Part 2: Applying & Sequencing Grants

<aside>

How to align grants with your roadmap, avoid funding gaps, and apply effectively.

Outline:
Tools: </aside>

1. How to Apply for Government Support Effectively

Map NZ startup grants to your business plan, hiring, and product roadmap — and then reverse to sense check funding required versus what is available.

[ ] Align grant timing to your hiring, R&D, and go-to-market strategy
[ ] Use a 12-month forecast to avoid funding gaps
[ ] Co-funding proof = critical
[ ] Begin with a 12 month Roadmap of activity, can be extended
[ ] Roadmap to include key activity eg R&D, Market Validation, Go to Market strategy and Hiring
[ ] Understand costs for each key activity to know how much funding is required and create a financial forecast to show timing
[ ] Build co-funding into financial forecast - can be combination of actual and commitments eg seed funding
[ ] Co-funding is CRITICAL to achieving grant funding </aside>

Examples:

R&D Plan written →	THEN apply for Callaghan Innovation eg New to R&D Grant	https://www.callaghaninnovation.govt.nz/products/fund/new-to-r-and-d-grant/
Hiring & resource requirement planned →	THEN confirm Career Grant eligibility	https://www.callaghaninnovation.govt.nz/products/fund/r-and-d-career-grants/

2. How to Stack & Sequence Government Support

Stack government grants the smart way — avoid ineligibility and boost success odds with the right order.

Stage	Grant	Best Time to Use
Pre-trading	MSD Grant	Before revenue
Early Ops	RBP Capability Vouchers	When developing strategy and ops
Scoped R&D	Callaghan N2R&D	After planning
Scaling	Career / Ārohia	With co-funding confirmed
Venture Raise	Aspire Seed Fund	Lead investor required

Avoid: applying out of order, skipping RBP, or lacking a co-funding plan which shows how a Founder will fund their portion of the Grant. Generally Founders need 50-60% of total Grant. This could be seed capital from angel groups or equity through NZGCP, it just can’t be from another grant as rules preventing double dipping from other government grants!

</aside>

3. How to Stack Government Grants & Support (Without Burning Eligibility)

Smart founders use one grant to fund activity and on-ramp to the next. Grants and support are often stage-based — a planned approach will enable you to optimise and ‘stack’ them with intent.

Stage	Grant	When to Use It (examples, not definitive as cover a timeline)	Why It Comes at This Stage
1	Capability Voucher (RBP)	Early stage; proof of concept, product market fit; pre-scale	Helps fund building capability and early stage activity.
2	MSD Startup Grant	Pre-revenue or trading; on government benefit	Must apply before revenue. Can be the first capital eligible founders get to get started.
3	New to R&D (Callaghan)	Early stage funding of R&D as a business venture; ideally first tranche of funded commercial R&D.	R&D focused funding with some capability funded support included to open pathway for commercial success and on ramp to RDTI.
4	Ārohia / Career Grants	Validated R&D and in commercialisation phase - getting ready to go to market; funding extra specialist resource linked to R&D	Proof of capability and impact on innovation ecosystem with spillover benefits. Providing students first step into a commercial role
5	Aspire Seed Fund (NZGCP)	Early expansion + lead investor secured	Requires lead investor, most often, so start up is attractive to private sector investors such as angel investors or Venture Capital

Execution Tip: Create a Capital Journey Map that shows how each grant is aligned to core activity and milestones and builds a high level view of your funding journey and venture milestones.

</aside>