Combined Investor Partnerships Round 12
UK registered SMEs can apply for grant funding in Ageing Society and Clean Growth, alongside private investment from selected partners.
Opportunity Details
When
Registration Opens
07/07/2023
Registration Closes
30/08/2023
Award
Each investor partnership has an agreed range of total project costs. Your introducing investor partner will discuss this with you and inform you if your proposal is eligible.
Organisation
Innovate UK
Innovate UK, as part of UK Research and Innovation, has selected investor partners to work with. They have demonstrated the credibility, capability, capacity and appetite to invest in innovative, technology-led businesses in areas that align with our objectives in programme areas. The investor partners will work with Investor partnership programmes to bring together:
- Innovate UK’s expertise in identifying innovation and using grant funding to change the risk profile of businesses
- investor partners’ aligned funding and expertise in identifying opportunities and teams that can best use extra investment finance
This approach gives your business access to the capital investment it needs to develop and commercialise your innovations.
The investor partners will work with Innovate UK to invite innovative businesses to apply for grant funding alongside their investment.
These are the eligible investor partnership programmes and the associated investor partners in this round:
- Ageing Society Grand Challenge Investment Partnerships: Northstar Ventures
- Clean Growth Innovation Fund: EQUANS
To be eligible for this competition you must be invited to apply by one of the investor partners. Guidance will be provided with the invite from the investor partner on the specific scope and eligibility requirements for the programme they are supporting.
To be successful, your project must be independently assessed by Innovate UK as fundable, and must also receive investment from the investor partner.
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This competition is open to single applicants only. To apply your organisation must:
- be a UK registered micro, small or medium sized business (SME)
- carry out its project work in the UK
- intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
- be invited to apply by your investor partner
- have discussed and agreed your proposal with your investor partner before submitting
Subcontractors are allowed in this competition.
You can only be invited to submit one application into this round of the competition by your investor partner.
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The eligibility criteria will depend on which investor partnership programme you are applying to. Each investor partnership programme has one or more investor partners who may consider investing in your business alongside the grant funding for your project. You must be invited by the investor partner you plan to work with to apply for this competition.
The investor partner will provide the additional eligibility criteria for your application in writing, but the following rules apply to all applications.
The introducing investor partner will inform you of:
- the latest date for the start of your project
- the latest date for the end of your project
- the minimum and maximum duration of your project
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Each investor partner has an agreed allocation of Innovate UK funding that can be used to provide support to innovation projects in this competition.
Innovate UK will decide which projects are eligible and in scope to receive grant funding.
The investor partner will inform you how much funding remains available after existing commitments.
If you are successful you will receive:
- grant funding to cover a proportion of the costs of your project
- investment in your business with the investor partner acting as the lead investor
Each programme will specify minimum amounts of investment that must be aligned to the level of the grant funding. Your investor partner will make you aware of these.
Your business must have sufficient capital resources, including through investment from the investor partner and the grant funding, to enable you to meet all your projects eligible costs.
All recipients must act commercially, and your funding request must not exceed the limits specified for the category of research for your project.
You must confirm with your investor partner the maximum percentage of funding that is available. If your application exceeds the maximum grant level, then it will be rejected. In all cases the investment from investor partners must always be at least equal to the grant funding.
Feasibility studies and industrial research projects
The amount of funding available as a percentage of eligible project cost for feasibility studies and industrial research projects is specific to the investor partner programme.
Typically Innovate UK will fund up to 70% of eligible project costs for feasibility studies and industrial research projects. For some programmes funding will be limited to 50% of project costs.
Experimental development projects
Innovate UK will fund up to 45% of eligible project costs for experimental development projects for micro or small organisations and up to 35% for medium sized organisations.
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The scope for your application will depend on which investor partnership programme you are applying for. Your investor partner will review your proposed project application and only invite you to apply if they believe it to be in scope. Please contact them early to begin discussions.
We are not funding projects that are:
- not carried out by SMEs
- collaborative research and development (R&D) projects
- not part of a company’s growth plan
- unable to prove there is potential for return on investment and growth
- large capital infrastructure
- not invited by a specified investor partner