North Dakota funding for new tech is reaching farther across the state than ever before. 

Applications reopened Oct. 5 for the latest round of North Dakota’s Legacy Investment for Technology (LIFT) program, which has recommended nearly $48 million in loans to help companies bring technologies to market. Applications are open through Nov. 9. 

Though the majority of funding from LIFT has gone to companies in Fargo and Grand Forks, an increasing share is going to firms headquartered outside those metros, a Technical.ly analysis found.

Agtech is not the biggest driver here: Healthcare leads it in total LIFT dollars awarded, per the analysis, while the industry receiving the highest number of awards is what the North Dakota Department of Commerce calls “advanced computing/data management.” Drone tech and energy tech are also winners in the program. 

Much of the geographic shift comes down to two energy technology companies.

Launched in 2019 as the Innovation Loan Fund to Support Technology Advancement and renamed in 2023, LIFT has so far recommended a total of 76 awards. 

It’s not free money; the offering is low-interest loans intended to enhance capacity. Borrowers pay no interest for the first three years, followed by 2% interest for the next two, with the principal due after five years. 

Funding for the program has dipped slightly since it started. After transferring $15 million into LIFT for its first two cohorts (2019–2021 and 2021–2023), lawmakers reduced the allocation to $10 million in the biennium starting in 2023, and repeated that amount for the 2025–2027 period, according to state budget records. 

Eligible applicants, according to North Dakota Commerce, must:

  • Be commercializing intellectual property in North Dakota
  • Operate in North Dakota, or have significant investment in the state, and clearly demonstrate meaningful local economic benefit 
  • Present a project with a reasonable likelihood of success

LIFT loan money can be used for research, experimentation or testing — but not for capital or building investments, equipment purchases, inventory, administrative costs, consulting fees or workforce training.

Read on for more from our analysis, which excludes the current two-year funding period. (Also note that the underlying data shows recommended loans, but doesn’t confirm amounts companies actually received.) 

Energy tech is pulling innovation funding westward

In the program’s first completed funding period, 2019–21, the Fargo and Grand Forks regions accounted for nearly all recommended award dollars (95%). In the most recently completed period, the big-city share had fallen to just under 78%.

Because we don’t have data on unsuccessful applications, it’s unclear whether more companies outside the two hubs applied, more were selected or both.

What is clear is that much of the shift comes down to two energy technology companies. 

Northwest ND’s Valence NGS, a compressed natural gas specializer based in Williston, and Ward County’s Trilogy, an oil and gas flowback services firm in Minot, each received $1 million recommendations in 2023–25. Together, those awards accounted for nearly three-quarters of the LIFT funding outside the Red River Valley during that period.

Healthcare companies have received the largest dollar share of the LIFT funding overall, about $13.4 million. Healthcare awards also tend to be larger, averaging about $788k compared with $446k for companies in the advanced computing/data management category.

The total amount awarded has dropped from $18.4 million in the inaugural cohort to $12.4 million in the 2023–2025 round. Because LIFT is a revolving loan fund that can reuse repayments, the reduction in new state funding (from $15M to $10M for each biennium) doesn’t necessarily explain why individual awards got smaller.

After the November deadline, applications for the current cohort reopen again in February 2027.

This comes amid scrutiny of the North Dakota Development Fund, which administers LIFT in partnership with the Bank of North Dakota. A legislative committee in September recommended referring findings from an audit to the attorney general for investigation (the audit did not specifically examine LIFT awards).