Startup grants and programs in the United Kingdom (2026)
We track 12 programs open to startups in the United Kingdom beyond the worldwide ones: 6 national or local and 6 regional programs that include the United Kingdom. All 12 are open now. By type: Government Grants (4), Business SaaS (2), GPU & Compute (2), Banking & Payments (1), AI Models & APIs (1).
The largest headline value among open national or local programs is Innovate UK Frontier AI: SME Champions, Phase 1 from Innovate UK (UKRI) (Projects with £150,000–£250,000 total costs; grant up to 70% for micro/small firms…). 4 of the national programs are government grants, vouchers or tax credits; 3 of them come from Innovate UK (UKRI). 1 accepts students or researchers. The next dated deadline or opening is 11 November 2026 (Innovate UK Frontier AI: SME Champions, Phase 1). On top of these, 234 worldwide programs (mostly cloud, AI and software credits) are open to United Kingdom-based startups; the eligibility checker filters all of them for your company.
National and local programs in the United Kingdom (6)
| Program | What you get | Type | Status | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Innovate UK Frontier AI: SME Champions, Phase 1Innovate UK (UKRI) | Projects with £150,000–£250,000 total costs; grant up to 70% for micro/small firms (≈£175k max). £3.1M pot. Phase 2 (up to £1M) by… | Innovation grant (AI) | Open | 2026-10-23 |
| Innovate UK Efficient, Structured and Controllable AI SystemsInnovate UK (UKRI) | Projects with £50,000–£150,000 total costs; grant up to 70% for micro/small firms (≈£105k max). £1.66M pot. | Innovation grant (AI) | Open | 2026-10-23 |
| Airwallex for StartupsAirwallex | Stage-based offers (e.g. AU seed: 3 months Airwallex Grow, fee-free first A$100k payments and FX) + partner perks; varies by country | Global payments | Open | 2026-10-22 |
| Innovate UK BridgeAI Deployment CatalystInnovate UK (UKRI) | Share of £5M per competition (three parallel calls: decision-critical systems, operational systems, assurance & compliance); per-project… | Innovation grant | Open | 2026-10-23 |
| Rippling Startup StackRippling | Up to 6 months free on Rippling products (subscription + implementation), first 3 months of EOR free; dollar value not stated | HR / Payroll | Open | 2026-10 |
| UK R&D Tax Relief (Merged Scheme & ERIS)HM Revenue & Customs | Merged RDEC: 20% taxable credit on qualifying R&D. ERIS (loss-making R&D-intensive SMEs): 186% total deduction plus payable credit up to… | R&D tax credit | Open | 2026-10-22 |
Regional programs that include the United Kingdom (6)
| Program | What you get | Where | Status | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UpCloud Startup ProgramUpCloud | Up to $25,000 in cloud credits (Tier 1); $5,000 for Nordic startups (Tier 2); $1,000 for other EU/EEA/UK/CH startups (Tier 3), plus… | 7 countries | Open | 2026-10-30 |
| Lambda Cloud compute offer for Y Combinator companiesLambda | $20,000 in Lambda Cloud credits for on-demand GPU instances | 18 countries | Open | 2026-10-22 |
| fal Startup Programfal | $1,000 starter pack, growing to $2,500 and $5,000 as monthly fal spend rises | Europe, Asia | Open | 2026-10-22 |
| Lambda Cloud credits for NVIDIA Inception membersLambda | $1,000 in Lambda Cloud credits for on-demand GPU instances (B200, H100, A100, GH200) | 18 countries | Open | 2026-10-22 |
| Google Cloud Research CreditsGoogle | Google Cloud credits sized to your proposal (amount not stated on page), valid 1 year | 75 countries | Open | 2026-10-22 |
| Zoho for StartupsZoho | Zoho Wallet credits in two stages (amount not shown on page), valid 360 days, usable across Zoho apps | 23 countries | Open | 2026-10-22 |
Other countries
United States · Germany · Ireland · Saudi Arabia · Egypt · Morocco · Tunisia · Canada · Japan · Norway · Singapore · India · Thailand · South Korea · Malaysia · Hong Kong · New Zealand · Australia · Jordan · Pakistan · Brazil · Bahrain · Qatar · Lebanon · All countries
Program terms change often. Open a program to see its official source and verification date, and confirm on the provider's page before you apply. Spotted something out of date? Report a correction.