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Finance & Funding

Grow your business by accessing funding, grants and loans.

The Mayor’s Opportunity Fund

Community Foundation Tyne & Wear and Northumberland and Point North Community Foundation are partnering with the North East Combined Authority (NECA) to run the first round of the Mayor’s Opportunity Fund.
Finance & funding Grant Trading business Newcastle upon Tyne Sunderland County Durham Gateshead South Tyneside North Tyneside Northumberland

Make it Big Round 2 with Pathway Fund

Do it Now Now are offering £25,000 grant funding, tailored support, and expert training to help your charity or social enterprise grow sustainably and create a lasting impact.
Finance & funding Grant Business support Trading business Newcastle upon Tyne Sunderland County Durham Gateshead South Tyneside North Tyneside Northumberland

SWEF Enterprise & Business Fund

Supporting young people in County Durham and Tees Valley grow their businesses
Finance & funding Grant Trading business County Durham Finance

SWEF Enterprise & Business Start Up Fund

Supporting young people in County Durham and Tees Valley grow their start ups
Finance & funding Grant Start-up County Durham Finance

The Immersive Arts Programme

A funding initiative aimed at supporting UK-based artists working with immersive technologies.
Finance & funding Grant Newcastle upon Tyne Sunderland County Durham Gateshead South Tyneside North Tyneside Finance

Solve for Tomorrow

Solve for Tomorrow is a tech-for-good competition open to all young people aged 16-25 across the UK and Ireland.
Finance & funding Grant Business support Start-up Newcastle upon Tyne Sunderland County Durham Gateshead South Tyneside North Tyneside Northumberland Finance

The Young Entrepreneurs Challenge 2025.

Could your business idea change the world? Here’s your chance to prove it.
Finance & funding Grant Business support Start-up Trading business Newcastle upon Tyne Sunderland County Durham Gateshead South Tyneside North Tyneside Northumberland Finance Leadership

Franchise Angels

Franchise Angels is an investment initiative to assist the rapid growth of proven businesses via franchising.
Finance & funding Grant Newcastle upon Tyne Sunderland County Durham Gateshead South Tyneside North Tyneside Northumberland Finance

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Funding Finder

Search current funding opportunities from across UKRI, research councils and Innovate UK
Finance & funding Grant Loan Business support Start-up Trading business Newcastle upon Tyne Sunderland County Durham Gateshead South Tyneside North Tyneside Northumberland Finance

Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund (LSIMF)

The Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund supports businesses investing in life sciences manufacturing projects in the UK.
Finance & funding Grant Newcastle upon Tyne Sunderland County Durham Gateshead South Tyneside North Tyneside Northumberland Finance

Green Seed Fund

Cranfield University Green Seed Fund gives entrepreneurs and start-ups access to capital, alongside advice and education from the Bettany Centre for Entrepreneurship to help scale their businesses.
Finance & funding Grant Loan Start-up Trading business Newcastle upon Tyne Sunderland County Durham Becoming Net Zero Gateshead South Tyneside North Tyneside Northumberland

Booster Fund

The Community Shares Booster Fund is a funding scheme to support community share offers.
Finance & funding Grant Loan Business support Start-up Newcastle upon Tyne Sunderland County Durham Gateshead South Tyneside North Tyneside Northumberland Finance

Venture Sunderland Fund

Venture Sunderland provides investment for ambitious, high-growth companies at all stages.
Finance & funding Loan Sunderland Finance

Launchpad: marine and maritime in the Great South West, round two CR&D

UK registered organisations can apply for a share of up to £3 million for business led projects that grow their innovation activities in the marine and maritime cluster in the Great South West.
Finance & funding Grant Newcastle upon Tyne Sunderland County Durham Gateshead South Tyneside North Tyneside Northumberland

Innovate UK Smart grants: November 2024

UK registered organisations can apply for a share of up to £15 million for game changing and commercially viable research and development (R&D) innovations that can significantly impact the UK economy.
Finance & funding Grant Trading business Newcastle upon Tyne Sunderland County Durham Gateshead South Tyneside North Tyneside Northumberland Finance

