How to Apply for Business Grants

If you have a new business idea and are ready to launch your start-up, you may need help getting extra financing to make your company a success. There are many different ways to get capital from start-up loans, private investors and business grants. In this article, we’ll discuss how to get a business grant, what types are available and share tips on applying so you can start your new business off right.

What Is a Business Grant?

When thinking about how to get the money needed to fund your business you may think to go to the bank to get a loan. Loans can have hefty interest rates and unfavourable terms, so before you run to the bank consider applying for business grants first. Some grants offer direct cash to match what money you can invest in your company, while some others offer tax breaks or better financing and repayment terms than bank loans. Though it isn’t easy to be awarded a grant if you are a new business, it doesn’t hurt to try and apply for whichever grants your business qualifies for.

What Type of Business Grants Are Available?

Business grants are different than loans in that you don’t have to repay the money you are awarded. A direct grant is actual cash needed to fund start-up costs like supplies, buildings, materials, employees, etc. A business grant usually expects you to match the amount with your own money, so it would be 50% your funds and 50% provided by the grant.

Since grants are basically free money, they are highly competitive and harder to get. But if you are a new business we highly recommend applying to all that make sense for your business sector. You may need to hire a professional to help you with this process as it can be confusing and time-consuming to gather everything needed for the application.

To see a comprehensive list of UK business grants you could qualify for and funding options visit the government’s financial support for businesses page . Below are the types of grants you’ll want to research depending on your business size, sector and location.

• Regional Grants — Depending on where you live in the United Kingdom, there are special regional grants that you can apply for. England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales all have websites dedicated to sharing funding and grant information.
• Innovation Grants — If your company is dedicated to research and development, tech, science, or engineering you can apply for grants and loans through Innovate UK .
• Grants for Young People — To encourage younger people to bring new life to business and industry there are grants available for ages 18-30 years old.

While the two financing options below are not grants, they offer better incentives and terms for new business owners than traditional bank loans. You may want to consider these in addition to business grants.

• Equity Finance — This is where you give up part ownership of your company in exchange for funds. You are paying back this investment with shares/stock rather than cash so it’s almost like an exchange that benefits for the investor when your company grows.
• Soft Loan — This is a government-backed start-up loan with lower interest rates and sometimes more money than the bank can offer. It’s great for those businesses just starting that may not qualify for a loan with a high-street lender. You could borrow up to £25,000, which might be all your need to get your business started.

How to Apply for a Business Grant: Step-by-Step

Getting business grants can allow your new business to grow or get started on the right foot. Below are the steps you need to take to apply for a business grant.

Step 1 — Create Your Business Plan

If you haven’t yet started your business, you’ll need an excellent and thorough business plan to present with applications for grants and financing. If your business is under two years old, you may still qualify for grants and you probably already have a business plan. But update it to include information on your successes so far and why you need financing to take your business to the next level.

Step 2 — Research Your Options

As we already showed there are many business grants available in the UK. And the competition is fierce. Research all your options and see which grants you qualify for, then call the grant body to see how likely you are to be awarded the grant. You can save yourself a lot of time in step 3 if you find out more information and decide the grant isn’t right for you.

Step 3 — Prepare Your Grant Applications

Once you know which grants you want to apply to, you’ll then gather all the information needed to fulfil the objectives of the grant. Make sure each application meets the specific criteria — do not copy and paste the same information to every grant application.

Step 4 — Ask a Professional to Review

Before you send your applications off, it wouldn’t hurt to ask a professional or someone that has been through the grant process to review your applications to make sure you’ve hit the nail on the head and covered all the bases.

Step 5 — Send In Your Applications

You don’t want to rush sending in your applications but also the earlier you get them in the better. And if you aren’t awarded the grant you can always improve your application and reapply next year.

When you work with Mint Formations, we’ll manage the process of setting up your new business so you can start on the right track. Find out more and browse our company formation packages .

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