Stacy L ChinFounder, KeepYourEquity · I get the government to write you checks

Biotech's Secret Funding: Moderna & More Got Started This Way!

22 May 2026 · 0 min

Watch on YouTube

0:22

In this brief YouTube monologue, Stacy L. Chin explains that biotech companies such as Moderna, IncoBioWorks, and 23andMe launched their early development through U.S. government SBIR/STTR grants and defense‑backed R&D contracts. She emphasizes that these funding sources are not limited to large incumbents; the government is actively seeking early‑stage, scrappy teams capable of tackling large, national‑scale problems, and she urges innovators to pursue these programs.

Actually, that's how companies today like Moderna, IncoBioWorks, and 23andMe actually got their early starts. It's actually through the SBIR/STTR program and defense-backed R&D contracts. And if you think those programs are only for the big players, you're wrong. Because right now the government's looking hard for early-stage teams, the scrappy innovators that can solve big and real national-wide problems.