Every Innovate UK competition plus other UK grants, one application
Free
Eligibility check after you sign up
4 routes
Grants, family offices, angel investors & VCs
Typical Innovate UK grants run £25K to £900K, fund 50% to 70% of project costs, with a decision in 8 to 12 weeks.
The honest founder's guide
What Is Innovate UK Funding?
Innovate UK is the UK's national innovation agency, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). It funds business-led research and development through competitions, distributing over £1 billion a year to UK companies. Crucially, Innovate UK grants are non-dilutive: you keep 100% of your equity and never repay the money.
The hard truth most guides skip: Innovate UK is competitive, and the right move is rarely to chase a single competition. The founders who win treat it as one line in a wider non-dilutive stack alongside R&D tax credits and SEIS/EIS. That is exactly what our free eligibility check surfaces for you, including Innovate UK and every other grant you qualify for.
Innovate UK Funding
The Main Innovate UK Programmes for Startups
"Innovate UK grants" is an umbrella for several programmes. Picking the one that matches your stage is the most important decision you'll make.
Growth Catalyst – New Innovator
The early-stage entry point (successor to Innovate UK Smart Grants). For pre-seed and seed teams turning an idea into a validated proposition.
£25K–£50K, up to 100% funded
3–6 month projects
First-time Innovate UK applicants
Grant size£25K–£50K
Growth Catalyst – Investor Partnerships
Late-stage R&D and commercialisation grants for companies with a committed lead investor, typically matched against private investment.
Up to £900K grant per company
Projects up to £2M total
Requires a committed private investor
Grant sizeUp to £900K
Contracts for Innovation (SBRI)
Government pays you to solve a specific R&D challenge through procurement. You keep full IP ownership, the key advantage over standard contracts.
Part-fund a graduate (a KTP Associate) embedded in your business for 12–36 months on a strategic innovation project, co-supervised with a UK university.
Access national lab-grade facilities through the Catapult network, plus the Innovate UK Business Growth programme and an Innovation & Growth Specialist.
Not sure which Innovate UK programme fits your stage?Complete the application form and we'll automatically match you with the most relevant grants, including the Innovate UK stream you're researching. It's 100% free.
Eligibility is checked before your application is ever scored. Most rejections happen here, not on the quality of the idea.
UK-registered company. You must be incorporated in the UK (Companies House). Most competitions are open to companies of any size, though specific streams add age and turnover limits.
A genuine R&D or innovation project. Innovate UK funds projects, not general operations. You need a defined project with technical challenges, milestones, and outputs, not just "we need cash to grow".
The right stream for your stage. Growth Catalyst New Innovator is for pre-seed/seed first-time applicants (typically under 5 years old, turnover under £250K). Investor Partnerships requires a committed lead investor and matched funding.
Match funding where required. Grants usually cover 50–70% of eligible costs; you fund the remainder. Feasibility studies are funded at higher rates than experimental development.
A clear route to market. Every competition scores commercial potential. You need named target customers and a credible plan to reach them, not just market-size statistics.
Project delivered in the UK. The funded R&D work must take place in the UK and benefit the UK economy.
How much you can get
Innovate UK Grant Amounts & Funding Rates
Your grant rate depends on your company size and the type of R&D. Smaller companies and earlier-stage research attract higher funding percentages.
Company size
Feasibility & industrial research
Experimental development
Micro & smallMost startups
✓Up to 70%
~Up to 45%
Medium<250 staff
✓Up to 60%
~Up to 35%
LargeConsortium partner
~Up to 50%
~Up to 25%
A founder's guide
How to Apply for an Innovate UK Grant
Innovate UK applications are a disciplined process, not a lottery. Here is the path from competition to decision.
Week 1
Find the Right Competition
Browse the Innovation Funding Service for open competitions and match your project to a specific scope. Applying to the wrong stream is the number-one rejection cause. Run the free eligibility checker below to shortlist the Innovate UK programmes, and other UK grants, you actually qualify for.
Weeks 1–2
Read the Scope and Scoring Rubric
Every competition publishes its scope, eligibility, and exactly how applications are scored, with each question individually weighted. Read all of it before writing a word. Most founders write in the order that feels natural; winners write in the order that maximises their score.
