Introduction The National Institute on Aging (NIA) provides funding to academic researchers and small businesses working in the Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and AD‐related dementia (ADRD) fields to help commercialize their products. The NIA uses Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) awards to bridge the funding gap in the diagnostic, therapeutic, and care interventions areas, enabling startups to reach key value inflection points to achieve scientific milestones. Methods Only publicly available information is reported. The National Institutes of Health Report Portfolio Online Reporting Tool database and the commercial database Global Data, were used to track the progress of companies that received SBIR or Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) funding from the NIA. Results Since 2008, the NIA has awarded $280 million—including $207 million from fiscal year (FY) 2015 to FY 2019—in new small business program awards for AD/ADRD research. Discussion NIA seed capital and mentoring programs are critical resources to help small businesses reach key value inflection points and advance their research from concept to commercialization.