Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
MarketFinance, the fintech business lender, is offering grants of £5,000 to support small businesses.
Businesses have until December 31 to apply for grants through the MarketFinance Business Booster Fund.
Three businesses will be selected and announced on January 6.
Timings of subsequent rounds will be confirmed in 2021.
>See also: Treasury to discuss COVID-19 grant for company directors
Any business in any sector can apply, so long as it has been trading for at least two years and is showing positive growth. It is not necessary to be an existing customer of MarketFinance to be eligible for the grant.
MarketFinance, which has offices in London and Manchester, is especially keen to support entrepreneurs who value diversity, inclusion and giving back.
Since 2011, MarketFinance has advanced over £3bn to companies across a range of sizes and sectors, providing working capital and finance for everything from paying staff and suppliers to launching new products or services and accelerating growth.
MarketFinance is backed by Barclays, Santander InnoVentures, European venture capital fund Northzone (whose investments include Klarna, iZettle and Trustpilot) and private equity group MCI Capital (also invested in iZettle, Azimo and Gett).
>See also: Liverpool launches £9.5m grant fund for ‘excluded’ self-employed
Anil Stocker, CEO of
Tag Archive for Business Grants
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150 UK small business grants to apply for right now
by Anna Jordan • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
UPDATED: Some of these funds may have been put on hold due to COVID-19 (we’ve marked the ones that are paused) so check back on the respective websites below for updates on funding.
Securing grants for your small business or start-up is a constant challenge – but there is help available. Here, we have rounded up a comprehensive list of grants from all over the UK, broken down by region.
These funds are available to SME businesses either within a specified local authority, defined as having fewer than 250 employees or with a turnover of less than £45,000 and a balance sheet totalling less than £39,000.
You will see that many of the funding opportunities are often based on a specific location or sector, or ring-fenced for a certain part of a business, like job creation or making eco-friendly changes. But we explain each grant with the information needed to see if it can apply to your project.
Grants can sometimes be combined with other forms of funding, such as banks, grant makers, crowdfunding platforms and other lenders. In fact, we have teamed up with FundingOptions.com to help you find the right finance for your business. You
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Rishi Sunak plans grants for small businesses hit by hard lockdown
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Chancellor Rishi Sunak is drawing up plans for new Treasury support for small businesses who find themselves closed because of hard lockdown.
Pubs and restaurants would be forced to close, as well as possibly non-essential retailers, at the top level of a “three-tier” lockdown strategy, which could be announced as soon as tomorrow.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to announce a simplified three-tier system of local, regional and even a national lockdown. The system has yet to be finalised, with sources telling the Times that it was “stuck in No 10”, despite hurdling coronavirus infection cases in the North and scientists urging a national “circuit-breaker”.
>See also: HSBC will not accept any more Bounce Back Loan applications
According to the draft traffic-light-style plan, obtained by the Guardian, the top-tier lockdown would include closure of hospitality and leisure businesses.
Mr Sunak has already provided grants of £1,500 to businesses forced to close under local lockdowns and said this week the government was prepared to move with “pace and scale” to deal with new problems as they arose during the crisis.
Lockdown grants
In September, the government announced that small businesses affected by a local lockdown could claim for a £1,000
Hot Business News Today
Rishi Sunak plans grants for small businesses hit by hard lockdown
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Chancellor Rishi Sunak is drawing up plans for new Treasury support for small businesses who find themselves closed because of hard lockdown.
Pubs and restaurants would be forced to close, as well as possibly non-essential retailers, at the top level of a “three-tier” lockdown strategy, which could be announced as soon as tomorrow.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to announce a simplified three-tier system of local, regional and even a national lockdown. The system has yet to be finalised, with sources telling the Times that it was “stuck in No 10”, despite hurdling coronavirus infection cases in the North and scientists urging a national “circuit-breaker”.
>See also: HSBC will not accept any more Bounce Back Loan applications
According to the draft traffic-light-style plan, obtained by the Guardian, the top-tier lockdown would include closure of hospitality and leisure businesses.
Mr Sunak has already provided grants of £1,500 to businesses forced to close under local lockdowns and said this week the government was prepared to move with “pace and scale” to deal with new problems as they arose during the crisis.
Lockdown grants
In September, the government announced that small businesses affected by a local lockdown could claim for a £1,000
Hot Business News Today
Alok Sharma wants to throw small businesses in lockdown lifeline grants
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Alok Sharma, the business secretary, is considering renewing lifeline grants for small businesses which find themselves in sudden local lockdowns.
Ministers are worried about the effects on local economies, especially in the North, if small businesses have to shut up shop again because of wildcat lockdowns.
The so-called Red Wall constituencies in the North of England will be especially vulnerable to sudden lockdown once the furlough scheme comes to end in October.
>See also: How to claim your £1,500 Kickstart Scheme grant
Ministers are looking at a system of local lifeline grants to help small businesses keep staff on, modelled on an £11bn scheme used during the lockdown, according to The Times.
Pubs, cafés, restaurants, hotels and other hospitality businesses forced to close during the lockdown were eligible for grants worth up to £25,000 each, while other small businesses were handed £10,000 in one-off support.
Almost one fifth (17 per cent) of small businesses don’t think they’d survive another lockdown and would be forced to stop trading permanently if one came into effect, according to a new report by small business insurer Simply Business.
