The Delaware Division of Small Business (DSB) announced the Spring 2025 winners of the Encouraging Development, Growth and Expansion (EDGE) Grant competition on Wednesday, June 4. Ten awards were presented to Delaware small businesses in a ceremony at Bally’s Resort in Dover by DSB Director CJ Bell and Secretary of State, Charuni Patibanda-Sanchez.

Awardees include a Kent County gymnastics facility needing equipment for its expansion, a lavender farm asking for funds to build cottages for an agri-tourism expansion project, the state’s first Menopause Clinic, a company making key enhancements to its collaborative AI tools, a company conducting Phase 2 research and development on a cure for a rare pediatric disorder and a bioscience company developing engineered cell lines for producing sustainable meat.

The EDGE Grant Competition, which is conducted twice a year, was launched in 2019, and including this round, has provided support to 120 small businesses by distributing nearly $8.0 million.

Businesses that are less than seven-years-old and employ no more than 10 full-time employees (or FTE equivalents), are eligible to apply. Up to 16 finalists are selected to pitch their proposals to an outside expert panel of judges.

Ten companies are selected each round for awards. Five STEM-based companies each receive up to $100,000 for eligible expenses while five Entrepreneur Class (non-STEM) businesses each receive up to $50,000.

Several previous EDGE winners are leaders in the bioscience, astronomy, technology and food service industries.

Donny Legans, owner of Rail Haus beer garden in Dover and a previous winner, spoke to the most recent round of awardees during the ceremony and told them how pivotal the award was for him.

“Receiving the EDGE grant was a game changer for us. It was the initial push we needed to know we were on the right path and had a viable business we could build on. The EDGE funding itself is the star and is rightfully the focus of the program but an equally great benefit of the program is the planning and research needed to move throughout the application process successfully. It undoubtably made us a stronger business that forced us to look at our weaker areas and address them with a solid strategy. We are forever grateful for the initial investment from the Division of Small Business.”

Since 2019, more than half (54 percent) of the 120 awardees have been either woman, minority or veteran-owned small businesses. Another 18 percent fall into more than one of those categories.

In February, 139 businesses applied for funding. Of those, 111 were in the Entrepreneur category and 28 in the STEM category.

In this round, seven of the 10 awardees have businesses located in New Castle County, one in Kent County and two in Sussex County. To date, the program has supported 79 businesses in New Castle County, 25 in Kent County and 16 in Sussex County.

Sixteen finalists gave public presentations in early May at the BPG Brandywine Building in Wilmington.

From those, the following recipients from Sussex County were selected.

• American Fire Protection, Seaford – $50,000 – American Fire Protection is a fully licensed fire protection contractor. The company will use its EDGE funds to buy a second service vehicle that is exclusively dedicated to providing on-site servicing of fire extinguishers.

• Bayside Gymnastics, Milford – $50,000 – DE Bayside Gymnastics is in the process of building a new facility with a target opening date of January 2026. The EDGE grant award will offset a portion of the $150,000 multi-use equipment which is needed for the expansion of their special needs, gymnastics, ninja warrior, cheer and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) programs.

To learn more, visit business.delaware.gov.