New strategic partnership expands private investment in American small businesses advancing American energy dominance.
August 24, 2026
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WASHINGTON—The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) today signed a Memorandum of Agreement establishing the Small Business Investment Company-Energy (SBIC-E) Initiative, a new strategic partnership advancing President Trump’s commitment to supporting America’s small businesses, strengthening domestic manufacturing and supply chains, and ensuring the United States leads in the technologies critical to our national and economic security.
The new SBIC-E Initiative brings together DOE’s scientific and technical expertise with SBA’s proven Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) Program, which currently has $58 billion in combined portfolio value. Since 1958, the SBIC Program has invested $147 billion in American small businesses, and since 1995, SBIC-backed businesses have created or supported 10.6 million jobs.
"America’s small businesses drive American innovation and affordable, reliable energy access," said U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright. "By partnering with the Small Business Administration, the Energy Department is committing to invest its resources in American small businesses that will create jobs, strengthen our domestic manufacturing base, and unleash American energy production."
Through DOE’s Office of Technology Commercialization (OTC), the Department will identify strategic technology priorities, provide technical and commercialization expertise, and help engage the investment community. SBA, through its Office of Investment and Innovation, will administer the initiative and encourage the formation and growth of investment funds focused on those priorities. SBIC-E adds another tool to that effort by connecting innovators with private capital to help promising technologies grow, scale, and build here at home.
"President Trump is establishing American energy dominance, ending the Green New Scam, and putting our nations’ producers and innovators back in control at the dawn of a new era of energy reliability and abundance," said SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler. "Through this partnership, the SBA and Department of Energy are strengthening access to capital in the private sector to ensure America’s fossil fuels, nuclear, and electric power technology and infrastructure are the most advanced and plentiful in the world. By aligning investment from the proven Small Business Investment Company Program with the DOE’s strategic priorities, this Administration will fuel the producers that deliver secure, affordable energy to families and small businesses across our great nation."
Initial investment priorities for the SBIC-E Initiative include technologies supporting:
• American energy production and energy security
• Critical minerals, advanced manufacturing, and advanced materials
• Artificial intelligence, quantum information science, semiconductors, and future computing
• Advanced communications, biotechnology, and other critical and emerging technologies
The initiative also supports investment opportunities involving companies participating in DOE’s commercialization and innovation ecosystem, including the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) programs, ARPA-E, the Technology Commercialization Fund, the Lab-Embedded Entrepreneurship Program, and companies commercializing technologies developed through the Department’s National Laboratories.
DOE and SBA will continue engaging with investors, entrepreneurs, and commercialization partners as the initiative develops. Additional information about investment priorities, participation opportunities, and future engagement activities will be available on the SBIC-E Initiative webpage here.