Alan Thomas, UK CEO at Simply Business, said: “The nationwide lockdown has had a significant effect
Hot Business News Today
Alok Sharma wants to throw small businesses in lockdown lifeline grants
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Alok Sharma, the business secretary, is considering renewing lifeline grants for small businesses which find themselves in sudden local lockdowns.
Ministers are worried about the effects on local economies, especially in the North, if small businesses have to shut up shop again because of wildcat lockdowns.
The so-called Red Wall constituencies in the North of England will be especially vulnerable to sudden lockdown once the furlough scheme comes to end in October.
>See also: How to claim your £1,500 Kickstart Scheme grant
Ministers are looking at a system of local lifeline grants to help small businesses keep staff on, modelled on an £11bn scheme used during the lockdown, according to The Times.
Pubs, cafés, restaurants, hotels and other hospitality businesses forced to close during the lockdown were eligible for grants worth up to £25,000 each, while other small businesses were handed £10,000 in one-off support.
Almost one fifth (17 per cent) of small businesses don’t think they’d survive another lockdown and would be forced to stop trading permanently if one came into effect, according to a new report by small business insurer Simply Business.
Alan Thomas, UK CEO at Simply Business, said: “The nationwide lockdown has had a significant effect
Hot Business News Today
Shops, gyms and restaurants call for £2bn property bounceback grant
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Shops, gyms, restaurants and pubs have called for the Government to split the cost of unpaid rent with commercial landlords.
Trade associations including the UKHospitality, ukactive and the British Retail Consortium have issued a joint call for the Government to introduce a Property Bounceback Grant.
The Property Bounceback Grant would cost an estimated £2bn, yet it would save 375,000 jobs and more than pay for itself nearly fourfold in the first year alone.
>See also: Where to find your £5,000 small business technology grant
Analysis commissioned by the trade bodies found that if Government support covered 50 per cent of unpaid rents across the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors for only six months, it would cost £1.75bn.
However, the total return to the Treasury in terms of tax revenue from economic activity would be almost £7bn, and 375,000 jobs would be saved – a return on investment of nearly 400 per cent.
Without financial support from the Government, warn the trade bodies, both tenants and landlords face the very real risk of business failure, hundreds of thousands of job losses, and long-lasting damage to high streets across the UK.
>See also: How to make a successful business interruption insurance claim
Retail
Hot Business News Today
Shops, gyms and restaurants call for £2bn property bounceback grant
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Shops, gyms, restaurants and pubs have called for the Government to split the cost of unpaid rent with commercial landlords.
Trade associations including the UKHospitality, ukactive and the British Retail Consortium have issued a joint call for the Government to introduce a Property Bounceback Grant.
The Property Bounceback Grant would cost an estimated £2bn, yet it would save 375,000 jobs and more than pay for itself nearly fourfold in the first year alone.
>See also: Where to find your £5,000 small business technology grant
Analysis commissioned by the trade bodies found that if Government support covered 50 per cent of unpaid rents across the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors for only six months, it would cost £1.75bn.
However, the total return to the Treasury in terms of tax revenue from economic activity would be almost £7bn, and 375,000 jobs would be saved – a return on investment of nearly 400 per cent.
Without financial support from the Government, warn the trade bodies, both tenants and landlords face the very real risk of business failure, hundreds of thousands of job losses, and long-lasting damage to high streets across the UK.
>See also: How to make a successful business interruption insurance claim
Retail
Hot Business News Today
Where to find your £5,000 small business technology grant
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
The Government has announced a new £20m IT funding package to help small businesses get through the coronavirus pandemic.
Small and medium-sized businesses can access a small business technology grant between £1,000 and £5,000 to spend on new equipment and IT and professional advice.
The small business technology grant can be spent on the following:
Accountants
Financial
Human resources
IT and digital
Legal
Or it can be used to buy minor equipment to adapt or adopt new technology in order to carry on trading or diversify during the COVID-19 pandemic.
>See also: You have just one month to claim up to £1.6bn in unspent grants
And the cash could also be used to stage events providing guidance to businesses responding to coronavirus.
Ironically, given the Government’s pro-Brexit stance, the money is coming through the last hurrah of the European Regional Development Fund, the EU fund which supports poorer regions.
The £20m worth of technology and support grants are being administered by the Government’s 38 regional growth hubs.
>See also: Rishi Sunak gives small businesses £2000 grants for young trainees
You can find the list of growth hubs where you apply for the new £1,000 to £5,000 small business technology grants here.
Regional growth minister Simon Clarke said: “We
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You have just one month to claim up to £1.6bn in unspent grants
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Small businesses have until the end of August to claim up to £1.6bn in unspent grants through the Government’s COVID-19 emergency help schemes.
Business secretary Alok Sharma has written to local authorities asking them to return £1.6bn in currently unspent grants issued through either the £25,000 retail, leisure and hospitality scheme or the separate £10,000 scheme for firms eligible for small business rates relief by Friday, August 28.
This is despite thousands of businesses that have applied for grants still waiting for the money to hit their accounts.
>See also: How to get the government’s £10,000 cash grant for small businesses
Two schemes worth £12.4bn were set up in March to provide payments through the business rates system as Britain went into lockdown.
Shops, hotels, restaurants and other leisure businesses whose premises’ rateable value – which determines how much commercial property tax they pay – is between £15,000 and £51,000, are eligible for a £25,000 grant through the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grants Fund.
Separately, any business qualifying for small business rate relief or rural rates relief is eligible for a grant of £10,000 through the Small Business Grant Fund (SBGF), as is any business in the retail, leisure