Business Grants Available in Scotland
Scotland offers extensive business grant funding through Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Business Gateway, and local authorities. Whether you're a startup in Edinburgh, a manufacturer in Glasgow, or a tech company in Aberdeen, there are funding opportunities available to support your growth.
Scottish Enterprise Funding
Scottish Enterprise provides grants for businesses with growth ambitions. Their funding programmes support innovation, research and development, capital investment, and internationalisation. Grants typically range from £5,000 to over £1 million depending on the project scope and impact.
Business Gateway Support
Business Gateway offers free advice and support to startups and small businesses across Scotland. They can help you access local authority grants, connect with funding programmes, and develop your business plan.
Local Council Grants
Scottish local councils including Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, and Dundee offer their own business support schemes. These often focus on creating local employment, supporting specific sectors, or regenerating particular areas.
Scotland Business Grants
212 grants found
Rapid Response Fund
Supports new research and urgent opportunities to tackle emerging infections and future pandemic threats requiring rapid activation and commissioning.
Funding opportunity: AHRC UKRI NSF-SBE lead agency: applicant-led mode
Apply for funding to work with overseas researchers in the United States and submit a collaborative research grant application within the remit of Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and US National Science Foundation, Social, Behavioural and Economic Sciences Directorate (NSF-SBE). Note that the opportunity is currently paused and will not consider expressions of interest or applications until further notice.
GBE Community Fund
Grant funding to help community organisations in England, Wales and Northern Ireland develop and build community-owned clean energy projects. The fund provides staged grants to test project viability, turn viable ideas into investment-ready projects, or bridge capital funding gaps for construction-ready clean energy projects.
Festive Connections Grant Programme
Grants provided by the McCarthy Stone Foundation for grassroots charitable organisations supporting people over 65 with core cost funding or project funding.
Fruit & Veg Grants
Grant funding aimed at supporting schools, registered charities, and not-for-profit organisations to improve access to free fruit and veg for children, supporting a healthy and nutritious diet.
The Content Fund
Commercial games-for-entertainment content grants funded by DCMS and managed by UKGTF/UK Games Fund as part of the UK Government's Growth for Games strategy to drive growth, build talent, and develop skills across the games sector.
NMIP sandpit: Digital materials for accelerated innovation
Apply to attend a three to five-day sandpit to develop high-impact projects that address the challenges and opportunities of integrating digital approaches to accelerate the translation of materials research.
Pre-announcement: ESRC applicant-led: challenge awards
Apply for funding to bring people, expertise and ideas together in ambitious, larger-scale programmes. Challenge awards tackle major research, economic and societal challenges, generating impactful new knowledge and innovation.
Pre-announcement: ESRC applicant-led: explore awards
Apply for funding to advance knowledge through ambitious, curiosity-driven social science. The opportunity seeks creative, innovative, and bold proposals within ESRC’s remit that advance knowledge by pushing disciplinary, methodological, or conceptual boundaries.
ESRC applicant-led: grow awards
Apply for funding to build the skills, experience and confidence to make a step-change in your research career. Grow awards support individuals at key career points to develop new capabilities or pivot in a new direction, strengthening the long-term capacity, adaptability and resilience of the UK’s social science research base.
Music Creators Growth Fund (MCGF)
A new investment programme designed to provide direct grant support for living, UK-based artists, artist collectives, bands, composers, DJs, groups, producers, and songwriters to grow their careers, strengthen skills, develop sustainable careers, create high-quality work, and innovate income streams.
EPSRC Strategic Infrastructure outlines: September 2026
Apply for funding to purchase strategic infrastructure (equipment, resources or both). The funding seeks to improve UK scientific capability and enable cutting-edge research that aligns with national priorities, including those within the UKRI strategy and EPSRC Strategic Delivery Plan.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about business grants in Scotland