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There is a high level of grant programmes within the region available to bioscience companies due to South Yorkshire’s Objective 1 status . It can take a lot of time to find out about these schemes, and to make sense of the often complex information.
This section of the site is designed to provide you with a step-by-step guide to some of the schemes that can be accessed if you are a bioscience company in South Yorkshire. This list is by no means extensive; you may find it useful to look at the Yorkshire Forward Grant Search Facility at The Yorkshire Forward grant search
Grants offer one source of partial funding for business development. Grants are not repayable (as long as the terms of the agreement are met), but they will not normally cover the whole costs of a project, and match funding will need to be found.
Different grants are available for specific purposes, therefore you need to check that they cover what you are looking for finance for. Also most schemes have strict eligibility criteria, often depending on location, nature and size of the business, therefore, you must always make sure that you satisfy these before going ahead with an application.
Venture Capital Companies
Venture capital companies offer finance to businesses in return for a portion of equity or share capital. Venture capitalists tend to invest in high-risk ventures, investing large amounts and demanding high returns (a return of 30-40% is not unusual.)
Most venture capital companies will want to realise their profits within a relatively short time scale and thus will ensure that exit provisions are in place. Venture capital companies are usually biased towards specific technology areas, therefore, it is important to check their investor preferences to see if you match up with them.
Business Angels
'Business Angels' are individual investors who, in return for a proportion of shares and/or an element of control in the business, will provide capital. They will tend to invest lower amounts than venture capital companies, however, some have more money, and make more investments than smaller venture capital funds. If you are seeking investment, you can make use of the business angel networks which act to help match investors with those seeking investment and vice versa.
The grants have been divided into four sections to make browsing easier.
South Yorkshire
Specifically for companies located in, or relocating to South Yorkshire
• Blinding Success Scheme
• Bright Ideas Scheme
• Hi-Growth Start Up Fund
• Invest in Skills
• Passport to Export (SYITC)
• South Yorkshire Investment Fund
• Targeted Export Fund (SYITC)
• White Rose Seedcorn Fund
Regional
For companies located in the Yorkshire and Humber region
• Viking Fund
• Enterprise Ventures
• Yorkshire Association of Business Angels
• Yorkshire and the Humber Regional Venture Capital Fund (RVCF)
• Yorkshire Forward
National
Open to companies within the UK
• BBSRC Small Business Research Initiative
• BIO-WISE
• British Venture Capital Association
• Enterprise Ventures
• Grant for Investigating an Innovating Idea
• LINK
• British Business Angel Association (BBAA)
• SMART (Grant for Research and Development)
• Small Firms Loan Guarantee Scheme
• The Venture Site
R&D Tax Relief
Open to companies within the UK. The following leaflets have been provided by KPMG and any queries should be directed to their Northern Offices.
• Large Company Scheme
• Small Company Scheme
• Biotechnology & Pharma Scheme
• Information Technology Scheme
• KPMG's Approach to R&D
• R&D FAQ
European
Funding opportunities available from the European Union
• Framework Seven (FP7)
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