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

Here’s a round up of grants that have come through my inbox this month, it’s fast moving so check this every month for updates on what programmes have been released. I’m increasingly being asked on tips for writing a successful grant application. My ground rules are:

Research thoroughly
Apply early
Be specific
Avoid using technical jargon
Provide all the information and documentation required
Meet the deadline.

Good Luck and let me know how you get on!

Renée

Epic MegaGrants

Epic Games is offering financial support through its Epic MegaGrants programme, designed to advance innovation in real-time 3D creation. The scheme supports individuals and teams across gaming, media, enterprise and education.

Typical awards range from $5,000 to $150,000. Funding may be used for development costs or team-related expenses, such as staffing and continued production.

Creators and projects in the following areas are eligible:

Game Developers – using Unreal Engine (or transitioning to UE5).
Film and Media Creators – real-time content using Unreal Engine.
Enterprise and Industry – Unreal Engine projects in other industries
Education and Research – university-level initiatives
Tool and Open-Source Developers – tools that integrate with Unreal or contribute to the 3D open-source ecosystem
UEFN (Fortnite Creative) Developers – creators using Unreal Editor for Fortnite

Closing Date: 22 September (23:59 ET)

Apply here: Epic MegaGrants | Apply for Funding for Your UE5 and UEFN Projects – Unreal Engine

Camden Challenge Prize

This prize seeks innovative ideas and solutions to transform how food waste is prevented and managed across Hospitality and Food Service sector. Applications should address at least one of the following challenges:

Reducing food surplus
Influencing workplace culture and practices
Managing inedible food waste

The winner will receive £75,000, the runner-up will receive £25,000. During the prototyping phase, four finalists will receive £5,000.

Applications are open to individuals, groups, startups, and organisations across the UK, including students, professionals, non-profits, and for-profits. The solutions must be tested in and applicable to the London Borough of Camden.

Closing Date: 30 September at 4.59pm

Apply here: Camden Challenge Prize – We Make Camden

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: 30 September and 31 December

Apply here: Awards | UnLtd

Simply Business – Young Entrepreneur Fund

Young entrepreneurs in the UK aged 18-30 can apply for financial support to help start or expand their businesses. The Young Entrepreneur Fund is run by Simply Business in partnership with Hatch Enterprise and provides both funding and tailored business assistance.

Grants of £5,000 are available through the initiative. In addition to financial support, successful applicants will take part in six weeks of business development support delivered by Hatch Enterprise. This aims to help young entrepreneurs address the challenges of launching or growing a venture.

Closing date: 9 October at 11.59pm

Apply here: Simply Business Young Entrepreneur Fund 2025

Full ADOPT Grant Round 3

This funding is part of Defra’s Farming Innovation Programme, delivered in partnership with Innovate UK to invest up to £3 million for on-farm trials and farm experiment projects.

The aim of this competition is to support innovative, on-farm trials or experiments to test ideas or solutions and demonstrate that they will address major on-farm or immediate post farmgate challenges or opportunities. Your project must have the potential to significantly improve one or more of the following:

Productivity
Resilience
Sustainability and progression towards net zero farming

Your proposal must demonstrate to other English farmers, growers or foresters how the idea or solution will be of benefit to them. Your project’s total costs must be between £50,000 and £100,000

Closing date: 15 October at 11am

Apply here: Your application – UKRI

CoCreate Pitch 2025

The Global Entrepreneurship Network and Alibaba.com are accepting applications for CoCreate Pitch, an international startup competition focused on product innovation.

The initiative is designed to support early-stage businesses in bringing product ideas to market by facilitating industry connections and offering growth-focused resources.

The programme is open to entrepreneurs worldwide and offers the opportunity to compete for a share of $1 million in prizes. Participants will have the chance to connect with global manufacturers and investors. This support aims to assist with rapid prototyping and cost-effective production.

Participating teams receive pitch training and mentorship aimed at addressing specific business challenges, identifying solutions, and improving their presentation skills. Finalists will present their pitches live at a flagship event in London in November.

At the London Pitch Finals, ten winners will each receive prize packages valued at $20,000, comprising $10,000 in non-dilutive cash and $10,000 in credits and in-kind support. One grand prize winner will receive a total of $200,000 in prizes, including $100,000 in non-dilutive cash and $100,000 in credits and in-kind support.

Closing date: 15 October 2025

Apply here: CoCreate Pitch 2025

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 –

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

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 –

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.