58+ schemes. 9 regions. £2.8 billion deployable this fiscal year. Every grant, equity scheme, ARIA programme, accelerator, VC, loan and tax credit available to UK founders — sorted by stage, sector and geography.
Three uncomfortable truths the launch announcements rarely make. Each links to a UK government source.
London, Cambridge and Oxford absorb the lion's share of venture funding by value, despite hosting roughly 30% of high-growth firms. Regional schemes — NPIF II, MEIF, Scottish National Investment Bank — exist explicitly to close this gap.1
Plan working capital accordingly. The SME scheme's effective rate (post-April 2024 merger) lands near 16.2%, with up to 27% available for “R&D-intensive” loss-makers.2
Success rates hover around 11% — competitive but not lottery-grade. Quality of writing is the most-cited differentiator. Apply early in a competition cycle, not at the deadline.3
1British Business Bank, Small Business Equity Tracker 2025. 2HMRC, R&D Tax Credits Statistics 2024. 3UKRI, Innovate UK Smart Grants Performance 2023–25. Figures rounded; full sources listed in footer.
Most founders waste weeks reading scheme criteria they were never going to qualify for. Filter by what you actually have: a stage, a sector, and a number.
UK founders rarely fund a company in one transaction. They stack: a grant pays for the prototype, SEIS pays for the team, EIS pays for the seed, and growth equity follows the traction. Here’s how it actually fits together.
Read horizontally. The bar widths show the upper bound of what’s commonly raised at each step (log-scaled). Tax-relief schemes (SEIS/EIS) are stackable with grants and equity rounds, not alternatives to them.
UK industrial strategy concentrates non-dilutive capital into a handful of frontier areas. These are the six with the most distinct, named funding pathways.
From frontier model labs to applied vertical AI. Backed by Innovate UK BridgeAI, ARIA's Mathematics for Safe AI programme, and dedicated VCs like Air Street and Plural.
Made Smarter Innovation, ARIA's Smarter Robot Bodies and Robot Dexterity programmes, and the Robotics Growth Partnership.
NIHR i4i, SBRI Healthcare and the AI in Health & Care Award fund clinical software, diagnostics and digital therapeutics.
Devices, implantables and clinical-stage therapeutics. Grants run to £50M+ for late-stage trials via Biomedical Catalyst and Innovation Loans.
UKSA grants, ESA BIC UK incubation, and the UKI2S Seed Fund for upstream and downstream space ventures.
MOD's UK Defence Innovation (formerly DASA) funds TRL 2–6 work in autonomy, counter-UAS, AI/security and aviation. Innovate UK runs periodic dual-use programmes alongside; NSSIF backs defence-adjacent equity.
Every devolved nation runs its own equity funds and grant programmes. England’s regional engines (NPIF II, MEIF, BBB) plug remaining gaps. Click a region.
A directory of UK-active venture funds, accelerators, angel networks, and crowdfunding platforms. Curated by stage and ticket size. No affiliate relationships, no pay-to-list.
British Patient Capital (a BBB subsidiary) and the wider British Business Bank don’t write cheques to founders. They commit to and co-invest alongside UK venture and growth-equity managers — Balderton, Northzone, Octopus, Plural and others in the atlas above — who then back companies on their normal terms. The BPC stamp is what makes those funds bigger and more patient than they would otherwise be.
The Mansion House Accord (2023) and Mansion House Compact (2024–25) extend the same logic to UK pension capital: DC schemes have publicly committed a share of assets to UK private markets, routed via fund managers (including the British Growth Partnership) rather than directly. Founders don’t apply to Mansion House — they raise from a fund that has Mansion House money inside it.
Practical implication for founders: when a UK VC tells you its LP base includes BBB / BPC / Mansion House signatories, that’s typically a positive signal on fund stability and follow-on capacity — not a separate channel you can apply to.
The British DARPA. £800m+ over five years on high-risk, high-reward science.
Advanced Research + Invention Agency. Spun out of UKRI in 2023, ARIA backs frontier research that traditional grant bodies won’t touch. Programs are problem-led, multi-year, and cross-institutional — funding small teams of researchers in adjacent fields toward a single ambitious goal.
Funding is structured as program contracts, not grants. Eligibility is broad: universities, startups, individuals. Total deployable across opportunity spaces is currently £800m+ over the parliament term, with individual programs ranging from £15M to £80M over multi-year periods.
Tickets shown are typical ranges, not floors or ceilings. Crowdfunding rounds are net of platform fees (typically 7%). ARIA program budgets per aria.org.uk opportunity-space announcements; total deployment depends on contract awards.
A maintained shortlist of currently open schemes. Sort by amount or deadline. Filter by type. The full database is in the newsletter.
