Business Grants for UK Startups: The Ultimate Guide in 2025

Last updated: February 2025

Winning a grant can be an absolute game-changer for your business, whether it’s a small award that lets you launch your first venture or a multi-million-pound package that transforms your once-in-a-generation idea into a rip-roaring commercial reality.

The grants ecosystem in the UK is teeming with opportunity, especially for early-stage innovators working on novel R&D. But, with so many competitions and funding bodies to choose from, it can be difficult to know what you should be applying for and how likely you are to win funding.

That’s why GrantTree’s grants experts created this guide: to help you navigate this vast and varied terrain by signposting the organisations and funding calls that are most relevant to UK startups.

Before you dig in, make sure you sign up for GrantTree’s newsletter. New competitions open literally every day, but with our regular updates sent straight to your inbox, you can stay on top of the latest grant and other non-dilutive funding opportunities for your business.

Different types of grants for UK startups

When most people hear ‘grant’, they think of cash (or one of those comically large cheques). And for good reason – most grant competitions do have a monetary element. But grants can actually take a number of different forms.

Cash grants

Cash grants are non-repayable lump sums you can use to hire staff, purchase equipment, and acquire raw materials. They are the most common and most popular form of grant. But they aren’t just ‘free money’. Cash grants usually come with strict stipulations about how you can spend them and what sort of results the award body expects you to achieve.

Grants in kind

Grants in kind offer resources instead of cash. The resources on offer depend on your industry and what you’re trying to achieve. For innovative businesses, grants in kind can include access to mentors, introductions to investor networks, and the use of expensive and specialised equipment.

Discounts and vouchers

These are non-cash awards your business can use to access products or services at a cheaper rate or for free. For example, both Google and Amazon regularly offer credits for their cloud computing platforms to startups.

Innovation grants for UK Startups: a deep dive

A huge number of the grants awarded to UK startups are innovation grants, with organisations like UK Research & Innovation (UKRI), ARIA, and Horizon Europe offering billions of pounds to help SMEs convert promising, early-stage ideas into socially impactful commercial realities.

In this section, we’ll explore the main grant bodies and key competitions for innovative startups. If you want to know whether you’re eligible for an innovation grant or are looking for expert help maximising your chances of success, GrantTree can help. Our experts can:

Confirm your eligibility - Confirming whether your startup and project satisfy the grant’s criteria for funding
Assess your suitability - We’ll give you an unbiased assessment of your likelihood of success
Maximise your chances - With our suite of grant funding services, we’ll make sure you submit the strongest possible application

Ready to start your grant funding journey? Get in touch today.

Key features of innovation grants

While innovation grants vary a great deal in terms of how much funding they offer and what types of projects they support, they do have a number of important things in common.

Innovation grants are often very competitive

Most innovation grants are fiercely competitive. For some funding calls, the success rate can be as low as 3%. However, you can significantly improve your chances by ensuring your R&D is a good fit for the competition you are applying to and by working with a grants expert like GrantTree.

You’ll need to find match funding

Most innovation grants cover between 30% and 70% of your project costs. You will have to fund the rest from other sources like revenues, outside investment, and other types of government funding like R&D Tax Credits.

Grants are paid in arrears

Most innovation grants are paid retrospectively. You spend money on your project, and then your award body pays you back, usually a few months later. This means you’ll need to have enough capital to cover your spending until you’re reimbursed.

One way of doing this is with Grants Advance Funding, which lets you access your funding up to six months before your award body pays you back.

They use ‘technology readiness levels’

Innovation grants often discuss how developed an innovation is in terms of its technology readiness level or ‘TRL’. TRLs range from one to nine, with one being the earliest stage and nine being the most advanced.

You have to do a lot of reporting

Most award bodies will require you to submit detailed reports before, during and after your project. As an example, here is the reporting that companies need to share with Innovate UK.

This reporting helps the awarding body make sure your project is on track and that it is likely to meet the goals set out in your proposal. While necessary, the reporting requirements can be cumbersome. Moreover, if you fall short of your awarding body’s expectations, your funding can be delayed, reduced, or cancelled.

Learn how GrantTree can help you navigate your reporting requirements.

UK government grants for innovative startups

UKRI and Innovate UK

One of the most prolific grant bodies in the UK is UK Research and Innovation, commonly known as UKRI.

UKRI is the agency responsible for directing the UK government’s multi-billion-pound spending on research and innovation. UKRI is made up of nine separate organisations, one of which is Innovate UK.

Innovate UK is ‘the UK’s innovation agency’, which focuses on bleeding-edge projects with the potential to disrupt entire industries.

Below are the regular and recurring competitions Innovate UK hosts for innovative startups.

