Northern Ireland · tech startups

Grants and funding for tech startups in Northern Ireland.

Innovation funding, investment reliefs and cloud credits for software, AI and digital businesses.

A business in Northern Ireland can use 20 schemes for tech startups, and 12 are taking applications today. 3 are specific to Northern Ireland, from InterTradeIreland, Techstart Ventures / Invest Northern Ireland and NI Councils; the other 17 are UK-wide.

Specific to Northern Ireland (3)

Innovation Boost (InterTradeIreland)

InterTradeIreland (cross-border trade and business development body) · Open now · Part-funded support

up to £56,000

Techstart Concept Plus Grant — Northern Ireland

Techstart Ventures / Invest Northern Ireland · Between rounds

up to £30,000

Digital Transformation Flexible Fund (DTFF) — Northern Ireland

NI Councils (Newry, Mourne & Down lead) / UKSPF · Closed

up to £20,000

UK-wide, open to businesses in Northern Ireland (17)

Horizon Europe — EIC Accelerator

European Commission (European Innovation Council) · Open now

up to £2,100,000

Google for Startups Cloud Program

Google Cloud · Open now · Credits, not cash

up to £276,500

UK Games Fund — Content Fund

UK Games Fund (UK Games Talent and Finance CIC, DCMS-backed) · Open now · Closes 31 Mar 2029

up to £250,000

BridgeAI Deployment Catalyst Phase 1 (Innovate UK)

Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) · Closing soon · Closes 8 Dec 2026

up to £200,000

AWS Activate (cloud credits)

Amazon Web Services · Open now · Credits, not cash

up to £158,000

Microsoft for Startups

Microsoft · Open now · Credits, not cash

up to £118,500

Efficient, Structured and Controllable AI Systems (Innovate UK)

Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) · Closing soon · Closes 18 Nov 2026

up to £105,000

BFI UK Global Screen Fund — Video Game Release

BFI (British Film Institute) / DCMS · Open now

up to £50,000

Visa Fees Reimbursement Scheme for Scale-Ups

Department for Business and Trade · Open now · Closes 1 Mar 2027

up to £25,000

HubSpot for Startups

HubSpot · Open now · Discount, not cash

NVIDIA Inception

NVIDIA · Open now · Discount, not cash

Defence Innovation Loans (DASA)

DASA / Innovate UK Loans Ltd · Paused · Loan (repayable)

up to £1,000,000

Innovation Support to Operations — UKDI themed competition (Cycle 8)

UK Defence Innovation (UKDI), Ministry of Defence · Closed

up to £350,000

UK Games Fund — Prototype Fund

UK Games Fund (UK Games Talent and Finance CIC) · Paused

up to £100,000

Innovate UK Women in Innovation Awards

Innovate UK (UKRI) · Closed

up to £75,000

UK Games Fund — Starter Fund

UK Games Fund (UK Games Talent and Finance CIC, DCMS-backed) · Closed

up to £20,000

Google.org Impact Grants (Impact Challenges)

Google.org · Between rounds

Which of these is your business owed?

Check your business in about two minutes: your top three matches are shown free, by name. The £19.95 report names every match, explains every rule and drafts the applications.

Find my funding

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0 · schemes change, so every scheme page shows the date it was last checked.