GrantUp funding directory
UK grant finder: business and innovation grants
Find and compare innovation funding for UK start-ups, SMEs and growing businesses. Browse Innovate UK, UKRI, Horizon Europe, regional and sector opportunities, plus innovation loans, for new products, processes and technologies rather than general running costs.
Founders, R&D leads and research partners can shortlist by sector, stage, region and award size. Choose Open now or Closing soon to narrow the listings, then compare funders, typical awards, applicant fit and published deadlines. Each call has its own eligible costs, match funding and partner requirements.
GrantUp curates these 248 listings from its funding records and programme summaries, with links to official funders. Coverage is selective and closed rounds remain for reference. Open rounds appear first; a missing deadline does not confirm availability. Always verify the current scope, eligibility and deadline with the funder before applying.
- Filter by your sector and stage, then choose Open now.
- Compare the funder, typical award and who each call suits.
- Open a listing to check eligible costs, match funding and partner rules.
Not sure where you fit? Use the eligibility checker, read the Innovate UK funding guide or see how to write a winning application.
Find your grant
Showing 1–12 of 248 programmes
- Closes in 3 days
ARIA
[ARIA] Precision Mitochondria: ST&R Partners – Request for Proposal
Included in GrantPartner*Agnostic to institution type: established service providers, research and metrology institutes, national centres, consortia across institutions, startups, or organisations proposing a new body. Needs biological, measurement and experimental-design expertise plus standards/inter-lab/reference material/method-transfer experience; independent partner with no stake in technical approaches.
Max award£4,000,000Deadline9 Nov 2026Life sciences & healthIndustrial R&DInternationalView grant details - Closes in 4 days
UK Defence Innovation
[UKDI] Stage 1: Tactical Power Challenge
Included in GrantPartner*UK Defence Innovation challenge for the British Army: £2.45M (ex VAT) of development contracts for innovative tactical power solutions from TRL 4 to TRL 6, in two stages. Stage 1 closes 10 November 2026 at midday GMT.
Max award£2,450,000Deadline10 Nov 2026Defence & securityIndustrial R&DUK-wideView grant details - Closes in 5 days
Innovate UK
[IUK] ADOPT Facilitator Support Grant: Round 12
Included in GrantPartner*Defra Farming Innovation Programme grant of £2,500 for an English farming, growing or forestry business to engage an external Project Facilitator to develop a Full ADOPT Grant application (agriculture, horticulture, agro-forestry). Up to £100,000 available. Opens 1 October 2026, closes 11 November 2026 11:00am.
Max award£2,500Deadline11 Nov 2026Life sciences & healthIndustrial R&DUK-wideView grant details - Closes in 5 days
Innovate UK
[IUK] Small medium enterprise champions: Frontier AI – phase 1
Included in GrantPartner*The Frontier AI SME Champions competition aims to advance state-of-the-art AI and machine learning in the UK by supporting SMEs to validate ambitious innovations that could deliver step-change capabilities and enable new products, services or platforms.
Max award£150Deadline11 Nov 2026AI & softwareIndustrial R&DUK-wideView grant details - EUCloses in 10 days
EU funding
[Other EU FUNDING] Financial Support To Startups Open Call 2026
Included in GrantPartner*This call is open to startups (legal entities) established in EU Member States or in Third countries associated with Horizon Europe, that are currently in an active pre-seed, seed, or Series A fundraising round targeting the urban mobility market. Applicants must have a prototype, pilot, or MVP, a pre-money valuation not exceeding €50,000,000, and must not already be part of the EIT Urban Mobility equity portfolio.
Max awardup to €2.5MDeadline16 Nov 2026AI & softwareLate stage & scale-upUK-wideView grant details - Closes in 11 days
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Horizon Europe
[HORIZON - CLIMATE] Africa-EU CO-FUND action on climate HORIZON-CL5-2027-01-D1-11
Expected to open. At least 30% of the beneficiaries must be legal entities established in the African Union member states[[ "African Union member states" includes countries whose membership has been temporarily suspended.]]. The following additional eligibility criteria apply: At least 30% of the beneficiaries must be legal entities established in the Africa Union member states[["African Union member states" excludes countries whose membership has been temporarily suspended.]].
Max award€15,000,000.00Deadline17 Nov 2026Clean energy & net zeroIndustrial R&DUK-wideView grant details - Closes in 12 days
Innovate UK
[IUK] Efficient, Structured and Controllable AI Systems
Included in GrantPartner*Innovate UK industrial research competition for novel reusable AI mechanisms that are efficient, structured and controllable. Projects start at TRL 1–3. Total eligible costs £50,000–£150,000.
Max award£150,000Deadline18 Nov 2026AI & softwareFeasibilityUK-wideView grant details - Closes in 12 days
Innovate UK
[IUK] MDI Programme Innovation and Scale-up Hub
Included in GrantPartner*Innovate UK Manufacturing Digitalisation Innovation (MDI) competition to establish an Innovation and Scale-up Hub for Frontier 5 manufacturing (advanced materials, aerospace, automotive, batteries, space). Grant £3.8m–£4m over 36 months from 1 April 2027.
