A look into the Government's £12 million grant to help startups

Funding is such an important step for any business, especially for startups. The early years of a business are arguably the most important and going through them without any funding is one of the major reasons why so many startups end up failing. Being able to access some level of funding can help startup companies tenfold and can also help secure some level of longevity for the business.

Digital Growth Grant

In recent articles it has been discussed that the UK Government has launched a £12 million grant to help boost startups growth. A key focus on the Government’s funding will be to improve the regional support networks for startups. You must enter a competition in order to win the grant which is being focused on innovative tech startups and scale-ups across the UK.

The £12.09 million ‘Digital Growth Grant’ is focusing on opening up access to advice and support services for the digital and tech sectors, and also opening up access to skills training. With the key focus of the funding being to improve the regional support networks for the startups, the government is hoping that alongside this, the funding will help spread the benefits of the funding of the country’s world-leading tech industry all across the UK.

Grow regional support networks

The government hopes that the successful recipient of the grant will deliver support services to the digital sector, especially in transformative and/or emerging technologies. The government hopes this butterfly effect will address key challenges that are currently being faced by companies going from the starter stage with seed funding, all the way to their first round of financing. The recipients will also hopefully grow regional support networks for other technology startups that could help founders and other firms have access to different types of digital entrepreneurship and investment training.

Digital Minister Chris Philp said: “Start-ups and scale-ups are hugely important to our thriving tech sector. This funding is dedicated to growing these innovative businesses wherever they are in the country, providing the support and skills they need to succeed and create good jobs and generate wealth.”

Applications open soon

Applications are to be opened later this year after the government has discussed with the market to help refine and shape the grant specification. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) will be running the Digital Growth Grant competition over this summer of 2022. The bids given to get this grant will need to be able to address identified market failures and also be able to offer services that could help accelerate the growth of tech start-ups. Furthermore, this grant hopes to help scale-up ecosystems across the nations of the UK. The successful bidder will be awarded up to £12.09 million to spend over two financial years 2023/24 and 2024/25.

This is a very exciting time to be alive in, the thought of this certain sector being given a push and some monetary help is very interesting. What could happen? Thinking about all the benefits the government is hoping will leak throughout the sector, opening up access to advice and support services for the digital and tech sectors could end up being really beneficial for the UK! To see such a big grant being on offer to the winner is exciting too!

I will leave you with some questions… Will your company be entering? What do you think about the government’s plans for the grant? Do you think it will be a good idea? What other benefits will arise from the grant? All I know is that there will most definitely be some changes coming from whomever gets it!

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To find out more about the Digital Growth Grant simply click here.

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