Hardware startups are undercapitalized, receiving only 3% of venture capital funding. The HardTech Project Funding Program and FORGE have received a grant to help early-stage hardware startups gain funding by reducing manufacturing risk. The grant tests the value of such technical support.

The program will provide three startups with no-cost manufacturing and business expertise. These resources aim to reduce the cost and time of bringing a prototype to market or efficiently scaling manufacturing for an established product. These activities are documented, providing third-party validation and transparency into a startup’s manufacturing processes. We give founders introductions to the right product design experts, manufacturing and testing resources and supply chain providers. Our third-party reporting on manufacturing readiness, with a focus on the cost and timeline to achieve a specific, attainable milestone, will give investors transparency. This program tests  the hypothesis that together, these factors will assure a more successful raise.

The program requires participants to use crowdfunding for at least a portion of their raise. They can use a product-based platform like Kickstarter or equity crowdfunding platform like WeFunder. The grant provides business, marketing and PR resources to help founders create a successful crowdfunding campaign.

The HardTech Project is running this program in partnership with FORGE, a nonprofit that supports physical product innovation, and Carlton PR & Marketing, an integrated PR and marketing firm with close connections to the Massachusetts startup community.

The HardTech Project Funding Program is supplemental for a startup raising on a crowdfunding program. We focused on providing documentation to reduce hardware investment risk for investors. The HardTech Project Funding program includes no-cost manufacturing, marketing and business expertise and fundraising resources to help startups raise capital both with crowdfunding and other funding sources.

The HardTech Project will select three startups for the pilot version of this program. If the pilot is successful, we will plan to deploy this program for more cohorts of startups in the future.

The startup determines the amount of the fundraising. We recommend working closely with the manufacturing experts to determine the full cost of the manufacturing processes to benefit from third-party validation of that estimate.

There is no cost to participate in the program.

Participating startups are responsible for crowdfunding fees and associated regulatory costs for an equity-based platform raise (for example, legal and accounting costs). There is a mature ecosystem of providers that can help with the legal and accounting requirements. Those costs are in line with traditional angel or venture capital raises.  

The program provides no-cost manufacturing resources to help make introductions to appropriate supply chain providers, contract manufacturers and, if needed, other expertise. The startup is responsible for the cost of working with these introduced providers; the expected source of monies for those expenses is the fundraising.

The program provides no-cost marketing and PR resources to craft a successful crowdfunding campaign. Depending on the recommendations, some portion of that (e.g. ad purchases in a campaign or video creation) will be the responsibility of the startup.

The program provides no-cost business resources for helping with positioning and pitch creation.  Depending on the circumstances, the business team may also help with certain investor introductions in a hybrid raise.

Yes. A program participant has the option of raising all or a portion of monies from crowdfunding. Individuals from the HardTech Project will work closely with selected founders to customize reporting and align the crowdfunding process to support raising money from other sources.

No. The grant does not provide any direct funding to the startup, only resources to help raise funds.

The program provides no-cost manufacturing resources to help make introductions to appropriate supply chain providers, contract manufacturers and, if needed, other expertise. The startup is responsible for the cost of working with these introduced providers; the expected source of monies for those expenses is the fundraising.

The program provides no-cost marketing and PR resources to craft a successful crowdfunding campaign. Depending on the recommendations, some portion of that (e.g. ad purchases in a campaign or video creation) will be the responsibility of the startup.

The program provides no-cost business resources for helping with positioning and pitch creation. Depending on the circumstances, the business team may also help with certain investor introductions in a hybrid raise.

The grant covers largely advisor PR support, which may extend to certain marketing expenses depending on the campaign. Ad purchases and the creation of a video are not covered,  although we will provide resources and advice for that content and process.

Participants in this grant can utilize one two types of crowdfunding platforms:

• Product-based crowdfunding, where supporters fund startups in exchange for providing pre-payment for a product to help finance its production or some kind of reward (i.e. company swag, credit/acknowledgment). Kickstarter and Indiegogo are the leading providers of this service.
• Equity-based crowdfunding, where startups sell equity shares. These often raise larger amounts of funding, but are regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and thus have more upfront and ongoing costs.  WeFunder, Republic, and StartEngine are the leading providers of this service.

Crowdfunding is a fundraising method that allows a company to publicly raise money from a larger number of investors or donors.