The Biomedical Catalyst

Funding available: Up to £2 million

The Biomedical Catalyst (BMC) is Innovate UK’s main grant scheme for small and medium enterprises working in health and healthcare.

If your company is working on a genuinely innovative project in advanced therapies, digital health, diagnostics or medical devices, the BMC is well worth exploring.

As a business, you can apply for a grant covering between 25% and 70% of your eligible costs, depending on:

Your company’s size
What type of project you’re looking to undertake

BMC-funded projects must be led by an SME. However, larger businesses, charities, and other organisations can participate as partners.

Investor Partnerships

Funding available: Up to £900,000

The coveted Investor Partnerships scheme helps you secure both grant funding and equity investment at the same time.

By uniting these two funding sources, this scheme combines Innovate UK’s ability to use grants to mature and de-risk early-stage innovations with the aptitude of private investors for identifying projects that could become a commercial success.

To qualify for this competition, you must:

Be a UK-registered SME
Plan to undertake an innovative project costing £50,000 to £2 million
Establish a relationship with one of Innovate UK’s list of approved investors

This competition will fund 35% to 70% of eligible project costs, depending on your company’s size and the type of project you’re looking to conduct.

The Investor Partnerships competition is generally sector-agnostic. However, as more and more of the total kitty has been paid out, recent rounds have become focused, targeting projects in health and wellbeing and next-generation digital technologies.

Innovation Loans

Funding available: Up to £2 million

As you can tell by the name, Innovate UK’s Innovation Loans Future Economy competition offers debt financing rather than grants. However, we’ve decided to include it in this list because it works a lot like a grant and fills a similar niche.

Innovation Loans support projects that sit in one or more of the following areas:

Health and wellbeing
Net zero
Next-generation digital technologies
Technology families

Here are some of the main advantages of Innovation Loans:

They have favourable terms like below-market interest rates and long repayment periods
They have a lower bar for qualifying innovation than most of Innovate UK’s grant competitions, like Smart
You can apply for a loan covering 100% of your qualifying project costs, meaning you won’t need to find match funding
They are open year-round, so you can apply whenever it makes sense for your startup

The Launchpad Programme

Launchpads provide funding designed to promote ‘clusters’, which are collections of early-stage businesses in specific regions working on particular technologies. For instance, net zero technologies in South West Wales. There are currently seven established launchpads and two pilot launchpads:

Net zero industry, South West Wales
Digital technologies, North East England
Health technologies, West Yorkshire
Bio-based manufacturing, Scotland
Health and life sciences, Northern Ireland
Immersive & creative industries, Coventry and Warwickshire
Agri-tech and food technology, Eastern England
Agri-tech and food technology, Mid and North Wales
Manufacturing Launchpad in Liverpool City (Pilot)
Net Zero Launchpad in Tees Valley (Pilot)

Funding ranges from minimal financial assistance or ‘MFA’ grants for single applicants to multi-million-pound awards for collaborative projects. Some launchpads offer a mixture of grants and equity investment.

Non-recurring Innovate UK competitions

In addition to the popular, recurring competitions listed above, Innovate UK also holds many one-off or limited-series funding calls.

There are far too many to list in this guide, but here are a few examples:

These competitions are only open for a few months, or a couple of rounds, before disappearing forever. This makes them easy to miss, especially if you’re working hard to grow your early-stage business.

This is one of the many advantages of working with a grants funding expert like GrantTree: we are constantly monitoring for grant opportunities and can alert you as soon as a relevant opportunity opens up.

Learn more about how GrantTree helps innovative startups secure game-changing grant funding.

National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)

Funded by the Department of Health and Social Care, the NIHR is one of the UK government’s largest funders of academic and private-sector medical research.

The NIHR’s main grant-funding programme for SMEs in health and social care is Invention for Innovation or ‘i4i’, which is made up of three separate schemes.

i4i Product Development

This scheme helps to drive technologies for clinical and social care use. There’s no upper limit to the amount of funding available through i4i Product Development.

i4i Connect

The i4i Connect scheme helps SMEs achieve the next stage of development so they can apply for further funding. It offers grants of £50,000 to £150,000.

i4i Funding at the Speed of Translation (FAST)

The final i4i scheme supports innovators needing small amounts of funding to close evidence gaps or undertake specific activities like prototype testing or market analysis. It typically awards grants worth £15,000 to £50,000.

Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) Healthcare

SBRI Healthcare provides funding to innovators and entrepreneurs building disruptive solutions in health and care.

Funded by the NHS Accelerated Access Collaborative, SBRI Healthcare holds an array of grant funding competitions throughout the year, often with multiple phases, with successful applicants from each phase invited to the next. Each subsequent phase offers a bigger prize pot than the last.

