comes with wraparound support that runs the full grant year and connects founders to mentorship and hands-on programming. Depending on what your project needs, we provide you with technical support or connect you to the right partner. The Defense Innovation OnRamp Hub: Kansas operates “Design-for” bootcamps. Wichita State University’s College of Engineering leads “Design for Experiments” sessions. Kansas State University’s Technology Development Institute offers technical consulting and prototyping support.
Partners Include
Accelerate Venture Partners Accessing Growth Capital series
Consultations with AI and SaaS product development experts
Defense innovation OnRamp Hub: Kansas, “Design for” bootcamp
Go-to-market strategy consultations
Groover Labs’ 12-week startup course CAMPFIRE
Kansas State University’s Technology Development Institute
NetWork Kansas Financing Consultations
NXTUS’s Customer Traction Cohort series
Wichita State University College of Engineer Project Innovation Hub’s “Design for Experiments” working sessions
Wichita State University Office of Tech Transfer and Commercialization
Who can Apply?
Kansans
ACCEL-KS is a statewide initiative from the Kansas Department of Commerce’s Office of Innovation, built to accelerate the commercialization of groundbreaking ideas and products, transforming them into market-ready solutions.
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Your product needs to be scalable. We’re saying this now because we know the Review Committee will ask about it.
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The Review Committee will use a rubric to evaluate your project. One of the benchmarks they will consider is whether or not your project has a reasonable path to commercialization.
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Applicants must be U.S. citizens to be eligible for the ACCEL-KS proof-of-concept grant program.
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You need to have a Kansas address.
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We’ll need you to provide us with a W-9.
Rural Founders
We partner with rural communities across the state to find founders in rural Kansas. During teh application period, we travel to your county and talk with local entrepreneurship supporters about the program, answer questions, and build awareness.
The Kansas Department of Commerce asks that at least 30% of ACCEL-KS projects come from rural communities across the state.
42% of applicants to the 2025-2026 cohort came from rural Kansas, and 44% of projects that received awards came from rural communities.
Almost all of them started with the Groover Labs team traveling to counties that showed interest in ACCEL-KS.
Grant Funding
We award grants up to $25,000 to founders with strong product concepts and clear development paths. The funding supports the proof-of-concept stage, helping you build and refine an early-stage product.
Recipients submit progress reports during the grant year, along with one milestone report, which releases the second funding tranche. They also take participate in the grant kick-off and product demonstration showcase at the end of the grant period.
Approved Uses
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Materials you use up while building and testing. Filament, resin, sheet stock, wire, blank PCBs, lab supplies. If it gets consumed while you’re prototyping, it counts.
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Parts and components that go into your prototype. Sensors, motors, controllers, custom fabrication, machine time, tooling. This covers what goes into the prototype, not the shop equipment you’d keep afterward.
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Paying an expert with skills sufficient to help you build. Engineering consultants, prototyping help, IP experts, regulatory help, product field testing. Tie the work to your project.
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Training that helps move your project forward. Workshops, technical courses, design courses. Education you need to build your project.
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Customer discovery and validation. User testing costs, demo materials, field research.
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Metered API or compute spend where the model is a working component of what you’re trying to build. Billed by usage, tied to a project account, and scaling with the prototype’s function. Covers inference costs, hosted model access, and training and find tuning compute for the actual product.
Non-Approved Uses
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Rent, utilities, insurance, office supplies. These are the costs you’d carry whether or not you were awarded the grant.
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Your own play, and wagers for employees. The grant is to fund the project, not the people behind it. Contacted specialists is a different matter, and they fall under Expert Support.
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Paying down debt, covering loan payments, refinancing, or holding funds in reserve. Grant money goes into the work you’re doing, not the balance sheet you’re carrying.
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Design software licenses and subscription. The Maker Lab has CAD seats as part of the program, so grant funds shouldn’’t buy what you’re already getting through the program.
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Seat-based AI subscriptions used as a general work tool, including consumer plans for chat assistants and coding projects. These are treated the same as CAD software. General-purpose tools you’d use across any project, not a project-specific input.
We will provide a more comprehensive list of approved and non-approved grant funding uses before the application process opens.
Program history
This is Groover Labs’ second year partnering with the Kansas Department of Commerce on the program.
Last year, we received nearly 70 applications and funded 25 founders who built incredible products in AgTech, ConTech, defense tech, EdTech, aerospace tech, AI tech, and more.
You can read more about the 2025-2026 cohort here.
A note on AI
A word of caution: LLMs like Claude and ChatGPT telling you that you’ve got a great idea that you should develop may not be enough for grant funding.
When we meet with founders, we ask if they’ve tried to build a prototype.
If they haven’t, we suggest they go to the local hardware store, buy some duct tape and bailing wire, and give it shot.
v1 doesn’t have to be perfect. But we need to see that you’ve done more than pull some engineering schematics off an LLM that provides you with inferential concepts. The odds that you’re going to build a Thorium reactor on the moon are low, even if ChatGPT says otherwise.
Same for marketing websites written by AI disguised as AI-infused SaaS concepts.
Founders from last year’s cohort used AI to build SaaS projects, were awarded grant funding, and then hired contract engineers to refine their product concepts.
But a website telling us what your SaaS product could do is not the same as demonstrating a v1 of your SaaS product doing it.