Max award£4,000,000Deadline18 Nov 2026Clean energy & net zeroLate stage & scale-upUK-wideView grant details - Closes in 19 days
Innovate UK
[IUK] Investor Partnerships - Battery Innovation Programme
Included in GrantPartner*Innovate UK Investor Partnerships competition for battery innovation. UK SMEs apply as a single applicant for grant funding alongside aligned private investment. Project size depends on research category, up to £2 million for experimental development.
Max award£2,000,000Deadline25 Nov 2026Clean energy & net zeroIndustrial R&DUK-wideView grant details - Closes in 25 days
ARIA
[ARIA] Robot Dexterity: Standards + benchmarks for dexterous robotics – Request for Proposal
Included in GrantPartner*Broad consortia encouraged: developers, manufacturers, research groups, end users, test facilities, standards organisations, including overseas partners. Prior ARIA funding not required.
Max award£3,000,000Deadline1 Dec 2026AI & softwareIndustrial R&DInternationalView grant details - Closes in 25 days
Horizon Europe
[HORIZON - Energy] Renewable Energy Valleys in Africa to increase energy security and energy access in Africa HORIZON-CL5-2027-02…
Expected to open. Due to the scope of this topic, legal entities established in all African Union member states are exceptionally eligible for Union funding. If projects use satellite-based earth observation, positioning, navigation and/or related timing data and services, beneficiaries must make use of Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS (other data and services may additionally be used). The following additional eligibility criteria apply: At least two legal entities established in at least two different African Union member states must be part of the consortium as beneficiaries.
Max award€4,500,000.00Deadline1 Dec 2026Clean energy & net zeroIndustrial R&DUK-wideView grant details - Closes in 25 days
Horizon Europe
[Horizon - New European Bauhaus] Approaches to reuse vacant, obsolete or underutilised spaces
Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Action (HORIZON-NEB-2026-01-BUSINESS-03). Applicants must be legal entities established in the eligible countries described in Annex B of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes; consortium and other participation rules also follow General Annex B.
Max award€4.5MDeadline1 Dec 2026Clean energy & net zeroIndustrial R&DUK-wideView grant details
Want to apply for more than one grant?
Our retainer clients get a dedicated grant pipeline: we track deadlines, match competitions to your roadmap, and manage multiple applications at once so nothing is missed.
Unsure where to start?
Tell us what you are building and we will point you to the competitions where you are genuinely competitive, before you spend time on an application.
How UK business grant funding works
Innovate UK
The largest source of competitive innovation grants for UK businesses, run through the Innovation Funding Service. Most competitions fund a share of R&D costs, so companies co-invest the rest.
Horizon Europe and the EIC
UK companies can bid for Horizon Europe collaborative projects and the EIC Accelerator, which suit ambitious, high-risk innovations with international reach.
UKRI, ESA and sector funders
Research councils, the European Space Agency, defence and health funders run targeted programmes for specific technologies and missions, often with fewer applicants.
Regional and local funds
Devolved governments and local growth programmes offer smaller grants for capital, productivity and early-stage innovation, sometimes alongside national competitions.
Innovate UK grants for businesses
Innovate UK grants fund feasibility studies, industrial research and experimental development, for single companies or collaborative consortia. Each competition publishes its own scope, award range and funding rate, with listed rounds shown alongside the specialist programmes in this directory. Our Innovate UK grant writers can tell you which round fits your project.
Almost every competition expects match funding, a clear technical advance and a credible route to market. Use the filters above to shortlist programmes, then check your eligibility before you commit time to an application.
Building a funding strategy from this directory
Balance national and regional funds
Flagship Innovate UK and Horizon Europe competitions attract the most applicants. Pairing one national bid with a regional or sector fund, where the field is smaller, spreads risk and can bring in earlier wins while larger decisions are pending.
Sequence by deadline and effort
A strong application typically takes 100 or more hours of specialist work. Shortlist two or three competitions whose deadlines are at least six weeks apart, so each bid gets proper technical and financial preparation rather than a rushed submission.
Match the funder to your stage
Early feasibility work suits smaller, faster competitions; later-stage development and demonstration suit larger awards with match funding. Filtering by stage and award size above keeps your shortlist realistic for where your technology actually is.
Companies that treat grants as a rolling portfolio, rather than a single bet, win more consistently. If you are planning several applications over the year, our GrantPartner programme covers a pipeline of bids for one monthly fee, and our case studies show how funded clients structured theirs.
Planning more than one bid this year?
The GrantPartner programme is a monthly retainer covering a rolling portfolio of applications from this directory, with no separate writing fee per bid. Suited to UK businesses with an active R&D roadmap and match funding in place.
Deadline tracker
What is open right now, and how long you have left
Funder dates move, and the best applications are the ones started early. These are the UK and EU windows we are actively writing toward, with how much is on the table and a live clock to the cut-off.
