Innovation Loans

Innovate UK’s Innovation Loans provide patient capital for UK SMEs that are pushing late-stage research and development toward commercial use. The program sits under Innovate UK’s wider support stack, and it fills the gap between grant funding and ordinary commercial lending for businesses that need time to reach market but still have a repayment path. Loan sizes run from GBP 100,000 to GBP 5 million per project. The project-phase interest rate is 3.7% a year, the repayment-phase rate is 7.4% a year, and the total term can stretch to seven years. Applicants must be UK SMEs, the work must be carried out in the UK, and the business must show that it can afford repayments and has already exhausted other funding routes. Individuals, large companies, nonprofits, charities, academic institutions, and research organisations are excluded. The latest named round in the record carried a GBP 25 million pot. This is a good fit for founders who need working capital for development, validation, and commercialisation rather than a one-off grant. The application posture is closer to a finance case than a research pitch: the business needs a credible repayment story, a clear project plan, and evidence that other capital options have been considered. For SMEs that are too early for bank debt but too mature for grant-only support, the program can bridge the middle ground.

Each grant below is a distinct funding opportunity with its own eligibility, scope, and deliverables.