| Scheme | Type | Amount | Deadline ↑ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Innovate UK BridgeAI UKRI | GRANT | £100K–£3M | preseed · seed · seriesa | 02 Jun 2026 |
Dual-use Aviation Systems & Autonomy Innovate UK | GRANT | Up to £10M pool | seed · seriesa | 03 Jun 2026 |
ARIA Smarter Robot Bodies ARIA | GRANT | ~£57M pool | seed · seriesa | 04 Jun 2026 |
Defra Farming Innovation Investor Partnership Innovate UK / Defra | GRANT | Share of £5M (2× match) | preseed · seed · seriesa | 17 Jun 2026 |
ARIA Forecasting Tipping Points ARIA | GRANT | ~£81M pool | seed · seriesa | 18 Jun 2026 |
Innovation Loans (UKRI) Innovate UK | LOAN | £100K–£2M | seed · seriesa | 24 Jun 2026 |
Ofgem Strategic Innovation Fund R5 Ofgem / Innovate UK | GRANT | Up to £30M pool | preseed · seed · seriesa | 24 Jun 2026 |
ARIA Safeguarded AI ARIA | GRANT | £59M pool | idea · preseed · seed · seriesa | 01 Jul 2026 |
Biomedical Catalyst UKRI | GRANT | £250K–£4M | seed · seriesa | 08 Jul 2026 |
CfI · Children Experiencing Homelessness Innovate UK | GRANT | Up to £2M pool | preseed · seed · seriesa | 08 Jul 2026 |
Accelerated Knowledge Transfer Partnerships 6 Innovate UK | GRANT | Up to £2.5M pool | preseed · seed · seriesa | 15 Jul 2026 |
Entrepreneur First EF · London | ACCEL | £100K · 8% equity | idea · preseed | 20 Jul 2026 |
Techstars London Techstars | ACCEL | $120K · 6% equity | preseed · seed | 01 Sep 2026 |
ARIA Programme Contract ARIA | GRANT | £500K–£15M | seed · seriesa | Rolling |
Made Smarter Innovation Innovate UK | GRANT | £200K–£10M | seed · seriesa | Rolling |
SBRI Healthcare NHS England | GRANT | Up to £1M | preseed · seed · seriesa | Rolling |
UK Space Agency Grants UKSA | GRANT | £100K–£5M | preseed · seed · seriesa | Rolling |
Catapult Network Project Catapult Network | GRANT | £10K–£500K | preseed · seed · seriesa | Rolling |
Knowledge Transfer Partnership Innovate UK | GRANT | £40K–£140K/yr | preseed · seed · seriesa | Rolling |
ICURe Programme UKRI / SETsquared | GRANT | £35K + support | idea | Rolling |
Royal Academy Eng. Fellowship Royal Academy | GRANT | £75K stipend | idea · preseed | Annual |
SEIS Round HMRC scheme | EQUITY | Up to £250K | preseed · seed | Evergreen |
EIS Round HMRC scheme | EQUITY | Up to £12M | seed · seriesa | Evergreen |
VCT Investment Various managers | EQUITY | Up to £5M/yr | seed · seriesa | Evergreen |
R&D Tax Credit (Merged) HMRC | TAX | ~16.2% effective | preseed · seed · seriesa | Evergreen |
R&D ERIS (R&D-intensive loss) HMRC | TAX | ~27% effective | preseed · seed · seriesa | Evergreen |
Start Up Loans (BBB) British Business Bank | LOAN | Up to £25K @ 6% | idea · preseed | Rolling |
British Patient Capital British Business Bank | EQUITY | £5M–£50M | seriesa | Via VC partners |
Future Fund: Breakthrough British Business Bank | EQUITY | £5M–£20M | seriesa | Paused |
UKI2S Seed Fund Future Planet Capital | EQUITY | £500K–£3M | preseed · seed | Rolling |
NPIF II (North England) British Business Bank | EQUITY | £25K–£2M | preseed · seed · seriesa | Rolling |
Antler London Antler | ACCEL | £85K · 8% equity | idea · preseed | Rolling |
Founders Factory Founders Factory | ACCEL | £30K–£250K | preseed · seed | Rolling |
LocalGlobe / Phoenix Court LocalGlobe | EQUITY | £150K–£2M | preseed · seed | Rolling |
Hoxton Ventures Hoxton Ventures | EQUITY | £500K–£3M | preseed · seed | Rolling |
Seedcamp Seedcamp | EQUITY | £100K–£500K | preseed · seed | Rolling |
Octopus Ventures Octopus Ventures | EQUITY | £1M–£10M | seed · seriesa | Rolling |
Plural Platform Plural | EQUITY | €1M–€10M | seed · seriesa | Rolling |
Air Street Capital Air Street Capital | EQUITY | £150K–£1M | preseed · seed | Rolling |
Concept Ventures Concept Ventures | EQUITY | £200K–£1M | preseed | Rolling |
Ada Ventures Ada Ventures | EQUITY | £100K–£800K | preseed | Rolling |
Index Ventures Index Ventures | EQUITY | £3M–£50M | seriesa | Rolling |
Atomico Atomico | EQUITY | £5M–£25M | seriesa | Rolling |
Balderton Capital Balderton Capital | EQUITY | £1M–£20M | seed · seriesa | Rolling |
Accel London Accel | EQUITY | £3M–£30M | seriesa | Rolling |
UKBAA Angel Network UKBAA | EQUITY | £25K–£500K | preseed · seed | Rolling |
Cambridge Angels Cambridge Angels | EQUITY | £50K–£1M | preseed · seed | Rolling |
Crowdcube Crowdcube | EQUITY | £150K–£5M+ | preseed · seed · seriesa | Rolling |
Republic Europe (Seedrs) Republic | EQUITY | £150K–£10M | preseed · seed · seriesa | Rolling |
ARIA Opportunity Seeds ARIA | GRANT | Up to £500K | idea · preseed · seed | Rolling |
UK Defence Innovation Open Call MOD / UKDI (formerly DASA) | GRANT | £50K–£400K | idea · preseed · seed · seriesa | Rolling |
Estimate what HMRC’s merged scheme returns on qualifying expenditure. Loss-making R&D-intensive SMEs can claim under ERIS for a higher effective rate.
Use qualifying R&D expenditure (staff costs, software, subcontractor costs at 65%, consumables, etc.). Round figures are fine for a back-of-envelope.
Indicative only. Always confirm with a qualified R&D tax adviser. Rates per HMRC rules from 1 April 2024.
The things people actually ask before applying. Not financial advice.
One email per month. Newly-opened schemes, changes to existing ones, deadlines that matter. Built for founders, not consultants.