Funding outcomes and information

Covid-19: Additional grant funding

In April 2020, the Scottish Government made available additional grant funding for vulnerable Scottish SMEs which are vital to local, regional and national economies and for tourism, hospitality and creative industry businesses experiencing hardship as a result of Covid-19.

Scotland’s enterprise agencies worked at pace with VisitScotland and Creative Scotland to design and deliver this funding via two short-term funds:

• A £30 million Creative, Tourism & Hospitality Enterprises Hardship Fund for small creative, tourism and hospitality companies not in receipt of other Covid-19 business grants. The fund was designed to support companies in tourism, creative industries and hospitality experiencing immediate hardship, due to ineligibility for other Covid-19 Government grant support. The focus was to help companies who could demonstrate a negative cashflow position over three months and those furloughing staff were eligible to apply.
• A £120 million Pivotal Enterprise Resilience Fund for viable but vulnerable SME firms which are vital to Scotland’s economy. The fund was designed to support companies with working capital to help them continue trading or to come out of hibernation and the focus was on firms that are vital to local, regional or national economic prosperity and those who could help to kick start the recovery.

View the list of companies that received this grant support (XLSX, 158 KB, 2 Pages) opens in a new window

This data is correct as of 26 August 2020.

In July 2020 the Scottish Government announced a £38 million funding programme for innovative early stage businesses whose routes to investment and growth have been hit by coronavirus.

The programme includes three levels of support to meet the needs of the most promising businesses at different stages of early growth:

• A pre-seed grant for high-growth start-ups and spin-outs delivered by Scottish Enterprise (SE) with support from eco system partners, to which £3 million has been allocated
• The Early Stage Growth Challenge Fund, to which almost £25 million has been allocated
• SIB’s existing co-investment funds, which will receive an additional £10 million as part of the programme

The Early Stage Growth Challenge Fund and pre seed grant funding have now been committed to innovative, early-stage businesses in Scotland, and the list of companies receiving this support can be viewed by clicking on the links below.

Early Stage Growth Challenge Fund recipients (XLSX, 22 KB, 1 Page) opens in a new window

Pre seed funding recipients

High-Growth Spin-Out Programme (HGSP)(XLSX, 19 KB, 1 Page) opens in a new window

High-Growth Ventures Programme (HGV)(XLSX, 21 KB, 1 Page) opens in a new window

The Scottish Wedding Industry Fund disbursed £26,095,250 of emergency grant aid to 2,811 legal business entities, affected by the loss of Wedding event business due to Covid 19 restrictions.

The Fund was open from 28 January to 25 February 2021 to eligible businesses whose main income comes from the wedding sector, offering grants of between £5,000 and £25,000 depending on turnover. It was managed by a partnership of South of Scotland Enterprise, Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

Businesses that received funding from the Scottish Wedding Industry Fund were subsequently eligible for two additional payments during (1) July 2021 and (2) January 2022 to help mitigate the impact of ongoing operating restrictions on the wedding industry. The original Fund eligibility criteria and terms and conditions applied to these payments.

Scottish Enterprise SWIF top up payments (XLSX, 140 KB, 1 Page) opens in a new window

All OG SWIF Awards for SE and SOSE (XLSX, 108 KB, 1 Page) opens in a new window

This programme focused on safeguarding jobs within larger hotels. It offered tailored business support and potential funding of up to £250,000 per hotel property.

Support was offered by agencies including Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, South of Scotland Enterprise and VisitScotland.

Hotel Support Programme recipients  (XLSX, 14 KB, 1 Page) opens in a new window

This provided support for ski centres (mountain resorts and/or artificial slopes) of regional and or local economic importance, experiencing financial hardship that put the ongoing viability of the centre at risk.

Ski Centre Support Fund recipients (XLSX, 19 KB, 1 Page)