Are you an entrepreneur and need help to finance your startup? Do you have an innovative project and you don't know how to finance it? Learn about the main national and international grants for startups through this article.
From Intelectium we explain to you how to obtain resources and public funding to be able to grow and undertake your innovation projects. Below you will find a list of grants for startups and SMEs. The main grants come from the General State Administration and European institutions, but there are also regional agencies that manage Jeremy funds from the EU and offer financial products that are worth considering.
NATIONAL GRANTS FOR STARTUPS
Grants for startups and SMEs at the Spanish level:
Enisa is a public company whose objective is to finance viable and innovative business projects of Spanish startups and SMEs. Enisa's funding is in the form of a participatory loan without personal guarantees, in the context of a co-investment with private investors, to be repaid in 5 years with a grace period (only interest is paid) and without guarantees. It is the entity that approves the most participatory loans in Spain. Enisa has 3 lines of financing:
- Enisa Young Entrepreneurs: Loan of up to 75,000 euros for newly created companies (up to 12 months old) and for entrepreneurs under 41 years of age.
- Enisa Entrepreneurs: Loan of up to 300,000 euros for newly created companies (up to 24 months old) with no age limit.
- Enisa Growth: Loan of up to 1.5 million euros for growing companies, there is no limit on how old the company is or how old the entrepreneurs are.
Neotec is a grant program from The Center for Industrial Technological Development, the CDTI, a public business entity that promotes innovation and technological development of Spanish companies, whose purpose is to promote the creation and consolidation of companies that differentiate themselves because they have a technological base.
Neotec finances newly created companies, with a minimum of 6 months and a maximum of 3 years old, offering only grants of up to 250,000 euros. This is an aid in the form of competitive competition, which seeks to reward and promote new technology-based companies that develop completely new technologies or that present a substantial improvement compared to existing technologies in the market.
Cervera Program, this is another CDTI program, in this case partially reimbursable aid with terms of 7 to 10 years and a 2 to 3 year grace period, for individual R&D projects developed by companies that collaborate with State-wide Technology Centers on specific technologies. These technologies must be priorities for Cervera, and include eco-innovation, intelligent manufacturing, deep learning and artificial intelligence, advanced materials, health technologies, intelligent mobility, energy transition and advanced mobile networks. It has the virtue of requiring, for the refundable tranche, a guarantee of a maximum of 5%.
Collaboration challenges supports experimental development projects with the objective of encouraging the growth of new technologies, the business application of new ideas and techniques, and the creation of new products and services. This is another CDTI grant that funds the creation of public-private consortia between companies, public and private universities, public research organizations, technology centers, public and private R&D centers and business associations.
PID Program, also from the CDTI. It is an aid for R&D projects developed by companies and aimed at the creation and significant improvement of production processes, products or services. This grant is open for applications all year round and is a partially refundable loan (between 20% and 33% of the aid is non-refundable). The return of the refundable tranche is 7 to 10 years including a grace period of between 2 and 3 years. The company must provide at least 15% of the project budget with its own resources. It is an ideal aid for consolidated companies with positive EBITDA. Otherwise, CDTI will require guarantees, which can reach 100% if the company's balance sheet is not solid enough or if the company is still in a growth phase and has losses.
Innovation Hotline of the CDTI, to support applied projects, very close to the market, with a medium/low technological risk and short periods of investment recovery, which aim to improve the company's competitiveness by incorporating emerging technologies in the sector. It is an open call all year round in the form of partially reimbursable aid. It has the same warranty requirements as a PID.
ONE HUNDRED, is an aid granted by CDTI that seeks to support large R&D projects developed in effective collaboration by business groups and aimed at carrying out planned research in strategic areas for the future and with potential international projection. It is a partially reimbursable grant, which funds a minimum of 4,500,000 euros per project and 175,000 euros per company.
Expansion Hotline from CDTI. Aid for companies that seek to promote innovation in certain Spanish regions, improving the capacities of companies that propose investment plans that facilitate their growth. It is an open call all year round and in the form of partially reimbursable aid. Only projects with development in Andalusia, the Canary Islands, Castilla y León, Castilla La-Macha, the Valencian Community, Extremadura, Galicia and the Region of Murcia will be approved.
Paem is a national program funded by the Institute for Women and for Equal Opportunities and the European Social Fund aimed at women. The entity offers to accompany and advise women who want to undertake. At the regional level, there are public funding instruments that accompany private funding rounds to help startups and SMEs grow in their earliest stages. They are grants in the form of soft loans that do not require personal guarantees. In Catalonia, the following stand out: IFEM loans, In Madrid on AvalMadrid Bank Guarantee, in Andalusia the grants from the IDEA Agency and in Valencia the IVF Loans.
INTERNATIONAL STARTUP GRANTS
Grants for startups and SMEs at European level:
Innowide is a pilot initiative that offers grants to European SMEs for viability phases in international markets. It is a grant with European funds and processed by the CDTI, a public business entity that promotes innovation and technological development of Spanish companies. The project must last 6 months and an entity is expected to be outsourced in the destination country.
El SME Instrument is a European program that focuses on small and medium-sized companies that carry out innovative activities, including non-technological and service innovations. Funding is offered in different phases, and it is possible to submit individual projects or consortiums.
And here is our list of grants for startups and SMEs!
It is true that grants and grants require time and effort, but with perseverance we will be able to finance our startup and its innovation and/or expansion projects.
The available alternatives will vary depending on the type of business and its state of development. From Intelectium we specialize in the complete management of this type of public funding, saving entrepreneurs time so that they can dedicate it to tasks with greater added value such as product development and customer search.
If you want more information about any of the grants or to assess your company's fit with them, from Intelectium we can help you. Send us information about your company through our web forms and we will get in touch with you in a short space of time.
Grants for startups and SMEs
