Open nowRegional grantVerified 30 May 2026

Start Up Loan (British Business Bank)

British Business Bank / Start Up Loans

Check if you qualifyFree · 60 seconds · no sign-up

Worth

up to £25,000

Deadline

Rolling - no fixed deadline

What it is

Government-backed personal loan of £500–£25,000 (avg ~£8k) at 7.5% fixed for new and very-early-stage UK businesses, plus 12 months' free mentoring.

A loan, not a grant — but the canonical first-money route for pre-start/just-started founders the old questionnaire showed nothing. Eligibility: not yet trading, or fully trading under 5 years (window extended from 36 to 60 months from April 2026). Interest is 7.5% fixed for new applications from 6 April 2026 (was 6%; pre-April borrowers keep 6%) — verified 2026-07-21 via gov.uk/apply-start-up-loan. Surfaced from the new stage / months-trading signals.

Official source

Does your business qualify?

Eligibility rules are where schemes get fiddly. GovOwed checks your business against Start Up Loan (British Business Bank) — and every other UK scheme we track — in about 60 seconds, free. The £29 report then explains exactly why you qualify, drafts your answers and walks you through the real application step by step.

Check free — see what you're owed

No sign-up to scan · keep 100% of anything you win · re-runs free for 12 months

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Information, not financial advice; eligibility is decided by the funder. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Schemes change — confirm details on the official page before applying.