There are a couple administrative hurdles your company has to clear to get federal R&D funding.
If your company is owned, in whole or in part, by another company you still qualify as long as those companies are owned by Americans (people not companies)
If investors own a significant portion of your company, then talk to a lawyer. You’re probably ok but this can be an issue
The person leading product development (the so-called PI or Principal Investigator) has to be eligible to work in the US and has to be primarily employed (>50% of their time) on this project
The company has to have 500 or fewer employees
If you don’t qualify reach out, there are some exceptions to these rules
Foreign companies: Foreign companies can not directly apply for SBIR. However, they can establish an American company which can apply. If you’re in this situation reach out, we know lawyers who do this.
But that’s it, pretty low bar