Updated automatically from our live grant directory
| Programme | Funding available | Deadline | Time left | What to know |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [ARIA] Precision Mitochondria: ST&R Partners – Request for ProposalARIAOfficial page | Up to £4m (ARIA expects to award up to £4M in this contract). Source: RFP https://www.aria.org.uk/media/ix1d2o4s/rfp-str-precision-mitochondria.pdfPer successful application | 9 Nov 2026 | Closes in 3 daysEvery day counts, speak to us today. | Agnostic to institution type: established service providers, research and metrology institutes, national centres, consortia across institutions, startups, or organisations proposing a new body. Needs biological, measurement and experimental-design expertise plus standards/inter-lab/reference material/method-transfer experience; independent partner with no stake in technical approaches. |
| [UKDI] Stage 1: Tactical Power ChallengeUK Defence InnovationOfficial page | Not stated per project. £2.45 million total (excluding VAT) for Innovative Tactical Power Solutions; a number of proposals may be funded. No per-project cap stated.Per successful application | 10 Nov 2026 | Closes in 4 daysEvery day counts, speak to us today. | UK Defence Innovation challenge for the British Army: £2.45M (ex VAT) of development contracts for innovative tactical power solutions from TRL 4 to TRL 6, in two stages. Stage 1 closes 10 November 2026 at midday GMT. |
| [IUK] ADOPT Facilitator Support Grant: Round 12Innovate UKOfficial page | £2,500 grant per successful applicant, paid once evidence is provided that a Full ADOPT Grant application has been sent for assessment.Per successful application | 11 Nov 2026 | Closes in 5 daysEvery day counts, speak to us today. | Defra Farming Innovation Programme grant of £2,500 for an English farming, growing or forestry business to engage an external Project Facilitator to develop a Full ADOPT Grant application (agriculture, horticulture, agro-forestry). Up to £100,000 available. Opens 1 October 2026, closes 11 November 2026 11:00am. |
| [IUK] Small medium enterprise champions: Frontier AI – phase 1Innovate UKOfficial page | Individual award £150-250KPer successful application | 11 Nov 2026 | Closes in 5 daysEvery day counts, speak to us today. | The Frontier AI SME Champions competition aims to advance state-of-the-art AI and machine learning in the UK by supporting SMEs to validate ambitious innovations that could deliver step-change capabilities and enable new products, services or platforms. |
| [Other EU FUNDING] Financial Support To Startups Open Call 2026EU fundingOfficial page | up to €2.5MPer successful application | 16 Nov 2026 | Closes in 10 daysEvery day counts, speak to us today. | This call is open to startups (legal entities) established in EU Member States or in Third countries associated with Horizon Europe, that are currently in an active pre-seed, seed, or Series A fundraising round targeting the urban mobility market. Applicants must have a prototype, pilot, or MVP, a pre-money valuation not exceeding €50,000,000, and must not already be part of the EIT Urban Mobility equity portfolio. |
| [HORIZON - CLIMATE] Africa-EU CO-FUND action on climate HORIZON-CL5-2027-01-D1-11Horizon EuropeOfficial page | €15,000,000.00Per successful application | 17 Nov 2026 | Closes in 11 daysEvery day counts, speak to us today. | Expected to open. At least 30% of the beneficiaries must be legal entities established in the African Union member states[[ "African Union member states" includes countries whose membership has been temporarily suspended.]]. The following additional eligibility criteria apply: At least 30% of the beneficiaries must be legal entities established in the Africa Union member states[["African Union member states" excludes countries whose membership has been temporarily suspended.]]. |
| [IUK] Efficient, Structured and Controllable AI SystemsInnovate UKOfficial page | Total eligible costs £50,000–£150,000.Per successful application | 18 Nov 2026 | Closes in 12 daysEvery day counts, speak to us today. | Innovate UK industrial research competition for novel reusable AI mechanisms that are efficient, structured and controllable. Projects start at TRL 1–3. Total eligible costs £50,000–£150,000. |
| [IUK] MDI Programme Innovation and Scale-up HubInnovate UKOfficial page | Grant funding request £3.8 million–£4 million. Duration 36 months.Per successful application | 18 Nov 2026 | Closes in 12 daysEvery day counts, speak to us today. | Innovate UK Manufacturing Digitalisation Innovation (MDI) competition to establish an Innovation and Scale-up Hub for Frontier 5 manufacturing (advanced materials, aerospace, automotive, batteries, space). Grant £3.8m–£4m over 36 months from 1 April 2027. |
Always confirm dates on the funder page before you plan around them. Competitions are amended and cycles shift.
Not sure which of these fits you?
Picking the wrong programme costs months. Our specialist team maps your technology, stage and timeline against live competitions and tells you honestly where you are competitive, and where you are not.
Guides to go with the directory
Pair your grant with R&D tax credits
R&D tax relief can recover part of the match funding a grant asks you to cover. Our R&D tax credit specialists plan both together. Use the R&D tax relief calculator to see what your spend could return, or read accountant vs R&D tax specialist.
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