SBIR/STTR · Department of Health and Human Services component
National Institutes of Health: SBIR/STTR odds
8,103 Phase I and 4,221 Phase II awards since 2015, to 4,617 firms.
The verdict for a first-time applicant
A realistic program for a prepared first-timer. 38% of Phase I awards go to new firms; 38% of Phase I awards (2015–2020 cohorts) converted to Phase II.
Median Phase I is $300K, median Phase II $1.6M. Phase II typically follows 19 months after Phase I. The 20 most frequent firms take 6% of Phase I awards.
- Phase I → Phase II
- 38%
- 2015–2020 cohorts, 3-yr window
- First-time firms
- 38%
- of Phase I awards, 2021–2023
- Median Phase I
- $300K
- 2,481 awards, 2021–2023
- Median Phase II
- $1.6M
- 1,505 awards, 2021–2023
- Months to Phase II
- 19
- median, Phase I award to Phase II award
- Top-20 firm share
- 6%
- of Phase I awards
Open SBIR/STTR solicitations at Department of Health and Human Services
Phase I → Phase II by cohort
Share of each year's Phase I awards followed by a Phase II within three years. Cohorts after 2020 are still open, so their rates will rise.
| Phase I year | Phase I awards | Converted | Firm-level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 807 | 45% | 55% |
| 2016 | 863 | 42% | 54% |
| 2017 | 892 | 37% | 52% |
| 2018 | 1,111 | 37% | 51% |
| 2019 | 1,122 | 35% | 50% |
| 2020 | 827 | 33% | 49% |
| 2021open | 840 | 25% | 41% |
| 2022open | 825 | 13% | 28% |
| 2023open | 816 | 2% | 12% |
Awards by year
| Year | Phase I | Phase I $ | Phase II | Phase II $ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 807 | $240M | 394 | $574M |
| 2016 | 863 | $251M | 441 | $685M |
| 2017 | 892 | $246M | 479 | $789M |
| 2018 | 1,111 | $315M | 405 | $702M |
| 2019 | 1,122 | $339M | 473 | $858M |
| 2020 | 827 | $274M | 524 | $1.0B |
| 2021 | 840 | $295M | 473 | $927M |
| 2022 | 825 | $292M | 503 | $903M |
| 2023 | 816 | $272M | 529 | $590M |
By topic prefix
Topic codes group solicitations by office. Conversion is shown where enough Phase IIs matched a Phase I topic.
| Prefix | Phase I | Phase II | Phase I→II |
|---|---|---|---|
| NIAID | 966 | 431 | 36% |
| NHLBI | 802 | 404 | 38% |
| NIA | 490 | 276 | 50% |
| NIDA | 369 | 165 | 42% |
| NICHD | 361 | 199 | 47% |
| NCI | 280 | 192 | 28% |
| R | 242 | 181 | 34% |
| NIAMS | 214 | 85 | 32% |
| NIBIB | 143 | 50 | 39% |
| NIEHS | 135 | 49 | 33% |
| NEI | 109 | 63 | 27% |
| NINDS | 108 | 37 | 30% |
| N | 97 | 46 | 30% |
| NIDCD | 92 | 55 | 48% |
| NIDCR | 77 | 55 | 35% |
| NIDDK | 57 | 22 | 34% |
| NIMHD | 39 | 18 | 35% |
| NCATS | 37 | 10 | 41% |
| OD | 28 | 7 | 32% |
| NLM | 27 | 7 | 17% |
Most frequent winners
Firms with 20 or more Phase I awards from National Institutes of Health since 2015. Know who you're up against.
| Firm | State | Phase I | Phase II |
|---|---|---|---|
| PHYSICAL SCIENCES INC. | MA | 34 | 24 |
| Epicypher, Inc. | NC | 30 | 26 |
| ELECTRONIC BIOSCIENCES, INC. | CA | 30 | 3 |
| Minnesota HealthSolutions Corporation | MN | 29 | 17 |
| LYNNTECH INC. | TX | 27 | 5 |
| LARIX BIOSCIENCE LLC | CA | 24 | 1 |
| CELDARA MEDICAL, LLC | NH | 23 | 13 |
| MICROBIOTIX, INC. | MA | 23 | 7 |
| OREGON RESEARCH BEHAVIORAL INTERVENTION STRATEGIES, INC. | OR | 21 | 10 |
| CFD RESEARCH CORPORATION | AL | 21 | 7 |
| GINER INC | MA | 20 | 7 |
Common questions
What are the odds of a Phase II after a National Institutes of Health Phase I?
38% of Phase I awards in the 2015–2020 cohorts were followed by a Phase II to the same firm within three years. Counting at the firm level (any Phase II, not matched to the Phase I topic), the rate is 52%. About 40% of recent Phase IIs had no matching Phase I in the data, which includes Direct-to-Phase-II awards.
Does National Institutes of Health fund first-time SBIR firms?
38% of Phase I awards in 2021–2023 went to firms with no prior SBIR/STTR award from any agency. The 20 most frequent winners took 6% of Phase I awards.
How current is this data?
SBIR.gov's public award export runs through 2023; the site re-computes these numbers when the export updates. Open solicitations below come from Grants.gov and are refreshed every 10 minutes.
Source: SBIR.gov award data (award_data.csv downloaded 2026-10-28; awards through 2023). overall/byCohort: share of Phase I awards followed by a Phase II to the same firm from the same agency/component with Phase II award year ≤ Y+3; each Phase II counts for at most one Phase I, matched first on identical topic code, then (for agencies whose topic code is a per-round solicitation number) to any remaining same-firm Phase II that is not Direct-to-Phase-II (firm matched on DUNS, else normalized name + state; matchedByTopicShare = share of matches made on topic code). firmLevel: share of distinct firm × Phase I-year pairs that received any Phase II from the same agency/component within 3 years (looser; inflated by multi-award firms). overall figures use cohorts 2015–2020, the cohorts whose 3-year window has closed in this data vintage; later cohorts are partial. p2WithoutMatchedP1Share5y: share of 2021+ Phase II awards with no matched Phase I (largely Direct-to-Phase-II). This section is for startups and small businesses; it is not legal or procurement advice.