Early Connect

The Early Connect Employer Service is your one-stop-shop for expert apprenticeship guidance and advice.
Finance & funding Business support Trading business Newcastle upon Tyne Sunderland County Durham Gateshead South Tyneside North Tyneside Northumberland Leadership People and skills

North of Tyne Business Support Fund

A fund designed to drive economic growth by helping businesses to access external expertise to implement business growth and improvement plans.
Finance & funding Grant Trading business Newcastle upon Tyne North Tyneside Northumberland Finance Operations

Energy Resilience Fund

The Energy Resilience Fund is an initiative assisting community businesses in retrofitting their buildings with energy-saving measures.
Finance & funding Grant Trading business Newcastle upon Tyne Sunderland County Durham Becoming Net Zero Gateshead South Tyneside North Tyneside Northumberland

Social Enterprise Boost Durham

The Social Enterprise Boost Durham project can help you with free business support and funding to start you on your journey for change in your community.
Finance & funding Business support Start-up Trading business County Durham Finance People and skills

Sunderland Business Support Fund

This grant programme will help local growing businesses to access high quality external expertise to deliver business improvement projects.
Finance & funding Grant Trading business Finance

Creative Growth Finance II

Creative Growth Finance provides scale-up loans of £100k to £1m to UK businesses in the Creative Industries.
Finance & funding Loan Newcastle upon Tyne Sunderland County Durham Gateshead South Tyneside North Tyneside Northumberland Finance

Flexible Social Finance

Flexible Social Finance has been designed with the social sector, for the social sector.
Finance & funding Loan Start-up Trading business Newcastle upon Tyne Sunderland County Durham Gateshead South Tyneside North Tyneside Northumberland Finance

Pathways to Funding

Growing inclusive funding opportunities for business
Finance & funding Start-up Trading business Newcastle upon Tyne North Tyneside Northumberland Finance

Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II – Equity Finance

As part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II Maven are offering Equity finance up to £5 million for ambitious businesses located across the North East of England.
Finance & funding Equity Start-up Trading business Newcastle upon Tyne Sunderland County Durham Gateshead South Tyneside North Tyneside Northumberland Finance

Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II – Debt Finance

As part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II NEL are offering Debt Finance from £100,000 to £2m
Finance & funding Loan Trading business Newcastle upon Tyne Sunderland County Durham Gateshead South Tyneside North Tyneside Northumberland Finance

Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II – Smaller Loans

As part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II NEL are offering Smaller Loans from £25,000 to £100,000
Finance & funding Loan Start-up Trading business Newcastle upon Tyne Sunderland County Durham Gateshead South Tyneside North Tyneside Northumberland Finance

Innovate UK innovation loans future economy

UK registered businesses can apply for loans for innovative projects with strong commercial potential to significantly improve the UK economy.
Finance & funding Loan Trading business Newcastle upon Tyne Sunderland County Durham Gateshead South Tyneside North Tyneside Northumberland Leadership

Wear Together Initiative

Wear Together provides social entrepreneurs in Sunderland with access to business support and grants assisting them with start, development, and growth of social businesses.
Finance & funding Grant Business support Start-up Trading business Sunderland Finance Operations

Gateshead Start-up Skills

Delivered by Smarta, Gateshead Start-up Skills is all about ensuring startups, sole traders and freelancers in Gateshead get off to the best start with the right skills.
Finance & funding Grant Business support Start-up Gateshead People and skills

Enterprising Sunderland

Enterprising Sunderland is a project designed to unlock the potential of future entrepreneurs within our communities and to support businesses from all sectors to grow and innovate.
Finance & funding Grant Business support Start-up Sunderland Finance Leadership

South Tyneside Business Growth Grant Scheme

The grant fund will support inward investment and the growth of companies in South Tyneside.
Finance & funding Grant South Tyneside Finance

Durham County Council Retail Start-up Grant

The new Start-up Support Programme is available to new retail, hospitality and leisure businesses across County Durham
Finance & funding Grant Start-up County Durham Finance

