ACCEL-KS Progress REport: Where the money is going, and what’s being built
Five months ago, we announced 20 grants to early-stage Kansas founders through the ACCEL-KS Proof-of-Concept program. We distributed first-tranche funding within seven business days of finalizing the awards, because we wanted to get funds into the hands of founders as quickly as possible.
An ACCEL-KS grant recipient discuss a prototype with Maker Labs Manager Jeremiah Burian and Groover Labs member Barrett Morgan, who is helping with 3D design and printing.
As of Janaury 31, 2026, we’ve received milestones reports from all grant recipients. Every funded project is active, building, and tracking toward their goals.
Some recipients have already met their first milestone requirements and are receiving their next tranche of funding. Others, whose milestones and distributions are scheduled for later in the year, are on track, and we expect them to reach their goals on time.
Why Tranches?
When we put together the framework for what became the ACCEL-KS grant, we structured awards as milestone-based distributions rather than lump sums. There are three reasons for this:
Speed. We wanted to get funds into founders’ hands quickly. Rather than waiting for the full review cycle, we distributed first-tranche funding shortly after awards were announced so founders could get to work.
Structure. The Kansas Department of Commerce awarded the ACCEL-KS grant to us in two tranches, and we passed that structure through to our recipients. This created a natural checkpoint in the middle of the project for us to see how the grant recipients are doing.
Support. Milestone-based reporting gives us the ability to monitor progress and intervene when a founder needs help, whether that’s connecting them to technical resources, granting access to prototyping equipment, or providing guidance during a pivot. From a certain perspective, we’re actively managing a portfolio of early-stage Kansas startups.
What are ACCEL-KS founders building?
An early prototype of an ACCEL-KS product.
Several grant recipients have workbenches in our Maker Lab, where they’re machining parts, 3D printing prototypes, welding assemblies, and using our electronics workshop to design and build custom integration.
Where did the money go?
We reviewed the financial reports submitted along with each milestone update. Here’s how the grant funds have been spent so far:
Contract Development and Engineering: 63%. This is the largest category by far. Founders hiring developers, firmware engineers, and design firms to build products. Contract engineering is the backbone of startup software development.
Electronics, Components, and Hardware: 18%. FPGS, PCBs, sensors, LoRaWan gateways, optics, and CNC-cut parts source forms suppliers.
Testing, Validating, and Research: 5%. Speed testing, semantic validation, field testing, and applied research, including intellectual property research through Wichita State University.
Prototype Iteration and Fabrication: 3%. 3D printing services, CNC machining, and CAD design.
Software, SaaS, and AI Tools: 3%. Subscriptions to dev platforms and AI tools including Claude, ChatGPT, OpenAI Codex, Neo4j, and various cloud-based collaboration tools.
Business Ops: 2%. The smallest piece. Founders are putting most everything into product development, not overhead.
Cloud Infrastructure: 1%. AWS hosting and compute services.
An ACCEL-KS grant recipient working in the Maker Lab.
The spending pattern across all cohorts is fascinating. More than 85% of reported expenditures have gone directly to product development, from contract engineering to hardware components to prototyping to testing. Overhead and business ops account for just 2% of total spend.
What’s Next?
The ACCEL-KS program continues through July 2026. We’ll continue to evaluate milsetong progress, distribute second-tranch funding to recipients who meet their goals, and continue to connect founders with ecosystem resources through our statewide partners.
All ACCEL-KS applications, whether funded or not, continue to have access to the ACCEL-KS Ecosystem Support Package, a suite of wraparound consulting services and programming offered by our partners across Kansas. Several applicants have workspaces at Groover Labs, where they engage regularly with our dynamic community of founders and entrepreneurs.
