Funding

Looking to start a business? There is a range of funding options available for start-ups that you may be able to tap in to; including grants and soft-loans. Business Gateway publish a very helpful guide to grants in the UK – well worth looking at if you’re seeking funding for a new venture.

View the Businesss Gateway Guide Online

If you’re not at the stage of looking for funding quite yet, you can still book in to one of our business surgeries to chat more about your idea, or visit our Associates page to look for further information and advice.
 

Competition prize money from the Enterprise Gym
We award £4000 every year in prize money! Most of this is awarded for the Discovery Challenge – a business plan competition involving a series of workshops that help you learn more about business, and the process of starting a running a business. The Discovery Challenge culminates in a Lions’ Den pitch and the submission of a completed business plan. The top prize each semester is £750.
 

PSYBT
The Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust provides funding for new ventures for people aged between 18 and 25. This can include a grant of up to £1000 to help you get your business started.

Their network of 17 regional offices covers all of Scotland and their Dundee office is run by Regional Manager Catherine Ward – who we are lucky to have as one of our business coaches here at the Enterprise Gym.

Download the PSYBT Start-up Guide
Download the PSYBT Business Plan Template
 

Shell LiveWIRE Award
If you're aged 16-30 and need funding to get your new business idea or project off the ground, the Shell LiveWIRE Grand Ideas Awards offers up to 6 x £1,000 prizes every month to the most innovative ideas submitted by new businesses (in their first 12 months of trading).

You can apply anytime in the year and the top 3 ideas from each month will be put through on the ‘Hot 40’ shortlist for the Shell LiveWIRE Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
 

Green Grants Machine
Green Grants Machine doesn’t give awards or grants, they are a website that allows you to search a comprehensive database of what is available to help you start or develop an environmentally friendly business.

If you already run a company, there is also lots of information on the latest funding schemes to enable you to become “greener”!
 

EDTC Technology Gateway
EDTC has been successfully providing results-driven advice and support for technology-related projects for over 10 years.

The EDTC Feasibility Award can be used to evaluate technical and commercial feasibility of a product, providing a significant step forward in product development. A grant of up to £5000, covering up to 100% of project costs is available.

ESSA - Enterprising Student Societies Accreditation
The RBS Enterprising Student Society Accreditation (ESSA), sponsored by the Royal Bank of Scotland Group and LinkedIn, is a national scheme launched this year (2011), which will pro-actively reward and recognise your societies and the teams behind them. The ESSA certification will be the official stamp of achievement and recognised by potential employers. Possible Investment information is here.
 

Lloyds TSB Enterprise Awards
Only two weeks remaining until the deadline (Jan 30th) of the Lloyds TSB Enterprise Awards there's no time to waste if you – or entrepreneurs in your network - haven’t entered yet. These Awards will be recognising and rewarding the very best University student and graduate businesses in England, Scotland and Wales. There are 16 prizes in total, with the overall Best Enterprise winning £50,000 to help support and grow their business.
 

Converge Challenge 2012
The Converge Challenge is back for 2012, and as one of Scotland's premier programmes for finding and developing entrepreneurs, we encourage all eligible final year undergraduates, postgraduates and research and academic staff consider entering this year.

Now in its third year, the Converge Challenge can again offer £25,000 cash and £20,000 business support to the winning proposal to create a business developed from their university research. This is the highest cash prize of its kind in Scotland!

Scottish undergraduate University students can also enter the Product Challenge this year, with a top prize of £2,000 and two further prizes of £1,500 to students with unique and innovative product ideas.