Benefits of applying for grant funding

Beyond the obvious funding opportunity, there are several clear benefits to applying for grant funding. 

Primarily, it can help you think through your value proposition and define what it is that distinguishes your business. The rigour and discipline of the process will force you to examine the current state of the industry or technological landscape, and where your product fits into that. 

Cat Jones, founder of slow travel startup Byway, benefited greatly from the process of applying for grant funding from Innovate UK. At the time, she had a vision for the AI-powered trip planning technology that she wanted to build through Byway, but hadn’t deeply defined this vision and what it would take to build this. After receiving funding, this process also helped in hiring a CTO, who would be a critical partner in building the technology. 

As well as defining your USP, it can also help provide clarity to your direction: including planning exactly what areas you’re going to focus on, as well as which markets you’re looking to target. Applying for grant funding helped define this for Jeffrey Ng, co-founder of BuiltAI, a digital twin of the world’s real estate market. Initial responses to their business plan and the outline of their technology showed them that they needed to broaden the scope of their technology to create greater value. 

This plays into another significant benefit. Successfully applying for grants can help move the needle on fundraising. Jeff reveals how receiving grant funding added a real seal of approval (particularly as it was from a highly competitive Innovate UK SMART grant) from technical experts which not only verified their technological proposition, but also showed that what they were doing was truly innovative. 

As well as strengthening your impression with investors, it can also boost your confidence with regards to applying for other grants. It underlines what you’ve got right in the application, as well as demonstrating that you are a grant-fundable business (in that what you are doing is truly innovative and worthy of funding). 

Tips for writing your grant application

1. Allow plenty of time 

As outlined earlier, startup grants can take a long time to write—in the ballpark of 50 hours—so make sure you aren’t leaving it to the last minute. The best way to approach it is to carve out a number of hours each week to dedicate to the grant, to ensure you aren’t falling behind. 

2. Do your research

Each grant/grant organisation is different, so make sure you do appropriate research into the grant organisation. This of course includes eligibility criteria: you don’t want to waste your time writing a grant that you are ineligible for. More importantly, though, you should look for grants that are a good fit for you, that align with your goals and mission. 

3. Know who you are writing to

Consider who is going to read your application—a mixture of independent experts, as well as board members for the organisation. That means you have to be technical enough to appeal to the experts, while also speaking in layman’s terms so it’s understood by a broad audience. 

4. Tell a compelling story

As with many of your other jobs as a founder, you’re in sales mode here. So make sure you hook them with your story. This will include giving a strong overview of the market and competitive landscape, as well as a clear hook around what differentiates your product. 

5. Prove your potential impact

Grant organisations are interested in the wider impact your business will have. You should be very clear about how your target audience will benefit from your product, as well as your ability to scale it to a much wider audience. If your product is a specific innovation, you should show your ability to turn that into a business. You can do this by showing your traction so far, as this will be a strong indicator of future success. 

6. Demonstrate clearly why you need their funding

You should be as specific as possible—show exactly why you need their money, and where you’ll spend it. This is particularly important for grants that are geared towards a specific ring fenced project. For each allocation, make sure you justify why you are spending it there, and why that will have the biggest impact.

P.S. Should I use a grant writer?

Given the time required and competitiveness of applications, many founders will opt to use a grant writer. This is someone who can bring their expertise and grant application experience to the process, or who can proof-read your application. Grant writers, most founders will agree, are definitely worth it—but they can be costly.

Founders should work alongside their grant writers. This will help you to communicate the USP of your business or technology in a way that is easy to understand. Cat describes grant writers as “translators”, who can speak the language of grant organisations and know what they are looking for in applications. 

There are a number of places to find grant writers: on grant-specific websites like GrantUp, or on freelancer marketplaces like Fiverr and Upwork. There are also a number of websites that offer support with applications, including eligibility questionnaires and writing support technology. These include:

• Grantify

• Grant Tree

• Swoop

• Ixion Innovation