Business Growth Fund

Support for businesses looking to expand or establish new operations in Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council, Newcastle City Council, North Tyneside Council, Northumberland County Council and Sunderland City Council areas.
Finance & funding Equity Trading business Newcastle upon Tyne Sunderland Gateshead North Tyneside Northumberland Finance

Grant Investment Fund

Eligible businesses in Northumberland can apply for a grant between £10,000 - £300,000.
Finance & funding Grant Northumberland Finance

Creative Enterprise Business Builder

The Creative Enterprise Business Builder is a grant initiative designed to support companies who work in moving image for storytelling, spanning film television, games, animation and immersive industries.
Finance & funding Grant Business support Newcastle upon Tyne Sunderland County Durham Gateshead South Tyneside North Tyneside Northumberland Leadership Products and services

North East Innovation Fund

Funding for early-stage businesses with innovative, scalable ideas – from software to life science, start-up to scale-up.
Finance & funding Start-up Trading business Newcastle upon Tyne Sunderland County Durham Becoming Net Zero

Gigabit Voucher Scheme

Through this scheme SMEs can claim up to £3,000 against the cost of full fibre connection, either individually or as part of a group project.
Finance & funding Trading business Newcastle upon Tyne Sunderland County Durham Gateshead South Tyneside North Tyneside Northumberland

The UK Games Fund (UKGF) Content Fund

Creative developers and start-up studios are invited to bid for a share of £5 million in government funding to turn their new video game ideas into market leaders.
Finance & funding Grant Trading business Markets Products and services Operations

Workplace Charging Scheme

Government support towards the up-front costs of the purchase and installation of electric vehicle chargepoints.
Finance & funding Grant Trading business Newcastle upon Tyne Sunderland County Durham Becoming Net Zero Gateshead South Tyneside North Tyneside Northumberland

UnLtd - Awards

Grants plus business support are available to social entrepreneurs that are looking to start or grow an existing social venture.
Finance & funding Equity Start-up Trading business Newcastle upon Tyne Sunderland County Durham Gateshead South Tyneside North Tyneside Northumberland

Start-up Loans for businesses 0-36 months

Funding loans of up to £25,000 available to entrepreneurs within their first 3 years of trading, with potential top up loans within years 3-5 of trading.
Finance & funding Loan Start-up Newcastle upon Tyne Sunderland County Durham Gateshead South Tyneside North Tyneside Northumberland Finance

Northern Accelerator

Northern Accelerator is an exciting collaboration between the North East’s universities, creating real-world impact from world-leading research, commercialising innovation and boosting the region’s economy.
Finance & funding Business support Start-up Trading business Products and services

North of Tyne Culture and Creative Investment - Loans

Through the North of Tyne Culture and Creative Investment Programme, funded by the North East Combined Authority, Creative UK are investing £1.5m in loans in the North of Tyne’s cultural and creative industries.
Finance & funding Loan Start-up Trading business Newcastle upon Tyne North Tyneside Northumberland Finance

North of Tyne Culture and Creative Investment - Equity

Through the North of Tyne Culture and Creative Investment Programme, funded by the North East Combined Authority, Creative UK are investing £625k of equity finance in the North of Tyne’s cultural and creative industries.
Finance & funding Equity Start-up Trading business Newcastle upon Tyne North Tyneside Northumberland Finance

North East Venture Fund

Funding for companies which address a clear market need and have the potential to achieve significant growth.
Finance & funding Equity Trading business Newcastle upon Tyne Sunderland County Durham Gateshead South Tyneside North Tyneside Northumberland

North East Social Investment Fund

A unique equity fund providing impact investments to north east charities and social enterprises ranging from £100,000 to £1 million for a wide range of purposes.
Finance & funding Loan Trading business Newcastle upon Tyne Sunderland County Durham Gateshead South Tyneside North Tyneside Northumberland Operations

North East Property Fund

A £10 million fund offering development funding to SME house builders, construction and property development companies
Finance & funding Loan Trading business Newcastle upon Tyne Sunderland County Durham Gateshead South Tyneside North Tyneside Northumberland

