DemoTwist 1 · NSF SBIR Phase IVoiceFlare

Phase I evidence — measured live from this run

The three milestones an NSF SBIR Phase I grant would pay for, and the safety bar on all three, computed from the holds, canaries, intents, calls, registry and ledger of the run on the board. Nothing reaches a real alert system; synthetic rows are labeled and real phones are counted separately. A bar is met only on real phones (M2: the full gold set); one met only with synthetic answers reads “Met in rehearsal” and does not count.

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Funding pathway (Twist 1)

VoiceFlare launches on an NSF SBIR Phase I grant (up to $305,000, zero equity), sells to counties and cities that buy it with FEMA preparedness grants they already receive (UASI and EMPG), and reaches the defense customer through DoD SBIR topics and the Defense Innovation Unit.

Primary: launch
NSF SBIR/STTR Phase I (America's Seed Fund), solicitation NSF 26-510
NSF grants the company directly; no equity
Phase I up to $305,000 for 6 to 18 months; Phase II up to $1,250,000. A Project Pitch comes first; an invitation is valid for the next two deadlines: Nov 4, 2026 and Mar 4, 2027 (then Jul 7, 2027).
NSF funds nearly all technology areas without a matching topic. The risk it pays to retire is ours: a 90-second edge read on an alert polygon at 3 AM, and multilingual distress calls classified well enough to reach a person.
Alternative 1: the customer's money
FEMA Homeland Security Grant Program (UASI) and Emergency Management Performance Grants (EMPG)
FEMA funds states, which pass money to counties and cities, which buy the platform
FY2026 HSGP about $1.064 billion (UASI about $584 million); FY2026 EMPG about $337 million. Next cycle: FY2027 notices, expected mid-2027.
Public alert and warning systems are on FEMA's Authorized Equipment List (04AP-09-ALRT, newer lists 13IT-00-ALRT), and Los Angeles/Long Beach is a UASI urban area. Telecom fees are not allowable, so call minutes go on the operating budget and the grant buys the platform.
Alternative 2: the defense customer
DoD SBIR/STTR topics (DSIP) and the Defense Innovation Unit's Commercial Solutions Opening
DoD components award SBIR contracts; DIU awards prototype Other Transaction agreements
SBIR/STTR reauthorized April 13, 2026 (S. 3971) through Sept 30, 2031, after a lapse from Oct 1, 2025; DIU's standing CSO takes solution briefs against posted areas of interest.
An installation command post before a base-wide lockdown: zones are housing areas and gates, sentinels are gate posts, and the registry speaks ADPAAS, NFAAS and AFPAAS. We apply with Phase I data in hand.

Phase I milestones, each measured by the product itself on this page: (1) hold opened to a quorum read in under 90 s in at least 80% of drills; (2) 18 of 20 gold-set calls classified correctly across languages and 100% recall on needs_help_now; (3) the delivery canary flags a seeded wrong-polygon or no-delivery failure within 60 s of the send, every drill. Safety bar on all three: zero instructions read that a human did not approve.

Sources (verified Oct 17, 2026)

PRD section 17.1; decisions D-26 to D-28. The twist log is on /twists; the demo console is on /demo.