• Early-stage companies that have raised an initial round of investment, have secured initial customer interest, are still developing their innovative products or services and planning to raise additional investment within 18 months.  
  • Early-stage companies that have generated sales without the need to raise investment and are now expanding their businesses with new products and/or services and are actively working towards raising investment within 18 months.  
  • Early-stage companies that are pre-revenue or at the earliest stages of generating revenue, have raised at least six-figure funding from a range of sources and are working towards raising growth funding/investment within 18 months.  
  • Early-stage companies that have generated initial six-figure sales, e.g. via crowdfunding with fulfilled orders but have not yet raised an initial investment round to accelerate growth or companies that are seeking to normalise and grow sales following crowdfunding campaigns and are planning to raise investment within 18 months.   
  • Early-stage companies that are already established but are exploring new business models and are planning to raise investment within 18 months.  
  • Be registered within the Glasgow City Council Area. 
  • Be a registered company (registered with Companies House). 
  • Businesses must be headquartered in Glasgow. Premises of an organisation based outside the Glasgow City Council Area will not be considered. 
  • Be committed to fair working practises. Fair work is work that offers all individuals an effective voice, opportunity, security, fulfilment and respect. It also includes paying employees at least the real living wage. You can find out more and access free resources using the Fair Work Employer Support Tool. 
  • Provide us with information to enable us to conduct checks on whether you can receive support. 
  • Businesses must not be engaged in any activities such as gambling or other industries that could be deemed unethical. 
  • Businesses will not be eligible if they possess undischarged bankruptcies, subject to insolvency proceedings or an individual who has entered into an arrangement with his/her creditors (including a trust deed). 
  • Where the company is based out with the Glasgow City boundary.  
  • Where the company is not actively engaging with customers or potential customers (the company can be generating revenue or pre-revenue).   
  • Where the company is not currently planning to raise growth funding/investment within 18 months.  
  • Where the company is not planning to grow its Board and wider team, i.e. not planning to create new jobs within the Glasgow City boundary.   

The assessment panel will consider a number of different factors, and may invite applicants to interview, to confirm details within applications. Factors that will be considered will include:  

  • Is the applicant a Glasgow City boundary registered company?   
  • How well the application meets the programme objectives (shown above).  
  • How innovative the company is.  
  • Experience, capability and ambition of the company’s Directors/team.  
  • Potential for Glasgow economic impact.  
  • Demonstrated need for the support.  

 

  • A condition of the grant is that applicants will be required to provide data on the outcomes and impact that the grant has made on the applicant and clients business. 
  • The final grant will be subject to Terms and Conditions set out in an individual award letter.  
  • Participating companies are required to commit to attending six days of cohort training, peer interaction and learning over a core period of three months, which then enables access to professional business and financial planning advisory services with a value of up to £5,000.   
  • Companies that have participated fully will be expected to participate in a Showcase event during Glasgow Tech Week in w/c 19th May 2025 to share their experience of the programme and engage with invited members of the support and investment ecosystem.  
  • The programme is sector agnostic, with a key criteria being that companies are Innovation Driven Enterprises seeking to develop their growth funding propositions.   
  • The programme is fully funded therefore no financial payment is required from participating companies.  
  • Companies will also have the potential to tap into additional support from Strathclyde Inspire including access to the Strathclyde Inspire Hub which includes co-working space, meetings rooms and other facilities; a community of early-stage entrepreneurs, access to wider programme of events and workshops and Supporter (Mentor and Entrepreneur in Residence) network.   
  • Applicants should be aware that any funding awarded by GCID (University of Strathclyde) is a Minimum Financial Assistance (“MFA”) subsidy which is funded through the Shared Prosperity Fund.  The Subsidy Control Act 2022 (the “Act”) allows the grant of awards of up to £315,000 to recipients without needing to comply with the majority of the subsidy control requirements in the Act, provided that receipt of the grant does not cause the recipient's £315,000 MFA threshold to be exceeded over: 
    • the elapsed part of the current financial year (i.e., from 1 April); and 
    • the two financial years immediately preceding the current financial year. 
  • The MFA threshold is calculated at group level. It is the applicant’s responsibility to check whether funds received are MFA or comparable types of subsidy that contribute towards their MFA threshold (see section 42(8) of the Act). If in doubt, please check with the funding sources. 
  • Applicants are required to keep a written record of the amount of any MFA it receives. The written record must be kept for at least three years beginning with the date on which the MFA is given. This will enable you to respond to future requests from public authorities on how much MFA you have received and whether you have reached the cumulative threshold.