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April sees the start of a new financial year for most businesses. Once the year end is out of the way, it’s a good time to start planning your future activity and look at any new product development opportunities you might have been considering for a while.
Taking a great product to manufacture takes time and money, however there are funding opportunities in existence to help with this process. In this article we’ll look at ways of supporting and funding fledgling businesses.
The Business Support Finder and Find a Grant platforms are really useful for identifying any possible sources of Government funding for your business. There are also companies out there like Fund Onion and Fin point who run business finance platforms that match small business owners to their most suitable lenders for free.
You can also make use of Grant Writers, like Grant Up to help you plan and write your application.
However, you can investigate and apply for funding yourself and if you fit the criteria, you can use these grants to help you on your way to getting your product manufactured whether you are an individual or a business.
Below are a few options to help point you in the right direction:
The Eagle Labs can help whether you are a start up or scale up business. The Digital Growth Grant will fund training resources and opportunities for entrepreneurs, including a Learning Management System providing virtual training to over 10,000 businesses and training modules created for young people to inspire the next generation of UK entrepreneurs.
Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme
The Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) is designed to help small, early-stage companies raise equity finance by offering tax reliefs to individual investors who purchase new shares in those companies. Businesses can receive up to £150,000 through the scheme.
The British Design Fund is an early stage investment fund that specifically invests in, and provides support for early stage UK product design and manufacturing companies.
Syndicate Room is an organisation that enables members of the public to invest in the same projects as professional “lead” investors, while providing everyone with the same economic terms and legal protections. Lead investors will conduct their own valuations and due diligence before investing, and members of the public will benefit from the reassurance that their money is being invested in a promising project.
South West Enterprise Fund (SWEF)
If you are aged between 18-30 and based in the South West region, this fund offers start up businesses grants up to £2,000 to start or grow your new business venture.
Crowdfunding
Crowdfunding has revolutionised the way businesses and projects are funded, allowing small start-ups to use the power of the internet, social media and engagement to raise funds from a number of investors.
You can read our Crowdfunding article to find out more detail about how to best utilise these platforms.
Hillside Product Design have further financial advice partners to get you set-up from the outset and help you fund getting your product to market. Just contact us for the most up to date information.
Please reference Hillside Product Design Limited if you contact any of these parties.
And then when you’re ready, we can help to make your new product idea a reality!
One final tip is to check with HMRC or an Accountant that you are doing things in the right order. For example, a start-up company would need to consider things like VAT and R&D tax credits but if these aren’t done at the right time, you might find that you are not able to claim everything you are entitled to.
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