UK business grants — find what your company can apply for
There is more grant funding available to UK businesses than most owners ever see — spread across central government, the devolved nations, local councils and the EU, each with its own portal, rules and deadlines. Subvention pulls them into one place. Enter your company name and we match live grants to your business using your real Companies House profile, then show you a ranked, explained shortlist with a link to the original source for every result.
Grants change frequently — always confirm eligibility, amounts and deadlines with the funder via the linked source. Subvention does not guarantee funding.
What counts as a business grant
A business grant is funding you don't repay, usually awarded for a specific purpose — research and development, taking on staff, buying equipment, going greener, exporting, or growing in a particular region. Most grants are competitive, most expect you to part-fund the project yourself (often 30–70% is covered), and almost all require an active, trading company. They are not the same as loans or R&D tax credits, though many businesses use a mix of all three.
Types of business grant in the UK
Funding tends to fall into a few buckets. Innovation grants such as Innovate UK competitions support R&D and new products, typically from around £25,000 for feasibility work up to several million for collaborative projects. Start-up and growth grants include British Business Bank Start Up Loans (£500–£25,000 per founder, government-backed) and The King's Trust for younger founders. Local and regional grants delivered through councils, Growth Hubs and the UK Shared Prosperity Fund commonly run from a few hundred pounds up to around £40,000 for equipment, premises or training. Sector and theme grants cover net zero, manufacturing, agriculture, the arts, tourism and more.
What Subvention covers
One search runs across the sources you'd otherwise check one by one: GOV.UK Find a Grant, Innovate UK and UKRI, the British Business Bank, government departments (DEFRA, Arts Council, NIHR, VisitBritain), National Lottery funds, the devolved agencies (Scottish Enterprise, Business Wales, Invest Northern Ireland), regional Growth Hubs and combined authorities, and European schemes such as Horizon Europe — 49 sources in total, refreshed daily.
How the matching works
Type your company name and we pull your profile from Companies House — sector (SIC codes), registered region, status and size. You confirm a few details and tick what you want to fund, and every match comes back with a score, a plain-English reason it was matched, eligibility ticks for sector, region and size, any risk flags, and a link to the funder's own page with the date we last checked it. Nothing is invented: if a grant isn't a real, current match, it isn't shown.
Free to search
Searching and eligibility matching are always free. Optional one-off passes (30 or 90 days, no auto-renew) add saved grants, email alerts, deadline reminders and application tools when you're actively applying.
Frequently asked questions
- What grants can a small business get in the UK?
- Depending on your sector, size and location you may be eligible for innovation grants (e.g. Innovate UK), start-up funding (e.g. British Business Bank Start Up Loans), local council and Growth Hub grants, and theme-based funding for things like net zero or exporting. Subvention matches the live ones to your specific company.
- Are UK business grants free money?
- Grants don't have to be repaid, but they're competitive, usually cover only part of a project's cost, and come with eligibility rules and reporting. Always confirm the terms on the funder's page before applying.
- Do I need to be a limited company to get a grant?
- Most grants require an active, trading business, but many are open to sole traders and partnerships too. Subvention works from your Companies House profile and flags where your structure affects eligibility.
- How do I find grants I'm actually eligible for?
- Enter your company name on Subvention. We match live grants to your real profile and explain why each one fits, so you skip the schemes you can't apply for — and link you straight to the source to confirm.
- Is the search really free?
- Yes. Grant search and eligibility matching are free with no time limit. Paid passes are optional and one-off.