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Catapult
Associated with: Technology Strategy Board
Focus Area: High value manufacturing, cell therapy, offshore renewable energy, satellite applications, connected digital economy, future cities and transport systems
http://www.innovateuk.org/deliveringinnovation/catapults.ashx
TSB Launchpad
Associated with: Technology Strategy Board
Focus Area: Launchpads provide funding for business innovation that aims to support the development and strengthening of clusters of high-tech companies in specific theme areas and geographical locations. They provide base funding through dedicated Technology Strategy Board competitions for approved research and development projects and act as a catalyst to help the companies behind the projects to attract more investment.
Technology Strategy Board is investing up to £1m in innovative digital projects with a focus on the ‘tech city’ around Old Street and Shoreditch in East London. The competition aims to support this hotspot of digital and creative industries by enabling companies to go further and/or faster towards commercial success. We are looking for projects that may be too risky for companies to go for alone or that may take them into new areas.
This competition is open to micro, small and medium-sized companies. Companies can apply as single firms or as part of a collaborative consortium.
www.innovateuk.org/deliveringinnovation/launchpad.ashx
Start Up Loans
Associated with:
Department of Business, Innovation and Skills, Start Up Britain
Focus Area: 100million GBP in unsecured loans available to young people (18-30) wanting to start a business
The Business in You
Associated with: Department of Business, Innovation and Skills
Focus Area: A partnership between private sector and Government to highlight support for start-ups and growing businesses and to encourage entrepreneurship.
businessinyou.bis.gov.uk/
Start Up Britain
Associated with: Government and Private Sector Support
Focus area: Response from the private sector to the Government’s call for an ‘enterprise-led’ recovery
Global Entrepreneur Programme
Associated with: UK Trade and Investment
Focus Area: The programme is aimed at overseas based entrepreneurs and early stage businesses that are considering relocating their business to the UK.
www.ukti.gov.uk/investintheuk/globalentrepreneursprogramme.html
Capital for Enterprise Find
Associated with: Department of Business, Innovation and Skills
Focus Area: To be the principal centre of expertise within Government on the provision of SME financial interventions. Through its market knowledge and understanding of the public sector, CfEL will inform and improve the quality of Government policy initiatives by providing ongoing advice and market intelligence, in particular on “gaps” in the SME finance market
www.capitalforenterprise.gov.uk/about
Enterprise Finance Guarantee
Associated with: Department of Business, Innovation and Skills
Focus Area: The Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG) is a UK government-guaranteed lending scheme intended to help smaller viable businesses who may be struggling to secure finance, by facilitating bank loans of between £1,000 and £1 million.
www.gov.uk/government/publications/enterprise-finance-guarantee
First Enterprise Business Agency
Focus Area: First Enterprise Business Agency is a leading social enterprise for the East Midlands region and holds an extensive history of proactively providing business advice and support through different capacities.
www.first-enterprise.co.uk/about-first-enterprise
Wayra UK
Associated with: Wayra (Telefonica), UnLtd, Nesta, Bethnal Green Ventures, Cabinet Office, NominetTrust
Focus area: Support up to 72 early-stage social and environmental start-ups over the next 4 years. It will more specifically focus on startups that solve problems related to 3 key verticals: health and wellbeing of an ageing population, education and employability of young people and environmental sustainability.
wayra.org/en
Business Finance for You
Associated with: Department of Business, Innovation and Skills
Focus Area: Brings into one place a wide range of finance providers across Britain – including business angels, regional funds, government schemes and banks – enabling businesses to more easily seek the finance they require. Its free and easy-to-use search engine allows businesses to refine searches according to their geographic location, the industry in which they operate, the amount of finance they require, and the life stage of their business.
www.businessfinanceforyou.co.uk/finance-finder
Business Finance Explained
Associated with: Department of Business, Innovation and Skills
Focus area: A clear guide for firms deciding what form of finance is best suited to them based on their size, stage of development and requirements
www.gov.uk/business-finance-explained/investment-finance
Business Finance Partnership
Associated with: HM Treasury
Focus Area: Aims to increase the supply of capital through non-bank lending channels and, in the longer term, to help to diversify the sources of finance available to businesses. It will co-invest a total of £1.2bn through these channels, matched by at least equal private sector capital, to help create and support new sources of lending for small and mid-sized businesses in the UK.
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/bfp
UK Business Angels Association
Associated with: Department of Business, Innovation and Skills
Focus Area: Acts as the voice of the angel community, supporting policy and new initiatives to increase angel investment, promoting awareness of angel investing, helping to inform and educate new investors, with a view to growing the pool of investors in the UK.
www.ukbusinessangelsassociation.org.uk
Contracts Finder
Associated with: Gov.uk
Focus area: More access to the £230 billion of goods and services that, according to Government Accounts, are procured by the public sector each year. SMEs can expect to find more contract opportunities through central Government’s universal use of ContractFinder which advertises procurement business, and will benefit from the removal of prequalification questionnaires for contracts below £100,000 for goods and services
online.contractsfinder.businesslink.gov.uk
Get Mentoring
Associated with: Department of Business, Innovation and Skills
Focus area: Get Mentoring, led by the Small Firms Enterprise Development Initiative (SFEDI), recruited and trained thousands of business mentors in the UK from the small, medium and micro business community.
getmentoring.org
Be The Boss
Associated with: The Royal British Legion
Focus area: Providing funding, training and mentoring support to former members of HM Armed Forces on how to run a successful small business. Service leavers can apply for start-up funding of up to £7,500 and growth funding of up to £30,000.
The Prince’s Initiative for Mature Enterprise (PRIME)
Associated with: The Prince’s Trust
Focus area: The only national organisation dedicated to helping unemployed older people start and run their own businesses. It offers free information, workshops and business networking events. Since its foundation in 2001, PRIME has helped its clients start over 7,000 new businesses.
Start Up Britain – Spaces
A dedicated internet search tool to locate available incubation spaces by region and specialism.
Community Development Finance Association
A community finance industry, which brings social and financial benefits to neighbourhoods across the UK. Members lend money to people, businesses and social enterprises who struggle to get finance from high street banks.
Community Development Finance Institution
CDFA (above) CDFIs are non-profit organisations that lend money to individuals, businesses, social enterprises and charities who can use the money to help and develop their local community.
Big Society Capital
Associated with: Dormant Accounts Scheme
Focus area: Gives organisations tackling major social issues access to new sources of finance to help them thrive and grow.
New Entrepreneurs Foundation
The aim of the Foundation is to create a new generation of outstanding entrepreneurs who will play a role in Britain’s future growth and prosperity and create new market-leading businesses.
We do this by selecting 30 of the UK’s brightest, most entrepreneurially minded young people each year. We equip them with hands-on experience, skills and networks to build scalable businesses.
Our unique 12-month programme consists of four main components:
1) A paid work placement in an exciting, innovative, high growth company working alonside a successful entrepreneur and their senior management team, experiencing at close hand how to run a successful company
2) An intensive, immersive and interactive 10-month learning and development programme with workshops from our coroporate sponsors such as Deloitte, McKinsey and Tesco; business schools such as London Business School, UCL and the Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning at Cambridge Judge Business School; and other specialist learning providers
3) Monthly speaker and networking events featuring established business leaders and inspirational entrepreneurs such as Brent Hoberman, Sir Charles Dunstone, Sherry Coutu, Joe Cohen, Lord Young of Graffham to name a few
4) An Executive Coach for each New Entrepreneur
www.newentrepreneursfoundation.co.uk
Growth Accelerator
GrowthAccelerator is a unique service led by some of the country’s most successful growth specialists where you’ll find new connections, new routes to investment and the new ideas and strategy you’ll need for your business to achieve its full potential.