Made Smarter Adoption North East

Made Smarter Adoption North East helps manufacturers in the region increase profits, improve efficiency and grow by investing in smart technology.
Finance & funding Grant Business support Trading business Newcastle upon Tyne Sunderland County Durham Gateshead South Tyneside North Tyneside Northumberland Operations

County Durham Productivity and Growth Programme

The Productivity and Growth Programme supports businesses in all sectors in County Durham.
Finance & funding Business support Start-up Trading business County Durham

The North East Commercial Property Investment Fund

A £35 million commercial property fund that supports developers in the North East.
Finance & funding Trading business Newcastle upon Tyne Sunderland County Durham Gateshead South Tyneside North Tyneside Northumberland Operations

Key Fund

Are you buying premises? Looking to grow? Wanting to launch a great business idea? The Key Fund has £4.5million to invest.
Finance & funding Grant Loan Trading business Newcastle upon Tyne Sunderland County Durham Gateshead South Tyneside North Tyneside Northumberland Operations

Ignite North East

Ignite is an early-stage accelerator programme for start-ups with high-scaling potential (usually tech)
Finance & funding Start-up Trading business Newcastle upon Tyne North Tyneside Northumberland

Finance Durham

Debt and equity finance for businesses based in or looking to relocate to County Durham.
Finance & funding Start-up Trading business County Durham Finance

Defence and Security Accelerator

The Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) finds and funds exploitable innovation to support UK defence and security quickly and effectively, and support UK prosperity.
Finance & funding Trading business Newcastle upon Tyne Sunderland County Durham Gateshead South Tyneside North Tyneside Northumberland Markets Products and services Operations

North East Screen

Funded by North East Screen Industries Partnership, North East Screen is a regional screen agency for filmmakers, producers and creative professionals looking to start and grow their careers in the industry.
Finance & funding Business support Trading business Newcastle upon Tyne Sunderland County Durham Gateshead South Tyneside North Tyneside Northumberland People and skills Operations

CITB Skills and Training Fund

CITB offer support to industry through their grants and funds.
Finance & funding Grant Business support Trading business Newcastle upon Tyne Sunderland County Durham Gateshead South Tyneside North Tyneside Northumberland Leadership People and skills

Northumberland Small Business Service

A service of business support to help small and micro businesses across Northumberland to start and grow.
Finance & funding Business support Start-up Trading business Northumberland

UKSE Business Loans and Investments

Working with UKSE gives you more than just finance. Benefit from the support and knowledge of people who have been there before.
Finance & funding Loan Trading business Newcastle upon Tyne Sunderland County Durham Gateshead South Tyneside North Tyneside Northumberland

Business Energy Saving Team (BEST)

Save energy and money with free energy guidance and support from BEST
Finance & funding Grant Trading business Newcastle upon Tyne Becoming Net Zero Gateshead North Tyneside Northumberland

BREEZ - Business Renewables Energy Efficiency Sunderland

Sunderland City Council offers eligible SMEs a flexible approach to cutting their energy bills and their carbon emissions.
Finance & funding Business support Trading business Sunderland Becoming Net Zero

North of Tyne Inward Investment Fund

The North of Tyne Combined Authority has £10m available to support businesses looking to invest and create jobs in the North of Tyne.
Finance & funding Trading business Newcastle upon Tyne North Tyneside Northumberland

Green New Deal Fund (GNDF)

The Green New Deal Fund (GNDF) is an investment fund established to provide finance to SMEs and the public sector to reduce carbon emissions, create green jobs and develop skills in the region.
Finance & funding Start-up Trading business Newcastle upon Tyne Becoming Net Zero North Tyneside Northumberland Finance Operations

North East Enterprise Agency

North East Enterprise Agency is a unique collaboration of multi-award winning enterprise agencies supporting businesses across the North East of England.
Finance & funding Business support Start-up Trading business Newcastle upon Tyne Sunderland County Durham Gateshead South Tyneside North Tyneside Northumberland Finance