Digital Growth Grant

Introduction

Early in 2022, the value of the UK’s tech sector passed $1 trillion. The UK is only the third country in the world to have a tech sector reach this valuation. The UK has created more unicorns than any other country in Europe. The government is committed to making the UK the best place to found and grow a tech business and securing the UK’s status as a global science and technology superpower.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) is running the Digital Growth Grant competition and inviting bids to accelerate the growth of tech start-up and scale-up ecosystems across the regions and nations of the UK. The successful bidder will be awarded up to £12.09 million to be spent over two financial years 2023/24 and 2024/25.

Please see below for further detail on the grant objectives, eligibility and application process.

If you would like to find out more about this grant and how to engage with the Department as a bidder, register for one of our upcoming Q&A sessions or get in touch with us at dcmsdigitalgrowthgrant@dcms.gov.uk

Objectives

The objectives of the Digital Growth Grant will be based around:

1. Deliver support services to the digital sector, particularly in transformative/emerging technologies. These services should address key challenges faced by a wide range of tech companies from the seed funding stage to series A/B, their first or second round of financing.

2. Grow regional support networks for tech startups and scaleups. Activities should deliver concrete improvements in three of the areas that were identified in DCMS’ Regional Ecosystems report as crucial to the success of the digital economy. These are: investment, innovation and business growth. Support should be tailored to local needs and tech specialisms, and should be developed in partnership with local bodies and existing tech groups.

3. Ensure founders and firms can access digital entrepreneurship and investment readiness training, with tailored advice to help develop their skills to start and grow a tech business.

4. Clearly signpost startups and scaleups to existing initiatives in the private and the public sector across the UK that can help them access finance, talent and markets.

Who can apply

This competition is open to applicants and consortia with funding available for activity taking place in the UK.

Applicants may take the form of sole legal entities or may wish to combine to form consortia, joint ventures (JVs), unincorporated associations or partnerships. Consortia will need to specify their lead applicant. Individual organisations are not permitted to apply as part of more than one consortium.

Applicant(s) must also be registered corporate entities and have a significant UK presence and deep knowledge of the UK tech sector.

Public sector organisations are not eligible to receive this funding.

Individual people are not eligible applicants.

How to apply

Step 1: Read the invitation to application document below:

Digital Growth Grant: Invitation to application

PDF, 328439 KB, 2425 pages

Please note: this document was updated on 2029 July 20222022. toChange amendnotes aare typographical error in sectionAppendix 11.1B regardingof the FY24/25 budget, and to include further TUPE information in section 12.2.document.

Step 2: Read the grant funding agreement below:

Digital Growth Grant: Grant funding agreement

PDF, 303 KB, 26 pages

Step 3: Complete the application form below:

Digital Growth Grant: Application form

ODT, 78 KB

This file is in an OpenDocument format

Step 4: Complete the finance form below:

Digital Growth Grant: Finance form

ODS, 230 KB

This file is in an OpenDocument format

Please note: this form was updated on 15 July 2022 to amend an error in cell calculations.

Please return your application and finance form to DCMSdigitalgrowthgrant@dcms.gov.uk by midday on 15 August 2022.

Guidance for potential bidders

This section responds to frequently asked questions. Applicants should review updates to this section regularly to take account of additional information provided. If you have questions about the Digital Growth Grant which are not answered in this section, please contact us using the details below.

1. Additional eligible costs guidance

No costs incurred before the start of the grant funded period can be claimed as part of the grant.

As per section 11.5 of the ITA, the grant may be spent on staff costs where they directly relate to programme activity, i.e. salaries, employer’s national, insurance contributions and employer’s contributions to any occupational pension scheme or stakeholder pension scheme. The grant can be spent on contractors, as well as employed staff. Additional perks and benefits, including private health insurance, are not eligible costs under the grant.

It is up to organisations to determine if and how they want to apply reasonable and proportionate overheads to their grant application. This could either be a percentage of the total overhead costs, or a more specific apportionment method to attribute costs to the grant activity. We will be assessing value for money as part of the grant assessment, and the overheads included in the application will be reviewed as part of this.

Running a small grant scheme could be considered eligible expenditure. We are open to organisations proposing new and innovative ways of achieving the outcomes outlined in the ITA, and that may include providing onwards grant funding to tech businesses if a robust business case backed up by a clear risk register for this is made. However, measures would need to be put in place to ensure this is compliant with subsidy control rules.

There are no service assets in scope of transfer to the new provider.

Potential redundancy costs as a result of the grant ending after two years or extending at a reduced level would not be eligible costs. Only redundancy payments where such expenditure is incurred directly as a result of the application of TUPE to staff currently employed by Tech Nation and delivering DCMS grant funded activity, would be eligible costs.

2. Additional clarification on the T&Cs

Intellectual property created by the predecessor service that is material to future delivery is owned by DCMS with the right to licence to a new provider. This includes, for example, the intellectual property rights in the source code of the Growth Platform.

DCMS is not requiring that the services delivered to be branded in a specific way. As per the grant T&Cs, any branding needs to acknowledge funding by DCMS.

Contact

Please contact dcmsdigitalgrowthgrant@dcms.gov.uk if you have any questions.