A CASH boost worth tens of thousands has been announced to give a helping hand to start-up businesses. 

In total, £30,000 grants have been announced to give a boost to start-up businesses in Worcestershire.

The Enterprising Worcestershire programme, run by Worcestershire County Council, has today (Monday) announced there are a limited number of grants up to the value of £30,000 on offer to help start-up businesses in Worcestershire.

The grant is designed to give eligible SMEs that are less than three years old a significant helping hand.

Grant funding can cover multiple capital and revenue expenditure items such as, but not limited to, equipment, machinery, website construction and logo design.

There are only a limited number of these matched funded grants available so eligible businesses will need to get their application in quickly.

Smaller grants of £1,000 to £15,000 will still be on offer to start-up businesses through Enterprising Worcestershire.

Redditch based business Apogee Associates, recently worked with Enterprising Worcestershire to secure funding to help them strengthen their Marketing.

Ben Hewitt, Finance Director of Apogee Associates said: “The team at Enterprising Worcestershire were helpful, supportive and knowledgeable and set out clear guidance throughout to ensure the application process was as seamless as possible.

“The funding has been used to further strengthen our marketing presence, enabling us to support even more companies with their R&D Tax Credit applications. We’re very grateful for the support of Enterprising Worcestershire and we would definitely recommend the process for any companies looking to access funding for upcoming projects.”

Councillor Marc Bayliss, Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Economy, Infrastructure and Skills said: “I am thrilled we can offer a higher value grant to help our start-up businesses to flourish. New businesses help contribute and provide job opportunities in our local economy which is why it is so vital for us to support them.

“With finance playing a huge part in starting a business, this match funding could make such a massive difference and ease some of the challenges early-stage businesses face. The higher value grant is only available for a limited amount of time so I would encourage those eligible, to apply now.”

The start-up grant is funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and is subject to European Funding regulations.

For more information, and the full list of eligibility, please visit www.bit.ly/Start_up_Grant.

In addition to grant funding Enterprising Worcestershire also delivers a variety of support programmes to help early-stage businesses in Worcestershire including:

• 12 hours of bespoke business coaching, to SMEs less than five years old.

• Consultancy support for high-growth Worcestershire SMEs, less than two years old through the High Growth Activate programme.

• EnRich workshops run in partnership with the University of Worcester are on offer to support young entrepreneurs, 16+, to set up a business.

• Support to start a business