In the case of my country's government (or Chile's), you can get a grant for your startup without having prior contact. However, in my country at least, I do k

In the case of my country's government (or Chile's), you can get a grant for your startup without having prior contact. However, in my country at least, I do know they give more weight to applications from people they know (I don't know how, the others might get processed later or whatever, or they skew in their favor). So, you might get funded without contacts, but it's less likely (I guess you have to be outstanding in some sense, either killer business plan or credentials).