Startup owners are always looking for new and innovative ways to expand their business. Always looking for new ideas and new investors. And most of the times although the idea might be great, investments are really hard to come by. Startups struggle and although there are funding options, most startup owners do not seem to know about them.
The European Union believes in the importance of start-up businesses. For that reason, there are established EU programmes that a business owner can apply for to get the funding they need to promote the startup.
Some online research is going to show you that there are several different funding programmes that you might be able to apply for. It all has to do with the type of business or project. Based on that there are 2 different types of funding that you can get, for your startup.
Direct Funding
Direct funding is usually allocated and managed to the different businesses by the European Institutions. Direct funding can be broken down into two categories. Grants and Contracts.
Grants are only given to specific projects. Those project must be related to the EU policies. In most cases, they are following a public announcement aka a call for proposal.
If you are running a business or a related organization that runs EU projects that further the interests of the EU, or if you contribute to the implementation of an EU programme or policy then you are eligible for an EU grant.
Contracts are usually issued by the European Union for very specific reasons such as to buy services, different goods or specific types of work that are needed in order to complete operations such as studies, training, conference organisation or IT equipment.
Indirect Funding
National and regional authorities are the ones responsible to manage indirect funds which it is nearly 80% of the European Funding capital, in general. There are mainly, 5 big funds that come under the umbrella of the European Structural and Investment Funds.
The funds are:
- European Regional Development Fund – regional and urban development
- European Social Fund – social inclusion and good governance
- Cohesion Fund – economic convergence by less-developed regions
- European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development
- European Maritime and Fisheries Fund
Applying for Funding
Every startup company can be part of these types of funding. Usually, you want to add your startup to a specific consortium of partners, to manage and become part of the project. This is going to give you a type of funding that will allow you to develop based on the project’s directions.
If the funding you are looking for is for promoting your startup idea, without the limitations of a specific project proposal then you can still go for EU funding. Programmes like the SME Instrument are certainly a great choice for your startup.
Search for all the important information regarding EU programmes today. Learn which programme is the best option for you. Make sure that you will try to find partners to help you through the process and start funding your startup today!
