The Centre for Entrepreneurship Seed Fund is designed for students and graduates who want to freelance, or those who want to start a social enterprise, business, or charity. While you may not be generating significant revenue yet, you will be ready to start test-trading, have made some initial sales or you will have developed a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and started to validate your idea.
We've designed the application process to mimic the process of applying for more serious funding. It will take some work, but every document we ask for
will be useful to you. If you need support with your application we'd love to hear from you - you can register for 1 to 1 support using our
online form, or if you already have please speak to your business advisor.
Apply for Seed Fund here.
The Centre for Entrepreneurship Seed Fund is for a fixed amount of £1000. Please be clear in your ask and be specific about how this funding will help to support you to take the next steps or overcome barriers.
Awarding criteria
You can view the
awarding criteria here.
Who can apply?
The seed fund is open to current students (Undergraduate and Postgraduate) and recent graduates (within 2 years). Applicants must be legally allowed to start a business in the UK, therefore international students will need to have graduated and transferred onto the Graduate Route visa before funds can be released. You, and your business must be based in the UK.
What can you apply for?
The use of the £1000 must be clearly outlined within the application. You can apply for specific expenditure which will help you to progress with your business. This may include the registration of IP, marketing costs, test trading costs, specialist equipment etc.
In addition to specific expenditure, you may want to consider the following:
- Membership of the Freelancer Club, FSB, or other professional body.
- Access to coworking space such as Tramshed Tech, Colab or Sustainable Studio.
- Software subscriptions for your first year of trading
- Accountancy software such as QuickBooks, Xero or Sage
- Graphic design software
- Webhosting such as Shopify or Squarespace
- Business Insurance.
Please note that we are unlikely to fund training courses, laptops, cameras or other generic IT equipment.
Grants are awarded on a first come first served basis and are judged on the quality of the application. There are a limited number of awards available, applications will close once all funding has been allocated. To enter you will need to provide the following documentation:
- Business One Pager (1 Side A4).
- Business Model Canvas.
- Basic Video Elevator Pitch. This is a 1-minute pitch to present your business and your story. This is your opportunity to demonstrate your authenticity and your knowledge of your own business, and for you to further clarify your ask.
- Detail of proposed spending, with quotes and justification (1 Side A4).
Apply for Seed Fund here.
The Centre for Entrepreneurship Seed fund is subject to full terms and conditions which will be provided to successful applicants or supplied on request.
Not ready for Seed Fund yet? Try
Flash Fund.
Seed fund too small or already received? Try
Start Fund.