Weeks 2–5
Write and Budget
Applications are scored by external technical assessors, not civil servants, so write for a technically literate but non-specialist reader. Justify every budget line with a named person, day rate, and deliverable. Evidence your route to market with named customers, letters of intent, or pilots, never generic market-size paragraphs.
Submit → 8–12 wks
Submit Early, Then Follow Up
Submit at least 48 hours before the deadline; the portal closes on time with no extensions, and traffic peaks in the final hour. Decisions typically land 8–12 weeks after close. If you're unsuccessful, request the assessor feedback and re-apply: most successful grantees applied more than once.
Done-for-you service
Don't want to write it yourself? We build the application for you.
The steps above are the do-it-yourself route. If you would rather hand it off, our grant specialists write, package and manage the whole application for you, working alongside you so the technical detail stays yours while we handle the process.
1ApplyTell us about your startup and the grant you are targeting. It takes a few minutes.
2Chat with a specialistA grant specialist checks your fit, confirms the right programme, and scopes the work with you.
3We build your applicationWe write the narrative, budget and supporting documents to the funder's exact scoring criteria.
4We guide every stageMany grants run in several rounds (assessment, interviews, sometimes multiple phases, then reporting). We handle each step and explain everything as we go.
Transparent, mostly success-based pricingA modest upfront fee to scope and start the work (not always tied to your metrics), plus a success fee based on the grant, the amount awarded, and your business. Every engagement is quoted individually.
Apply and we'll come back with a tailored budget for your specific grant.
Interactive Tool
Check Your UK Grant Eligibility in 30 Seconds
Every UK grant is listed below by default. Tell us your stage and sector to narrow them to the Innovate UK grants, R&D credits, and SEIS/EIS routes that match your startup. Getting matched is 100% free - no fee, no commission, no credit card.
Choose your stage and sector below to see which UK grants you may be eligible for
Want a definitive eligibility report? It's free.
This is a first-pass match based on stage, sector, and geography. Complete the application form and we'll automatically match you with the most relevant grants - including the one you're researching - cross-referencing your technology, IP, team, and traction against every active UK programme. This matching service is completely free: no fee, no commission, no credit card required.
The strongest raises stack multiple non-dilutive programmes. Here are the other UK grants you can apply for, all matched in one free eligibility check.
Innovate UK competitions are genuinely competitive, with success rates that vary widely by competition (often in the 10–30% range). The biggest differentiators are choosing the right competition, writing precisely to the scoring criteria, and evidencing a credible route to market. Applying to multiple relevant programmes in parallel materially improves your odds, which is exactly why our free check surfaces every grant you qualify for, not just one.
No. Innovate UK grants are non-dilutive and non-repayable. You keep 100% of your equity. The obligation is to deliver the funded project and meet the reporting and finance-claim requirements; failing to do so can trigger clawback, but in normal delivery the money is yours.
Yes. The Growth Catalyst New Innovator stream is designed precisely for pre-seed and seed companies turning an idea into a validated proposition, with grants of £25K–£50K and up to 100% funding. KTP and Investor Partnerships suit later stages. The key is matching your stage to the right stream.
Yes, and it's encouraged. The Growth Catalyst Investor Partnerships stream is explicitly built to combine an Innovate UK grant with private investment. Investors view grant funding as a strong validation signal. After your grant, you can find SEIS/EIS-active UK investors on AngelsPartners to fund go-to-market.
The long-running Smart Grants competition was paused, and Innovate UK now channels much of that open-ended innovation funding through the Growth Catalyst programme and sector-specific competitions. The principle is the same: business-led R&D, scored by external assessors, funded non-dilutively.
The Full Capital Stack
Grants Are Only Part of the Stack
Innovate UK grants and R&D tax credits cover early-stage R&D, but most UK startups need equity capital to scale. The strongest raises combine grants with SEIS/EIS-qualifying angel or VC investment.
AngelsPartners is the only platform where a founder can access all three capital pathways in one place: grants (this page), debt financing, and 120,000+ equity investors.
Equity funding
UK Angels & VCs
Search a database of SEIS/EIS-active angels, micro-VCs, and funds investing in UK startups. Filter by sector, geography, ticket size, and stage. Direct contact details included - no gatekeepers, no pay-to-pitch.
Venture debt, revenue-based financing, and startup loan programmes - without diluting your cap table. Our AI matches you to a curated lender network based on your revenue, traction, and geography.
