Techstart Proof of Concept Grant Fund – United Kingdom

The Proof of Concept Grant Fund is managed by Techstart Ventures LLP and is part of an integrated programme of Equity, Grants and Advice for Innovative Startup & Early Stage Technology Companies.

Grant Types

• The Proof of Concept Grant Fund supports entrepreneurs at the earliest stage to get their business ideas off the ground.
  • Concept Grant – Funding: up to £10k
  • Concept Plus Grant – Funding: up to £35k
• Concept Grants are awarded every three months. Concept Plus Grants are awarded every six months.

Eligible Activities

For both types of grant, eligible activities for support include but are not limited to:

• Concept/Prototype Development;
• Market Research – i.e. Activities around further understanding and sizing of the addressable market, such as Focus Groups, Domain Expert Consultancy and/or Attendance to relevant Trade Shows;
• Market Validation – i.e. Costs associated with testing the concept with potential customers and end-users.
• Market Testing Activities – i.e. Expenditure incurred in testing the best way to take the product to market.
• Assessment of uniqueness of IP; and
• Employment costs where a clear output will be delivered.

Criteria

• Criteria to apply for both grants:
  • You must be a Sole Trader, Partnership or Limited Company to apply for a Proof of Concept Grant. Applications from Community Interest Companies and Social Enterprises will not be considered.
  • You (i.e. Sole Trader, Partnership, Limited Company) must have an innovative/novel concept to prove.
  • The principal applicant must be resident in Northern Ireland, and if the principal applicant is applying through a Limited Company then the Company must be registered in Northern Ireland, with the principal applicant being the majority shareholder in the Limited Company.
  • If you are applying for some of the grant to cover the employment costs of people promoting the project, then the application must be made by a Limited Company.
  • For independent third-party costs, at application stage you must identify your proposed supplier. If your proposed supplier has provided you with a quotation, you should append to your application form.
  • Successful applicants will be required to provide formal quotations from the proposed Suppliers in advance of a Letter of Offer being issued.
  • Up to 30% of the Grant awarded is available to cover the employment costs of the people promoting the project with a set daily rate of £200. For such costs to be approved, your application must clearly detail what work will be done during the PoC project under these costs and what the output will be. Please note that Administration Time, Project Management Time and similar Overhead activities will not be eligible activities to be covered within employment costs.
  • Applicants can have no more than two unsuccessful applications, irrespective of the entity applying or the concept applied for.
  • Applicants can only have one submission per application round.
  • Applicants who have previously been awarded a Catalyst Co-Founders’ Proof of Concept Grant cannot use the Techstart Grants to cover the same costs. Double-funding must not occur.
  • University related companies are not eligible to apply for a Techstart Grant where the University has an ownership in the company and/or any associated IP.
• Desirable Criteria for Concept Plus grants:
  • Applicants should ideally be teams;
  • Your approach to the concept will have a balance between technology/product development and market facing activities,
  • The stage of development of the concept will have greater emphasis on steps towards commercial exploitation/engagement with potential customers; and
  • Preferably, you should have progressed through a Techstart Concept Grant, or similar type funding, and be able to provide evidence of significant progress made and good use of funding.

Deadlines

• Concept Grant: 5th March 2024
• Concept Plus Grant: 23rd April 2024

For more information, visit Techstart Ventures LLP.