Grants

Pros

• You don’t have to pay the money back

• You don’t have to secure assets, personal or company, to get the funding.

• As the cost of the funding is zero, it can allow more risky projects to take place that may otherwise not be carried out. i.e. risky R&D projects

• You don’t need to sell a share of your business to get the funding

• The legal costs of acquiring the finance may be less than that raised via equity

Cons

• It can take a long time to get funding

• There is generally significant administration involved in both attaining funding and with post-funding reporting

• You may spend significant time applying and wait significant time for an answer, yet still not get the funding.

• You may have to pay all the money out first before getting the grant and so you may need other sorts of funding to bridge that funding gap.

• You may not get 100% of the funding you need - it may only be a contribution and so require gap funding.