Founding a start-up in Europe can be costly and effort-intensive – that is, if you don’t look for the right source of funds. Getting a loan is one of the best options to find the money to get your business off the ground, but where can you find the best one to fund your venture?
To help, Sifted has recently released a list of business loans to help you find the best funding for start-ups in the UK and continental Europe.
Why get a business loan?
It is impossible for a business idea to be realised without the necessary capital. Enter business loans. These loans are created specifically for businesses, and aspiring start-up founders can often access them through lending products like term loans and lines of credit.
Best business loans for European start-ups
The list by Sifted focuses mainly on grants and funding for UK-based start-ups. However, the following stands out as they are made specifically for European companies in collaboration with UK-registered businesses and vice versa.
UK-Germany Bilateral by Innovate UK
The UK-Germany Bilateral is for truly innovative start-ups that have brand-new products, processes or services to bring to the table. It grants funding of up to £400,000 for projects that last between 12 to 36 months. The catch, though, is that it is only available for UK and German start-ups; more specifically, the applicant company needs to be registered in the UK and partnered with a German small or medium enterprise under an equivalent German ZIM programme. The competition for this grant started on February 7, 2023, and will close on June 7, 2023.
UK-Switzerland Bilateral: Collaborative R&D by Innovate UK and Innosuisse
UK-registered companies collaborating with at least one Swiss-registered business can get up to £2 million from the UK-Switzerland Bilateral. The condition for collaborating applicants is that their partnership should result in a higher innovation potential, more commercial leads or better access to research and development (R&D) infrastructure. Qualified start-ups can enter the competition on April 17, 2023, up until July 26, 2023.
NHS Future Hospitals Initiative by the UK Space Agency and the European Space Agency (ESA)
Suppose your project aims to take advantage of space technologies for the benefit of the National Health Service ecosystem. In that case, NHS Future Hospitals Initiative might just get your start-up sufficient funding. More specifically, this grant is for companies that aim to create innovative solutions addressing issues and needs in logistics, patient reach, diagnostic tools and collaboration networks, and the environment.
There’s a whole host of other options too, listed here. Here’s hoping your start-up stands to benefit from one of them.