Equity-based crowdfunding platforms typically raise $500,000 to  more than $5 million with a minimum investment size of $250 and an average check size of $2,500. These investors are passive, typically aggregated into a single Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for voting rights and capitalization table simplicity. In contrast, traditional venture capital raises for $500,000 to more than $5 million come from a few, active investors. 

Rewards or product-based fundraises average $7,000 to $28,000 with check sizes as low as $100. However, some companies have successfully raised millions on crowdfunding platforms.

Product-based crowdfunding does not have a cap on the fundraising size. However, most successful product-based crowdfunding projects raise between $1,000 and $9,999.

Equity-based crowdfunding is regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC allows companies to crowdfund up to $1 million or $5 million annually under Regulation Crowdfunding (CF) and up to $75 million with Regulation A+. Raises below $1M under Reg CF have fewer regulatory requirements.

Product-based platform

• Laser engraver/cutter company Glowforge raised $27.9 million with reward-based crowdfunding through its own website
• Virtual reality headset company Oculus (now Meta Quest) raised $2.5 million on Kickstarter and was acquired by Meta for $2 billion two years later
• Smartwatch company Pebble Technology raised $30.5 million over two Kickstarter campaigns

Equity-based platform

• Industrial electromechanical actuator company RISE Robotics raised $5.3 million on WeFunder, the top Reg CF raise of 2025. This raise was part of a Series B offering that included investments from MIT’s The Engine, Techstars and Fortistar Capital.
• Continuous glucose monitor company Levels raised $7.9 million on WeFunder, then closed a $38M follow-on round led by Andreessen Horowitz
• Geodesic home company Geoship raised $2.3 million on WeFunder; customers reserved 1,351 domes, for a value of $200 million in potential sales

Equity-based platform companies that IPO’d

• Security camera and robotics company Knightscope raised more than $90 million using equity crowdfunding on StartEngine. Knightscope launched an IPO in 2022.
• Myomo, a medical robotics company, raised $5 million in capital using a Regulation A+ offering, aka “IPO lite”, by selling company shares to accredited investors and the public through the Banq online investing portal. Its shares became tradeable on the NYSE.
• Nxu, formerly Atlis Motor Vehicles, an electric vehicle charging platform, crowdfunded $35 million on Rialto Markets and StartEngine using Regulation Crowdfunding, Regulation A, and Regulation A+ offerings. It launched a NASDAQ IPO in 2023.
• Orthopedic surgical robot company Monogram Orthopaedics raised $23.7 million with crowdfunding on StartEngine, opened a Regulation A+ offering, then began trading on NASDAQ.

Most institutional investors are unaware of the amount of money that startups can raise through equity crowdfunding, or the sophisticated ecosystem that has arisen around crowdfunding platforms. As a result, institutional investors do not generally perceive crowdfunding favorably. This is changing.

See above examples, which show a crowdfunded company, Levels, raising a $46M follow-on round led by Andreessen Horowitz and another crowdfunding company, RISE Robotics, closing out a Series B raise with $5.3M in crowdfunding along with institutional investors like The Engine and Fortistar.

Product-based crowdfunding does not have an impact on a startups’ capitalization table. Rewards-based are recognized as sales and pre-paid product is listed as a liability on the balance sheet.

Equity-based offerings typically utilize Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) to aggregate crowdfunding investors under a single, manageable entity. On a capitalization table, this appears as a single investor (the SPV entity). There are existing service providers that can administer these entities for a fee.

Fill out an application on our website. Once we receive your application, we’ll contact you to set up a brief interview.

April 24th, 2026.

Startups that participate in the program must:

• Have a working prototype that incorporates both mechanical and electronic hardware components
• Have proven market validation which requires funding to achieve specific milestones 
• Be willing to utilize a crowdfunding platform for at least a portion of a financing round in 2026
• Already be working with or be willing to work with Massachusetts-based contract manufacturers and/or suppliers

Applications are due on April 24th, 2026. We will notify selected startups by May 8th, 2026. Upon receipt of the signed memorandum of understanding, HardTech Project will begin work on selecting the crowdfunding platform, beginning the manufacturing assessment process, creating a marketing/PR strategy for the crowdfunding campaign and starting the crowdfunding offering process. Preparation for a successful crowdfunding raise takes three to four months. A crowdfunding campaign typically runs two to three months. Since late summer are not ideal for fundraising, the goal is to open the offering after Labor Day with a successful close in November.