Government launches £150m loan scheme for innovative businesses
The government has launched a £150m loan scheme to back innovative UK businesses that have been unable to access finance for their projects from commercial lenders.
Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will compete to win loans of between £100,000 and £2m for their research and development projects.
The loans will be delivered by Innovate UK, and will support those innovations deemed to have the strongest potential to aid future economic growth and tackle social challenges, across fields such as net zero, health and well-being, and next-generation digital technologies.
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The programme will start with monthly competition rounds, for which applicants will need to demonstrate evidence of a high-quality proposed innovation project, suitability to take on a loan, and inability to access finance for their project from commercial finance providers.
Successful businesses will be offered flexible repayment terms to help secure their future growth.
The government scheme follows a successful extended pilot programme that has been delivered by Innovate UK since 2017, and the programme of innovation continuity loans delivered as part of Innovate UK’s coronavirus support package.
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“Innovation loans are an important part of the investment support that Innovate UK offers to help UK businesses achieve their growth ambitions,” said Indro Mukerjee, chief executive of Innovate UK.
“We have tested this new form of support rigorously and I am pleased that we can now offer £150m over the next three years through innovation loans as part of our commitment to support innovative businesses to grow rapidly and achieve scale.
“The innovation loans scheme is just one of the services to growing and scaling businesses across the UK.
“Allied with this is our continued work with the British Business Bank and private finance to provide further backing for UK innovators.”
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