Invest Northern Ireland Grants
Invest Northern Ireland is the region's economic development agency, and its support goes to businesses based in Northern Ireland. Grants usually sit alongside advisory help and target growth, exporting, innovation or capital investment. Most routes start with a conversation with an adviser rather than an open application.
Invest Northern Ireland has 5 open funds listed here, none of them with a fixed deadline.
Checked daily. Last updated 12 November 2026.
No published award history for Invest Northern Ireland. Some funders do not publish their grants data.
What Invest Northern Ireland funds
Counted across the 5 open funds on this page.
No deadline listed
Check the funder's current application window before you apply.
Support for start-ups
Invest Northern Ireland
Invest Northern Ireland offers support for start-up businesses in Northern Ireland. The funding amount is not specified in the available information. This appears to be a rolling programme with no fixed deadline. You can apply if you are starting a new business in Northern Ireland. The grant could help with various start-up costs and business development needs. More details about eligibility requirements and application process would need to be confirmed directly with Invest Northern Ireland.
Support for start-ups with export potential
Invest Northern Ireland
Invest Northern Ireland offers financial and advisory support to start-ups in Northern Ireland that plan to sell outside Northern Ireland. The funder's website sets no single award range and gives no deadline or open-all-year statement. Funding comes through the Access to Finance initiative, which has four funds for high-growth SMEs. Co-Fund NI typically invests between £150,000 and £2 million in equity. NI Small Business Loan Fund III offers unsecured loans. Investment Fund for Northern Ireland provides secured and unsecured mezzanine debt. Techstart Ventures backs early-stage and seed-stage SMEs and university spin-outs. Advice covers strategy, new product ideas, selling outside Northern Ireland, people skills, IT and e-commerce, and energy and waste. A qualifying start-up is early-stage with a tradeable product or service. Invest NI's client definition is the potential to reach 25% of sales outside Northern Ireland (or £250k in external sales) and employ at least 10 staff within five years. Call the Business Support Team on 0800 181 4422 or use the enquiry form.
Support for innovation driven start-ups
Invest Northern Ireland
Invest Northern Ireland funds innovation-driven start-ups in Northern Ireland through a package of programmes, including the Business Innovation Grant (BIG) of up to £20,000 for sole traders, micro-businesses and SMEs. Invest NI calls the target companies Start-Up Innovation Driven Enterprises (IDEs): young, early-stage firms led by ambitious founder teams. Founder Labs is an accelerator for high-potential tech founders. It runs six months of mentoring, global study visits and investor pitching. The Founder Labs Pre-Accelerator is an 8-week programme of workshops, 1:1 mentoring and network access for early-stage tech founders. The funder gives no deadline. Some wider support is open to any Northern Ireland business that meets the eligibility criteria. Other programmes are only for Invest NI clients. To find out which option fits, call the Business Support Team on 0800 181 4422 or use the enquiry form on the Invest NI page.
Agri-Food Investment Initiative (Northern Ireland)
Invest Northern Ireland
Invest Northern Ireland funds capital investment by food and drink processors in Northern Ireland through the Agri-Food Investment Initiative (AFII). Support covers a percentage of eligible costs: up to 35% for small businesses, 25% for medium and 20% for large. Minimum projects are £300,000 (small), £500,000 (medium) and £1,000,000 (large). Eligible costs include machinery and equipment, buying or developing computer software, and buying patents, licences, copyrights and trademarks. Processors must handle Annex I products in sectors such as meat, dairy, potatoes, animal feed and drinks. Invest NI clients can apply, and so can new businesses that show they meet client criteria. Bakery, drinks and cold stores must be SMEs, and egg processors must make contact first. Grant rates are negotiable and limited to the minimum aid needed. The funder's website shows no closing date.
Knowledge Transfer Partnership
Invest Northern Ireland
Invest NI and Innovate UK fund Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) for businesses in Northern Ireland. The funder gives no award range in pounds and no deadline. A KTP links a business, a graduate and a university or college for a project of about two years. Technical KTPs match a graduate from a field such as engineering, ICT or construction with a company running a project in that field. Management KTPs suit companies from any sector that want strategic organisational improvements, such as a new strategy or business model. Projects should cover areas like strategy and business modelling, process or operational improvements, leadership and decision-making, or skills development. Part of the funding comes from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. Full eligibility criteria sit on the Innovate UK eligibility page. To start, call Invest NI's Business Support Team on 0800 181 4422 or fill in the enquiry form.
See all 3 rounds of Knowledge Transfer PartnershipProgrammes Invest Northern Ireland runs in rounds
Miss one round of these and there is another.
Where this funding goes
Frequently asked questions about Invest Northern Ireland funding
How many Invest Northern Ireland grants are open right now?+
5 grants from Invest Northern Ireland are open on GrantMatch today, none of them with a fixed deadline. The list is checked daily.
How do I apply for Invest Northern Ireland funding?+
Each grant on this page links to the Invest Northern Ireland application page for that fund. Read the funder's own eligibility criteria before you start, since terms differ between funds.