Not all startups are ready for institutional or angel funding. And for some founders, their business may be ready but they may choose to fund their initial R&D using grants instead of raising funding and giving away equity. Fortunately, for aspiring entrepreneurs in the UK and Europe, a myriad of grants and funding opportunities are readily available to propel your ventures forward.
In this blog post, we have created a list of the diverse range of grants specifically tailored for startups. Whether you're a tech trailblazer, a social impact visionary, or an eco-conscious pioneer, these grants could be the stepping stones to turning your startup into a thriving business without giving away precious equity.
Name | ​Region | Eligibility Criteria | About | Link |
Innovate UK Grants | UK | ​- Tech-based - 6-18 months duration - Commercially viable - Innovative or disruptive | Innovate UK is UK's national innovation agency. They support business-led innovation in all sectors, technologies, and UK regions. They help businesses grow through development and commercialisation of new products, processes, and services. | |
Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) | UK | - Must have less than £15 million in gross assets pre-money - Must have no more than 250 employees - Must not be a member of a partnership with another company | The scheme: - offers tax reliefs to individual investors who buy new shares in your company - helps your company to raise money and grow its business ― up to £5 million each year and a maximum of £12 million in your company’s lifetime | |
Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) | UK | - Must have under £350,000 in gross assets pre-money - Must have no more than 25 employees - Must have been trading for less than 3 years - Must not be a member of a partnership with another company | The scheme: - offers tax reliefs to individual investors who buy new shares in your company - helps your company to raise money when it’s starting to trade You can receive a maximum of £250,000 through Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme. | |
Angel CoFund | UK | - Must fall within the European Commission SME definition (headcount not exceeding 250, turnover not exceeding €50M and balance sheet assets not exceeding € 43M). | The Angel CoFund works alongside syndicates of sector smart angel investors to provide equity investment into early stage, high growth UK businesses. | |
Horizon Europe | Europe | - Any type of organisation can apply for Horizon Europe funding as long as they have the operational and financial capacity to carry out the tasks that they propose | Horizon Europe is the EU’s key funding programme for research and innovation with a budget of €95.5 billion. It tackles climate change, helps to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and boosts the EU’s competitiveness and growth. | |
European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) | Europe | - Each region has different criteria. Your project application must meet the selection criteria and investment priorities of your regional programme. | The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) provides funding to public and private bodies in all EU regions to reduce economic, social and territorial disparities. The Fund supports investments through dedicated national or regional programmes. | |
Eurostars | Europe | - The project consortium is led by an innovative SME* from a Eurostars country. - The project consortium is composed of at least two entities that are independent from one another. - The project consortium is composed of entities from at least two participating countries with a minimum of one organisation from an EU or Horizon Europe Associated Country. - The budget of the SMEs from the participating countries (excluding any subcontracting) is 50% or more of the total project cost. - No single participant or country is responsible for more than 70% of the budget of the project. - The project duration is 36 months or less. - The project has an exclusive focus on civil applications. | Eurostars is the largest international funding programme for SMEs wishing to collaborate on R&D projects that create innovative products, processes or services for commercialisation. |