Renée’s round-up of grants and funding - October

Here’s a round up of grants that have come through my inbox this month, it’s fast moving so check back here every month for updates on what programmes have been released.

We’re delighted to release details of those that were successful in Round 1 of the Surrey Economic Growth Fund and am pleased to include details of Round 2 which focuses on Business Growth Grants. Deadline is 16 November.

Good Luck and let me know how you get on!

Renée

Realise the Remarkable

Enterprise Nation and VistaPrint are teaming up once again to champion the UK’s small business community. This year, six inspiring independent retail businesses will each receive a £5,000 grant, plus expert design support and marketing tools to help them grow with confidence.

Whether you’re expanding, innovating or simply preparing for the future, this is your chance to take the next bold step.

Closing date: 30 October 2025, 11.59

Apply here: Realising the Remarkable | Win a grant for your high-street business | Enterprise Nation

Global Start Up Energy Transition Award

The Start Up Energy Transition Award is an international competition for start-ups and young companies worldwide that are working on ideas affecting global energy transition and climate change.

There are five categories of the award, all with the aim of clean energy promotion. The categories are:

Clean Energy and Storage
Mobility and Transportation
Industry
Buildings and Construction
Quality Energy Access and SDG-7

The winner of each category will receive a prize of up to €10,000 There is also a €5,000 prize for non-winning SGD-7 Finalists.

Closing date: 31 October 2025

Apply here: Start Up Energy Transition Award – All Years Recaps

Farming Innovation Programme: Small R&D Partnership Projects

This funding is part of Defra’s Farming Innovation Programme which is delivered in partnership with Innovate UK, investing up to £7.8 million in innovation progects.

The aim of this competition is to:

Develop solutions with the potential to improve overall productivity, sustainability, resilience and move existing agricultural sectors to net zero
Ensure solutions have positive outputs for farmers, growers or foresters in commercially relevant situations
Develop new agricultural solutions by collaboration through engagement with end users and the UK research community in the innovation process
Accelerate adoption by ensuring knowledge exchange with the wider sector and other stakeholders

Your proposal must be able to demonstrate how the project will benefit farmers, growers or foresters in England. Your project’s total eligible costs must be between £1 million and £3 million.

Closing date: 5 November at 11am

Apply here: Your application – UKRI

Future Leaders Fellowships

Future Leaders Fellowship (FLF) support talented people in universities, businesses, and other research and innovation environments.

They also allow universities, research institutes, independent research organisations and businesses to develop their most talented early career researchers and innovators or to attract new people to their organisations.

The aim of this competition is to:

Support ambitious research and innovation to tackle difficult and novel challenges.
Support excellence in innovation, across interdisciplinary boundaries and sectors.
Develop, retain, and attract the next wave of research and innovation leaders.

Working with a host organisation a Future Leaders Fellow will receive at least four years of funding to pursue an ambitious programme of innovation.

Closing date: 5 November 2025 at 11am.

More information can be accessed at the IUK website.

Global Aurora Tech Award to Support Women Entrepreneurs in IT

Applications are open for the 2025 Aurora Tech Award, which provides financial prizes to women-led startups in the information technology sector. The award aims to recognise and support women entrepreneurs by offering cash prizes to help advance their businesses.

Three prizes are available in this round. The first prize is $50,000, the second is $20,000 and the third is $15,000.

The award is open to startups founded or co-founded and led by a woman from any country. The funding can be used to support business development and growth activities, enabling recipients to progress their product or service in the market. The scheme is open to companies working in any area of information technology.

Closing date: 12 November 2025

Apply here: Aurora Tech Award — A worldwide prize for women founders of IT and Tech startups

Surrey Economic Growth Fund – Business Growth Grant Round 2

Grants to support growth and job creation in local businesses, including new equipment, product development and training.

Open to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Surrey.

Match-funding of between £10,000 and £50,000, covering 50% of project costs.

Closing date: 16 November

Apply here: Economic Growth Fund application form – Business Surrey

Hello Tomorrow Global Challenge

Hello Tomorrow aims to empower deeptech start-up entrepreneurs from around the world. The project must be in its early stages of development or about to be spun-out from academic labs as long as they have a strong proof-of-concept.

The project should be based on a new technology, scientific discovery or a complex engineering process. The project may solve an industrial, societal or environmental unmet need or create a new market. Teams of at least two working should be working on the project.

The programme will provide a platform for research and projects, providing equity-free prize money as well as other funding opportunities, global visibility and connections with key players in the deeptech innovation network and other fellow entrepreneurs.