In 2024, SBRI Healthcare hosted six targeted competitions, with awards ranging from £100,000 to £4 million. However, they only tend to be open for six weeks – so you need to be quick off the mark.

ARIA

The Advanced Research and Innovation Agency (ARIA) is an R&D funding organisation that was set up to “unlock scientific and technological breakthroughs that benefit everyone.”

Modelled on America’s famous Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency – commonly known as ‘DARPA’ – ARIA hosts a number of grant prizes for cutting-edge technology projects. Recent examples include:

Safeguarded AI, a £59 million programme to develop safety standards for transformative AI
Scalable Neural Interfaces: Opportunity seeds, offering grants of up to £500,000 to high-potential projects

R&D grants (Scottish Enterprise)

Funding available: £150,000 and over

Scottish Enterprise offers grants starting at £150,000 to Scotland-based SMEs working on new and innovative projects with commercial prospects. SMEs can secure an R&D grant covering 35%-50% of their eligible costs.

EU grants for innovative UK startups

European Innovation Council (EIC)

Established under Horizon Europe, the EIC is the EU’s top innovation funding organisation, identifying and supporting cutting-edge tech with its €10 billion budget.

The EIC distributes its funding through four generous grant competitions. Three are available to UK startups are listed below. The fourth, STEP Scaleup, works to turn more established businesses into global leaders.

EIC Pathfinder

Funding available: Up to €4 million

EIC Pathfinder helps cutting-edge SMEs develop early-stage technologies – TRLs 1-4.

It has two stands:

Open – Up to €3 million to groups of three or more organisations from different Member States and Associated Countries. Open to all fields of science and technology.
Challenges – Up to €4 million to single applicants whose R&D aligns with specific themes, such as sustainability and healthcare.

EIC Transition

Funding available: Up to €2.5 million

EIC Transition helps SMEs develop more advanced projects (TRL 3-6) that have previously received funding from other EU competitions.

EIC Accelerator

Funding available: Up to €2.5 million

EIC Accelerator provides sizable funding to propel SMEs’ innovative, late-stage (TRL 5/6-8) projects towards commercialisation.

Like Pathfinder, Accelerator is split into two strands:

Open, which is technology-agnostic and more competitive
Challenges, which funds projects addressing pre-defined challenges in areas like AI and space infrastructure

Eurostars (the Eureka Network)

Funding available: Up to €360,000 per project

Eurostars is the largest international funding programme for SMEs looking to collaborate on innovative projects with other businesses, universities, and research centres across Europe.

To qualify, your company must be:

An ‘R&D SME’
An SME from a Eurostars country (which includes the UK)
Part of a consortium composed of at least two independent entities from different Eureka countries

European Space Agency (ESA)

Funding available: Up to €60,000 to over €3 million

ESA grants are open to businesses from any sector that are looking to use space and space-based technologies, such as satellite navigation, to develop new commercial services.

On top of funding, companies that win ESA grants also receive tailored project management support, technical and commercial guidance, and access to the agency’s network of partners.

Charities

Several charitable organisations provide grant funding for UK startups and scaleups to help them develop technologies that address major national or international challenges, like disease, poverty and climate change.

Charities tend to care less about the economic impact of the projects they fund and focus more on their alignment with their core mission.

Bezos Earth Fund

The Bezos Earth Fund offers grants to companies working in any of seven focus areas related to climate change, including next technologies, decarbonising energy & industry, and monitoring, data & accountability. Since 2020, the Fund has awarded $2 billion in funding across more than 230 grants.

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is one of the largest and most prolific philanthropic organisations in the world. Its seven divisions collaborate with more than 130 countries to address issues connected to healthcare, education and poverty.

The Foundation operates a robust grant programme for companies developing societally significant technologies, hosting individual funding calls and participating in ‘Grand Challenges’, which involve multiple funding bodies.

The Foundation announces new challenges all the time – you can follow the available opportunities via the grants section of its website.

Wellcome Trust

The Wellcome Trust is a global charitable foundation working to improve healthcare outcomes across the world. It has committed to awarding £16 billion in grants between 2022 and 2032 to support advanced solutions to urgent health challenges.

Grants are primarily awarded to academic researchers. However, SMEs have the chance to participate in grant-funded projects via partnerships with universities and other research organisations. Explore Wellcome-funded grants here.

Non-innovation grants for UK startups

Not looking to conduct any cutting-edge R&D? No problem. There are still a range of grant funding competitions you may be able to tap into. Here are some of the most popular and generous calls for new and ambitious businesses.

The Accelerated Growth Programme (Wales Only)

Business Wales’ Accelerated Growth Programme is a grant-in-kind scheme offering 1-2-1 support and interactive workshops to high-growth Welsh businesses with fewer than 250 staff.

National Lottery Heritage Enterprise Grants

Funding available: £10,000 to £5 million

The Heritage Fund offers sizable grants to UK businesses looking to “connect people and communities to the UK’s heritage”. It offers funding at two levels:

Businesses can participate in grant-funded projects, but they must be led by a not-for-profit organisation.

The King’s Trust

Funding available: Up to £5,000

The King’s Trust’s Enterprise programme offers aspiring entrepreneurs grants of up to £5,000 to start or grow their business. The programme also offers ‘Test My Idea’ grants of up to £500 for founders to conduct market research and work out how they’ll deliver their products.

The Enterprise programme is open to 18-30 year olds that:

18-30 year olds
Have the right to work in the UK
Plan on owning at least 50% of their company
Do not currently own a trading business or own a trading business that’s less than a year old

Social Entrepreneur Awards from UnLtd

Funding available: Up to £18,000

If you’re planning to launch – or are trying to scale – a social venture, you can apply for a grant of up to £18,000 from UnLtd, an organisation that supports social entrepreneurs with funding and other resources.

Social Entrepreneur Awards are available in two strands:

Starting Up grants – Up to £8,000 for companies incorporated less than 4 years ago that have been selling goods or services for less than 1 year.
Scaling Up grants – Up to £18,000 for ‘financially sustainable’ social ventures incorporated less than 4 years ago and that have been selling goods or services for 1-4 years.

Veteran and Military Spousal Founders Grants

Barclay’s Eagle Labs offers a programme of support, including mentorship, flexible learning resources, and community access to veterans and military spouses who want to start or grow a business.

The keys to securing a grant for your startup

Hopefully, the information above has given you a better sense of the types of grants your startup is eligible for. Once you’ve identified the right grant for your business, it’s time to begin your application. Here are some of our grants experts’ top tips for maximising your chances of success.

Make sure your project is ready

If you’re applying for an innovation grant, you need to ensure your technology is at the right level of maturity and that it will be sufficiently advanced once your grant-funded project concludes. To make this assessment, you’ll need to have a good grasp of TRLs and where your technology sits in the framework.

Show you can deliver your project

You may have a fantastic idea for a project, but you need to prove you have the experience, expertise and team to deliver it. Like a private investor, awarding bodies want to know their money, which is often provided by taxpayers, is in good hands and that you are able to deliver some return on their capital. That’s why they’ll only award grants to people and companies they trust to produce what they say they can.

Demonstrate the market opportunity

Many award bodies want to know that your project has the potential to become a commercial success. That there’s a big market for the technology you’re building and that you have a plan for tapping into it. To show there’s an opportunity, you need data, including a robust assessment of your project’s total addressable marketing and a reasonable projection for how large a share you could take.

Tell a story

Speaking of data. Facts, figures, and rational arguments are essential to your application, but they aren’t enough. You also need to tell a story, creating a compelling narrative that weaves together the substance of your argument with more emotive details, such as why you established your company and what you hope to achieve with your project.

Alternatives to grant funding for startups

Clearly, there are a lot of grant opportunities available. Even so, only a small percentage of companies qualify. And because grants are so competitive, only a small number of those who qualify will actually go on to secure funding.

If you don’t think your startup is eligible for any of the grants listed above, don’t worry – there are a range of other sources of funding for startups available.

Below are some of the key government-backed options you should explore. For a more comprehensive overview list, check out our Ultimate Guide to UK Startup Funding.

R&D Tax Credits

R&D Tax Credits is a UK government scheme that lets innovative companies recoup up to 27% of qualifying investments in people, subcontractors, and raw materials. Get an initial assessment of your eligibility with GrantTree’s R&D Tax eligibility quiz.

R&D Advance Funding

R&D Advance Funding lets you access up to 80% of your future R&D Tax Credit up to six months before your financial year end.

Creative industry tax reliefs

The creative industry tax reliefs are a group of 10 schemes that let companies from a wide range of creative fields (film, video games, and so on) recoup up to 20% of their qualifying costs.

The Start Up Loans Scheme

The government-backed Start Up Loans scheme offers favourable rates to businesses less than two years old. Founders can borrow between £500 and £25,000 over up to 5 years.

Secure grant funding for your startup

Ready to unlock grant funding for your startup?

Calling on decades of success winning game-changing awards for UK SMEs, our GrantTree’s grant funding experts will:

Get to know your business, including your plans for growth and innovation
Identify the most suitable grant funding opportunities
Give you expert advice on preparing a compelling application
Maximise your chances of success with our suite of grant writing services, from a Strategic Review offering, where you’ll receive two rounds of comprehensive feedback from an active assessor to our Full Service Write offering, where we maximise your chances of success by building your application from the ground up

To start your grant funding journey, contact GrantTree today.