The University of Derby’s Invest to Grow programme provides grants and loans of between £15,000 and £250,000 to support private-sector businesses across the East Midlands to innovate, grow and create jobs. The programme is now funded by the repayment of loans awarded to successful applicants.

For your project to qualify for Invest to Grow Funding, you will need to demonstrate that it meets the following criteria:

• It will create new jobs or safeguard existing positions in your company
• It will increase the scope or scale of your company’s activity
• It will improve the company’s performance
• It has not commenced and will not be achievable in the timescales proposed without Invest to Grow support

Funding

The minimum award size is £15,000, for which the minimum project cost must be £50,000. The maximum award size is £250,000.

Grants and loans remain available however current demand and competition for the Invest to Grow funding is high. Each funding request will be judged on its own merit depending on the availability of funding at the time. The majority of awards are a mix of grants and loans. Applications where the loan amount requested is higher than the grant amount, will stand a greater chance of being successful.

Eligibility Criteria

Organisation

To be eligible, the applicant’s organisation must be:

• either a small and medium-sized enterprise (SMEs), a large enterprise, a sole trader or a partnership
• located in the East Midlands
• Not a business-to-consumer (B2C) focused, or in the professional services, agriculture and retail sectors

Projects

Funding is available for projects that will create new jobs and where these jobs can be sustained for a minimum of three years (five years for large organisations). In particular, projects are welcomed that create higher-skilled jobs (ie require knowledge and skills at or above NVQ level 4).

The types of projects that Invest to Grow may support include:

• Development or improvement of products and related services
• Expansion or upgrading of business premises, machinery and/or equipment
• Innovation in products, processes and systems that will result in business and supply chain efficiency, growth and profitability

Sectors

The programme is aimed at a variety of sectors including:

• Manufacturing (eg transport equipment and food and drink)
• Life sciences
• Construction
• Logistics
• Engineering
• Technology
• Creative industries
• Low carbon

Costs Can Be Applied For

• Purchase of land and buildings
• Refurbishment of adaptations of land and buildings
• Plant and machinery costs
• Equipment costs
• Product development costs

All project costs must be exclusive of VAT.

Application Process

The first stage of the application process is the submission of an Expression of Interest form. For further details, please call the Invest to Grow helpline at +44 (0)1332 597907 or email investtogrow@derby.ac.uk.