Growing your business

Securing investment is a major milestone for companies like yours wanting to grow to the next stage. But, remember it’s not just about the money. Support and advice can go a long way.

What is a grant?

Grants are normally available to do specific things, for example to develop a new product. You'll need to apply for a grant before your project has started.

Grants should only be used as an additional source of funding – not to fund an entire project.

The grants available to help your idea or business will depend on:

The kind of idea or business you have – sometimes called your business 'sector'
The potential of your idea or size of your business
What you intend to spend the grant on
Where your business is based

How grants are paid?

Most grants are paid 'retrospectively'. This means you'll need to pay out money upfront and reclaim the grant money later.

Some grants might pay you a percentage of the money up front and others will have terms you'll be expected to meet, for example a job creation target or deadline.

Applying for a grant

Each grant will have a different application process, although there will be common things you'll need to show, like how the grant will cover shortfall in funding and what other efforts you've made to raise funding.

The main grant funding available in Scotland is to help ideas or businesses that: