Venmo Small Business Grant: Amounts, Rules and Next Round

The Venmo Small Business Grant has paid $600,000 to 50 small businesses over three rounds, and as of 13 November 2026 no new round is open. Venmo, the payment app owned by PayPal, ran it in 2022, 2023 and 2024, then went quiet. Google’s top results still mix up the amounts, rules and dates, so I rebuilt the record from Venmo’s official rules and PayPal’s own press releases.

I’m Violetta Bonenkamp, founder of Fe/male Switch, a startup game for women founders. Here is what each round paid, who qualified, how judging worked, and what to apply for while you wait.

What is the Venmo Small Business Grant?

It is a cash grant for owners who get paid through a Venmo business profile, the free business account inside the Venmo app that sits apart from a personal Venmo account. The official sponsor is PayPal, Inc. of San Jose, California.

Every round added mentorship and pro bono help from PayPal and Venmo employees on legal questions, financial analysis and digital marketing. Partners changed yearly: Start Small, Think Big and the Taproot Foundation in 2022, Start Small Think Big in 2023, then Hello Alice and the Global Entrepreneurship Network in 2024. Selection gave special consideration to businesses from underrepresented communities.

How much did each Venmo grant round pay?

Total: $600,000 to 50 businesses. The odds are brutal. In 2023, 20 winners came out of more than 64,000 applications, roughly 1 in 3,200. The 2024 check doubled and the field got harder: 10 winners from nearly 50,000 applications, roughly 1 in 5,000. Treat it as a lottery ticket with homework and keep other funding moving at the same time.

The winners were small, real businesses, such as Tak Tak Goods, a handmade glassware maker in Cedar Creek, Texas, and Soma Metalwork, a knife maker and blacksmithing school in Yarmouth, Maine, both 2024 winners. The full 2024 list is in PayPal’s winner announcement.

Why do Google results disagree on $10,000 and $20,000?

Both numbers are real and belong to different years. The page 1 mix-ups, corrected from the official sources:

• “$10,000 grant” (grantedai.com): right for 2022 and 2023 only. The latest round paid $20,000.
• “Awards 10 small businesses with $20,000” (SoFi): right for the 2024 round only.
• “Closed May 31” (Ambrook): the 2024 deadline, May 31, 2024 at 11:59 p.m. ET.
• “Fewer than 10 employees”: the rules say “ten (10) employees or less with less than $50,000 in annual sales”, so a 10-person team qualified.

Who qualifies for the Venmo Small Business Grant?

These come from the 2024 official rules, the latest version Venmo published. A new round can change any of them.

• 18 or older, and a legal resident of the 50 U.S. states or Washington, D.C. (Puerto Rico was excluded).
• A U.S. Venmo account with a valid business profile in good standing, showing a profile photo, background photo and business description from application until payment.
• A legally registered business in good standing, based in the U.S. or D.C.
• Government paperwork, such as secretary of state filings, ready to send when Venmo asks.
• At least $500 in sales in the three months before the program period.
• 10 employees or fewer and less than $50,000 in annual sales.
• Nobody in your immediate family or household, you included, works for PayPal, Merkle (the administrator), the Global Entrepreneurship Network or Hello Alice.

The profile is free, and the rules state that Venmo transactions are not an eligibility requirement, so a brand-new profile counts. The $500 test covers sales through any payment method.

The $50,000 cap is the real filter. It works out to about $4,167 in sales a month, which fits a side business or a one-person studio and rules out most shops with a full-time team.

How do you apply for the Venmo grant?

The 2024 official rules set out the application in this order:

1. Complete your Venmo business profile with the profile photo, background photo and description the rules ask for.
2. Apply at venmo.com/business/small-business-grant during the entry period. In 2024 it ran from May 10 at 12:00 a.m. ET to May 31 at 11:59 p.m. ET.
3. Answer every required question in English, inside the word limits on the form. One application per person, and entries made by scripts or other automated tools are void.
4. Keep the content original. Leave out third-party brand names, unproven claims about Venmo products, and anything about alcohol, drugs, tobacco, weapons or politics.
5. Watch your inbox. Potential winners were emailed on or around July 16, 2024, and had three business days to return a compliance declaration, liability waiver, tax forms and publicity release.
6. Wait for the check. The 2024 grant was paid by check 8 to 10 weeks after all recipients were confirmed. Taxes are yours, and Venmo can ask how you spent the money for five years.

