What business funding is available to me?

Q: What business funding is available to me?

Far more routes than most owners know about, and they sort neatly by what each one costs you. Some cost you only time : grants, tax relief, competitions and prizes. Some cost you interest : government-backed loans, bank lending, invoice and asset finance, peer-to-peer. Some cost you a piece of the company : angel investors, equity crowdfunding, venture capital. And one costs you nothing at all, which is getting your own customers to pay you sooner. There are twelve routes below. Most of them will not fit you, and the honest job is working out which two or three might. Underneath them is the current list of UK government schemes, checked weekly against the official sources.

Every route, and what each one costs you

Open any of these for who it really suits and where it goes wrong. They are ordered roughly by how many businesses they apply to, not by how much money is involved.

Grants
Money you do not pay back.

Public money attached to something the funder wants more of: research, exporting, hiring, training, cutting emissions, or investment in a particular place. You keep every share and repay nothing.

The cost is time and odds. Applications are long, assessors score you against published criteria, and most schemes turn down far more than they fund. Many are also match funded, so you need your own money ready before theirs arrives.

Who it suits. Worth it when the thing you were going to do anyway is the thing being funded. A poor use of a week when you are bending the business to fit the form.

Government-backed loans
Ordinary debt, easier to get.

Mainly the Growth Guarantee Scheme for established businesses and Start Up Loans for new ones. The government guarantees part of the loan to the lender.

Read that carefully: the guarantee protects the lender, not you. You still owe every penny and will usually still give a personal guarantee. What it buys you is access and terms you would not otherwise get.

Who it suits. Suits a business with something specific to buy and a clear way to repay. Not a fix for a business that is losing money.

Tax relief and credits
Money you already spent, coming back.

R&D relief for work where the answer was not obvious at the outset. Capital allowances on equipment. Patent Box on profits from patented products. Creative industry reliefs for film, games, theatre and animation. Employment Allowance on National Insurance.

This is the most overlooked route because it does not feel like funding. It arrives through your tax return rather than as a cheque, so nobody celebrates it.

Who it suits. Nearly every trading business qualifies for something here. Check whether your work counts as R&D.

Angel investors
One person, their own money.

Individuals investing their own cash, usually somewhere between ten thousand and a few hundred thousand pounds, often through a syndicate or a network. Most want SEIS or EIS relief, which is why advance assurance before you raise is worth the effort.

You are not just taking money. You are taking a shareholder with opinions, a stake in your decisions, and an expectation of an exit.

Who it suits. Suits a business that genuinely needs to move faster than its own cash allows. The right angel brings customers and judgement. The wrong one brings meetings.

Equity crowdfunding
Hundreds of small investors.

Platforms like Crowdcube and Seedrs let a crowd buy shares in you. It doubles as a marketing campaign, and the people who invest often become your most vocal customers.

It is also public. A campaign that stalls at 30% does so in front of everyone, including the customers and staff you were trying to impress. Most successful raises are largely pre-committed before they go live.

Who it suits. Suits consumer brands with an audience that already cares. Rarely works for a business whose customers are other businesses.

Venture capital
Institutional money, for very fast growth.

Funds investing other people's money in businesses that could become very large very quickly. They need a small number of enormous outcomes to return their fund.

That model shapes everything that follows. A steady, profitable business growing 20% a year is a good business and a bad venture investment, and taking the money means committing to a pace that may not suit you or the company.

Who it suits. Suits a small number of businesses in large markets with a route to real scale. Most owners who think they want this actually want a loan or a better pipeline.

Pre-sales and rewards
Customers pay before it exists.

Kickstarter, Crowdfunder, or simply taking deposits and pre-orders yourself. Backers get the product, early access or a perk. No shares change hands and there is nothing to repay in cash.

It is the cleanest money on this list and the most demanding, because you have taken payment for something you have not made yet. Late delivery damages you publicly.

Who it suits. Suits a physical product or an event with a visible audience. Also the fastest honest test of whether anyone actually wants the thing.

Alternative lenders
Debt from outside the banks.

Online lenders and peer-to-peer platforms that decide faster than a bank, often on your trading data rather than three years of accounts.

Speed costs money. Rates are higher, terms shorter, and personal guarantees are normal. Watch for merchant cash advances quoted as a flat fee, because the real annual rate is usually far higher than it looks.

Who it suits. Suits a short, specific gap with a known repayment date. Dangerous as a way to cover a shortfall you have not diagnosed.

Invoice and asset finance
Borrow against what you already have.

Invoice finance advances most of the value of invoices you are owed. Asset finance lends against equipment or vehicles, or leases them to you.

Neither creates profit. They move cash forward in time, which is exactly right if you are profitable but waiting 60 days to be paid, and exactly wrong if the underlying problem is your margin.

Who it suits. Suits a business held back by payment terms rather than by demand. Check whether the facility is confidential, because some tell your customers.

Bank lending and overdrafts
The traditional route.

Term loans, overdrafts, commercial mortgages. Usually the cheapest debt available if you can get it, and the slowest to arrange.

