Business loans for East Sussex businesses from £1k to £200k

We also have access to other business funding options to provide more ways for you to access the business finance you need.

If you need short-term finance such as working capital or longer-term funding to finance new equipment and business growth, we will be able to guide you through all business loans available to you and help you apply for funding that is right for you, including a mix of grants and loans if you’re eligible.

Let’s Do Business Finance is accredited by the British Business Bank to provide business loans for small businesses with the backing of Enterprise Finance Guarantee.

Since 2009, the British Business Bank’s Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG) has supported the provision of £2.7bn of finance to more than 26,000 smaller businesses in the UK. EFG facilitates lending to companies that are viable but unable to obtain finance due to having insufficient security to meet their first-choice lender’s normal security requirements.

Let’s Do Business Finance will use EFG guarantees on loans to fund the future growth or expansion of a business, from £25,000 to £100,000. Finance terms are from three months up to seven years.

Business Loans from £10,000 to £50,000 are available for established businesses of 12 months or more that are looking but are unable to access conventional bank support.

We’ll introduce you to the Let’s Do Business Group’s start up loans team – the official delivery partner for the Government Start-Up Loans scheme in East Sussex and the south east.

A start-up loan is a government-backed scheme, which offers a repayable loan to individuals over the age of 18 who have a viable business idea but no access to finance.

Let’s Do Business Start-Up was set up to provide advice, mentoring and access to funding for new entrepreneurs and businesses in the start-up phase, that have been trading for less than 36 months. The scheme funds in every sector. As well as financial backing, all loan recipients are given access to a mentor, free training events and exclusive business offers.

If you decide to apply for a start-up loan, Locate East Sussex can help your journey and support you to develop a viable business plan.

NatWest Grants to Female-led Businesses

The Back Her Business initiative has been designed to help more female entrepreneurs launch their own business. The UK-wide campaign is part of NatWest’s pledge to inspire 400,000 female-led business by 2025.

The bank is providing a top-up fund of £1 million per annum and will be offering grants to qualifying businesses. Applicants are required to set up a crowdfunding project with a minimum target of £1,000. Successful applicants will receive match funding of up to 50% towards their target, up to a maximum of £5,000.

This programme is open to UK-based, female-led start-up businesses and those with new trading activity.

Applications may be submitted at any time.

Innovators can now search for business funding oportunities across all of UKRI with its new consolidated funding finder.

Provides support and funding to help businesses develop new products and services and bring them closer to market, this may be to bring people together to share ideas, tackle challenges and make new technological advances. Funded by the government, Innovate UK targets technologies and areas with the greatest scope to improve business, the economy and society.

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Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) help companies to innovate and grow by linking them directly to an academic or research organisation and a graduate who is suited to the company’s aims.

KTPs unlock new skills and the latest innovations to deliver specific and strategic innovation projects. The scheme can last between 12 and 36 months, depending on the project and the needs of the business.

Taking part in a KTP can help you to develop your business by providing access to the kind of academic expertise that you don’t have in-house. It’s not expensive either – you will need to contribute to the salary of the associate who will work with you plus the cost of the scheme supervisor – the rest is funded by a grant.

KTPs are a proven way to improve business performance by helping companies become more innovative and productive in order to drive their competitive performance.

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