The rules say “No Purchase Necessary”, so any site charging a fee for a “Venmo grant application” has nothing to do with the program.

Treat your written answers like a short grant proposal. Our guide to writing a grant application for funding walks through the structure, and Yellow Grant’s grant proposal review checklist catches gaps before you hit submit.

What do the Venmo grant judges look for?

The 2024 rules published the full scorecard:

A first panel picked 40 finalists, Venmo checked their eligibility, and a second panel rescored them and chose the top 10. Ties went to the higher Venmo score, and the sponsor kept the right to review finalists’ social media posts.

Here is how I would write to that scorecard:

• Story (30%): open with a moment, a customer or a number. “My first 40 orders came from one post about a candle that leaked” tells judges more than a mission statement.
• Plans (30%): show where each dollar goes. Separate lines for rent, equipment and marketing read like a plan, and a grant budget template gives you the layout.
• Venmo use (20%, plus the tie-breaker): state how many customers pay you through Venmo and what share of your sales arrives that way.
• Community (20%): women appear in the rules’ own list, so every woman founder can answer this section.

My read: the Venmo criterion is where you can pull ahead. It carries only 20%, yet it decides ties, and it is the one section you can back with hard numbers from your own account.

Is the Venmo Small Business Grant open right now?

No. As of 13 November 2026 the Venmo Small Business Grant is closed, and no next round is announced.

• The last round closed on May 31, 2024, and PayPal named its 10 winners on July 17, 2024.
• Venmo’s grant page still shows the 2024 recipients, with no application form and no new dates.
• PayPal’s newsroom lists every Venmo press release since then, up to one dated November 9, 2026, and none announces a 2025, 2026 or 2027 grant round.

Treat any “apply now for 2026” page that does not send you to venmo.com as out of date.

Past rounds give a rough calendar: the first two were announced in late July with about two weeks to apply, and the third opened on May 10 with three weeks. To catch the next one, check Venmo’s grant page and the Venmo section of PayPal’s newsroom each month from April to August, and set a Google Alert for “Venmo Small Business Grant”.

Which similar grants can a Venmo-sized business apply to instead?

I checked each of these on its own official site on 13 November 2026.

The Amber Grant is the closest match for women founders, and pre-revenue businesses or those under $10,000 in revenue can go for its Start-Up Grant.

Verizon Small Business Digital Ready rewards homework: finish two free courses or events, apply once, and stay in every monthly pick until December, with final decisions by January 12, 2027.

The Global Citizen and PayPal Small Business Impact Awards are what most people find when they search “PayPal small business grant”. In 2026 PayPal and Global Citizen gave $20,000 to 15 entrepreneurs, up from five in the pilot year.

Hello Alice, Venmo’s 2024 partner, also hosts sponsored grants, so check its site for what is open this month. Women founders in Texas can add the options in our guide to small business grants for women in Texas.

Venmo small business grant FAQ

Is the Venmo Small Business Grant legit?

Yes. PayPal ran it in 2022, 2023 and 2024 and published every winner list in its newsroom. A page asking for a fee or your Venmo login has nothing to do with it.

How much is the Venmo grant?

Each winner got $10,000 in 2022 and 2023, and $20,000 in 2024, plus mentorship and pro bono help.

Is there a Venmo Small Business Grant in 2026?

Venmo has announced no 2025 or 2026 round, and nothing for 2027 as of 13 November 2026. Its grant page still shows the 2024 winners.

Do I need customers paying me on Venmo to qualify?

No. The rules state that Venmo transactions are not an eligibility requirement, though your Venmo use counts for 20% of the score and breaks ties.

Is there a PayPal small business grant?

PayPal, Inc. sponsors the Venmo grant, and PayPal also runs the Small Business Impact Awards with Global Citizen, which gave $20,000 each to 15 owners in 2026.

Do I pay taxes on a Venmo grant?

The official rules make recipients responsible for all taxes and fees tied to the grant. Ask your accountant how to report it.

What should you do next?

1. Complete your Venmo business profile today. It costs nothing and gets you in the door if the grant returns.
2. Draft your story and a dollar-by-dollar spending plan while no deadline is pushing you.
3. Apply to the Amber Grant before November 30, 2026, and start the two Verizon Digital Ready courses this week.
4. Check Venmo’s grant page and the PayPal newsroom on the first day of every month.