Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
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.
The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) in the event of a no-deal Brexit
Many of the grants mentioned below are financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
In 2016 the Chancellor announced that the Government would guarantee certain EU projects that are agreed before we leave the European Union. It covers all ERDF projects. In July 2018 the Government extended the guarantee so that it covers all projects that would’ve been funded

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Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
Innovate UK has announced that it’ll be giving an extra £125m to businesses across the country.
The cash will be split in two – £100m of the money will be available as part of the Government’s Smart grants programme with the remaining £25m going to late-stage research and development projects.
Smart grants supplies funding for innovative R&D from early stage feasibility (that includes market research), through to technology or prototype testing and development stages up to (but not including) commercialisation.
Previous grantees include a 3D printing company; a machine learning company which was sold to Twitter; and a company who developed a prototype for screening liquids to identify explosives at airports.
The cash boost comes in addition to a new £3m investment accelerator scheme, the Regional Angel Investment Accelerator Pilots. This hopes to encourage business angels from across the country to channel investment and expertise into innovative small and medium-sized companies.
These companies will also receive Government grants to deliver innovation projects with the potential for longer-term angel involvement and future commercial success.
How do I apply Smart grants?
The Smart grants scheme will have a rolling schedule of competitions throughout the year – the latest round of applications is

Read more...

Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
Innovate UK has announced that it’ll be giving an extra £125 million to businesses across the country.
The cash will be split in two – £100 million of the money will be available as part of the government’s Smart grants programme with the remaining £25 million going to late-stage research and development projects.
Smart grants supplies funding for innovative R&D from early stage feasibility (that includes market research), through to technology or prototype testing and development stages up to (but not including) commercialisation.
Previous grantees include a 3D printing company; a machine learning company which was sold to Twitter; and a company who developed a prototype for screening liquids to identify explosives at airports.
The cash boost comes in addition to a new £3 million investment accelerator scheme, the Regional Angel Investment Accelerator Pilots. This hopes to encourage business angels from across the country to channel investment and expertise into innovative small and medium-sized companies.
These companies will also receive government grants to deliver innovation projects with the potential for longer-term angel involvement and future commercial success.
How do I apply Smart grants?
The Smart grants scheme will have a rolling schedule of competitions throughout the year – the latest

Read more...