Applicants should be able to fit in at least one of the following ten Global Challenge tracks:

Aerospace
Advanced Computing & Cyber Security
Automotive, Maritime, Rail Transportation and Operations
Climate Teach and Environmental Protection
Digital Health & Medical Devices
Energy
Food & Agriculture
Industrial AI and Robotics
Industrial Biotech and New Materials
Medical Biotech and Pharmaceuticals
Resource Efficiency and Circular Systems
Semiconductors and Advanced Electronics
Sustainable Construction & Infrastructure
AI Horizons
Emerging Pioneers

Closing date: 30 November 2025
Apply here: Hello Tomorrow Challenge

World of Opportunity – SME Exporter Grants Programme

Heathrow is calling for SMEs in every corner of the UK to come forward and share their exporting ambitions. The UK’s hub airport is relaunching its World of Opportunity Programme, which helps UK exporters to sell their goods and services around the world, for 2025-2026.

The Programme is designed to support the UK’s SMEs in boosting their export potential, with previous grants being used for trade missions, research, and training to further exporting ambitions. This programme will provide £2,000 grants to 12 SME businesses across the UK, with one grant awarded to a business from each region and nation.

Closing Date: 31 December
Apply here: World of opportunity | Heathrow

UNltd – Awards for Social Entrepreneurs

The funding is intended to support social entrepreneurs by helping them nurture their social ventures and grow their impact.

The following levels of funding are available:

Starting Up – funding of up to £8,000
Scaling Up – funding of up to £18,000 for a social enterprise that has been operating for between one and four years.

Together with funding, award recipients will be assigned to one of UnLtd’s dedicated programmes to provide support aligned with the needs of their social venture for up to one year.

Closing date: 31 December
Apply here: Awards | UnLtd

RTO Catapult Grant Scheme – Innovate UK

Launched in April this is an easy to access, easy to administer grant from Innovate UK for £15,000. Apply quickly as the pot ran out by September last year when launched at a similar time. Could be used for product testing, development work or if you need technical expertise to facilitate feasibility.

Closing date: when the fund has all been allocated

Apply here: Exploit innovation – Innovate UK Business Growth

The UK Games Fund Content Fund

The fund offers financial support to UK-based independent studios developing commercial games-for-entertainment. Backed by the UK Government, the initiative aims to help companies scale up, attract investment and generate employment in the creative industries.

Grants will range from £50,000 to £150,000. The funding can be used to cover staff and contractor costs directly involved in hands-on development activity.

The scheme targets established games studios operating in the UK. Applicants must be able to demonstrate how the funding would provide clearly support their business growth plans and facilitate further investment.

Closing date: expressions of interest can be made at any time

Apply here: Home – Content Fund

Greener Homes Alliance Development Loans

Homes England and Octopus Real Estate have launched the second phase of the Greener Homes Alliance, providing discounted development finance to small and medium-sized (SME) housebuilders. The initiative supports the construction of energy-efficient homes across England.

A total of £150 million is available. Loans range from £2 million to £20 million. Interest rate reductions of up to 2% are available for developers meeting environmental and social criteria. Eligible applicants include SME housebuilders and developers operating in England.

Closing date: Applications can be made at any time

Apply here: Greener Homes Alliance | Octopus Capital

Co-operative Enterprise Loans

Co-operative and Community Finance is offering loans of between £10,000 and £85,000 for new or existing co-operatives across the UK to assist with the expansion, setup, or development of a co-operative enterprise.  

Loans will only be made to economically viable enterprises that are democratically owned and controlled organisations registered in the UK.

Closing date: Applications can be made at any time

Apply here: Co-op Loan Fund – Unique lending: to co-ops, from co-ops

Surrey Hills Farming in Protected Landscapes (FiPL) Grants

The Farming in Protected Landscapes (FiPL) programme provides grants to farmers and land managers in the Surrey Hills for one-off projects to make improvements to the natural environment, climate change mitigation, cultural heritage and public access on their land.

Closing date: March 2026

Apply here: Surrey Hills Farming in Protected Landscapes FiPL

The Workplace Charging Scheme

The Workplace Charging Scheme provides support for organisations towards the cost of installing up to 40 electric vehicle chargepoint sockets at their sites.

The scheme covers up to 75% of the total costs of the purchase and installation of EV chargepoints (including VAT), capped at a maximum of:

£350 per socket
40 sockets across all sites per applicant – for instance, if you want to install them at 40 sites, you will have 1 socket available per site

All chargepoints must be installed by an OZEV authorised installer.

Closing Date: 31^st March 2026

Apply here: Before you start –

The Life Sciences Transformational R&D Investment Fund Pilot

The Life Sciences Transformational R&D Investment Fund Pilot is a £50 million capital grant programme supporting large-scale research and development projects within the UK life sciences sector. The fund aims to strengthen health resilience, drive innovation and deliver economic benefits through significant investments in research capacity, facilities and technologies.

Projects should demonstrate how they will enhance the UK’s ability to respond to health emergencies and long-term healthcare challenges, for example by expanding or creating R&D capacity, improving manufacturing processes, accelerating clinical research or deploying new technologies.

Closing date: 31 March 2028 (23:59

Apply here: Life Sciences Transformational R&D Investment Fund Pilot – GOV.UK

Further business support in Surrey

If you can’t see something in this month’s roundup that suits your business’s specific needs, check out our Support Directory, or contact our team of experts via our Business Support Form.