Banks want trading history, filed accounts, and security. Expect a personal guarantee and, for anything sizeable, a charge over property.

Who it suits. Suits an established, profitable business buying something with a long life. Rarely available to a business under two years old without a guarantee scheme behind it.

Accelerators and competitions
Cash, plus the part that matters more.

Fixed-term programmes giving a small amount of money, workspace, mentoring and a demo day. Some take equity, typically a few per cent. Pitch competitions and innovation prizes give cash with no strings at all.

The money is rarely the point. The contacts, the customers in the room and the pressure of a deadline are usually worth more than the cheque.

Who it suits. Suits an early business that needs doors opened more than it needs capital. Check what the equity buys you before you sign.

Customer and revenue funding
The one nobody counts as funding.

Annual payment upfront instead of monthly. Deposits before work starts. Retainers. Raising your prices. Chasing the money you are already owed.

It has no interest rate, no application, no dilution and no assessor. It is also the only route on this list that gets easier the better your business is.

Who it suits. Suits everyone, and it is where I look first. Before you spend a month on an application, it is worth knowing what is already sitting in your payment terms, your prices, and the invoices nobody has chased.

The current list of UK government schemes

These are the schemes GOV.UK currently lists as finance and support for business. Some are national, some are limited to one nation or one region, and some are open only to a particular sector or size of business. The link on each one tells you which.

The 18 most recently updated of 100 schemes listed on GOV.UK, checked 12 October 2026.
Scheme	What it is	Run by
Sunderland Software City	A range of support services to help businesses adopt digital technologies, develop products, and grow.	Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade
Hope Street Xchange	Hope Street Xchange is a new centre for enterprise and innovation in Sunderland that can offer expertise to help businesses flourish.	Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade
Business Incentive Grant	The Business Incentive Grant could provide up to £750 to help businesses get up and running. The grant must be applied for before the business starts to trade and the grant is...	Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade
IP Advance Grant Funding	Funding for businesses towards making the most of their intellectual property.	Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade
Grants and loans for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses in County Durham.	A range of business grants and loans for businesses in the County Durham in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors.	Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade
Wenta	Enterprise agency Wenta, offers free one-to-one and virtual support for people starting or running a small business.	Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade
Essex Working Well	This programme offers free workplace health and well-being support to businesses.	Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade
Co Operatives UK	Co Operatives UK is a membership network for businesses working to promote, develop and unite member-owned business.	Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade
Northamptonshire Community Foundation	Potential grant funding is available to community or voluntary groups in Northamptonshire.	Department for Business and Trade
Chamber Low Carbon - Lancashire	Chamber Low Carbon provides a range of 1-2-1 business support services specialising in energy, resource and water efficiency.	Department for Business and Trade
Local Women Local Enterprise	Women-only enterprise support services for women who are thinking about starting a business and women led businesses who need support to be better prepared to build a successful...	Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade
Made Smarter London	The Made Smarter adoption programme aims to empower and support London's manufacturing businesses. The programme has a particular focus on adopting digital technology.	Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade
North East Business and Innovation Centre (BIC)	North East BIC is a not‑for‑profit business support organisation helping people to start, grow and innovate across North East England.	Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade
South West Investment Fund (SWIF)	The fund aims to drive sustainable economic growth by supporting innovation and creating local opportunity for new and growing businesses across the South West.	Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade
Arts Derbyshire	Provides artists and those with an interest in employing artists in Derbyshire with useful information and advice, including funding, awards, events and free online directory...	Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade
Sir James Knott Fund	Funding for charitable activity in Tyne and Wear, Northumberland, County Durham and Hartlepool.	Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade
Peer Networks - Redbridge Council	Peer Networks is a programme for businesses that want to grow and develop their organisation for future success.	Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade
START - West of England	A free to access programme to help entrepreneurs in the West of England who are in the early stages of starting a tech-based or digital business.	Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade

Search all 100+ schemes on GOV.UK, filtered by where you are, what you do and how big you are.

Where this comes from. The table is built from the GOV.UK business finance support list and the UKRI opportunities feed, both official sources, published under the Open Government Licence v3.0. It was last checked on 12 October 2026. Every row links to the original, because the original is the only thing that governs whether you qualify. I summarise. I do not restate the rules.

The honest part

Funding is not usually the thing holding a business back. In the ones I look at, the money is already there and it is leaking somewhere the owner cannot see, or the business cannot take on more work without the owner doing it personally. No grant fixes either of those, and a grant won for the wrong thing will cost you a quarter of delivery you did not plan for.

Go after funding when you know exactly what you would do with it, and when the thing you would do is something you were going to do anyway.

Not sure which of these you would actually qualify for?

Most owners lose more to the routes they never heard of than to the ones they were turned down for. Tell me what the business does and I will tell you which of these are worth your time, and which are not. If one of them is worth it, I will help you put the application in.

What business funding is available to me?

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Every route, and what each one costs you

What changed in the last few weeks

The current list of UK government schemes

The honest part

Not sure which of these you would actually qualify for?

Other things owners ask us