Innovate UK Growth Catalyst December 2025

Innovate UK Growth Catalyst is an Innovate UK programme designed to help startups and scaleups with high growth potential to grow faster. Innovate UK Growth Catalyst December 2025 combines grant funding, aligned private investment, and structured support services to help innovators progress through key growth milestones.

This competition comprises a £100 million programme to support innovative companies in six of the industry growth sectors identified in the government’s Industrial Strategy. It seeks to support innovative companies seeking to scale in:

• Advanced manufacturing
• Clean energy industries
• Creative industries
• Defence and security technologies
• Digital and technologies
• Life sciences
• Batteries

To be eligible for this competition, applicants should:

• Be planning to scale rapidly
• Be seeking both grant funding and private investment
• Be able to demonstrate evidence of high growth potential
• Have established traction with at least one Innovate UK investor partner who must be identified in the application and have confirmed their support through an expression of interest (EOI) before the application closes

Your project must fall into one of the following categories:

Feasibility studies

• Total project costs: £50,000 to £300,000
• Duration: 6 to 12 months
• Grant funding: Up to 70% of costs

Industrial research

• Total project costs: £100,000 to £1 million
• Duration: 6 to 24 months
• Grant funding: Up to 70% of costs

For feasibility studies and industrial research projects, aligned private investment must be at least equal to the grant amount. This investment does not need to directly fund the project but must be committed to the business before the grant can be made.

Experimental development

• Total project costs: £250,000 to £2 million
• Duration: 12 to 24 months
• Grant funding: Up to 45% of costs

For experimental development projects, aligned private investment must be at least twice the grant amount. This investment does not need to directly fund the project but must be committed to the business before the grant can be made.