Are you starting a new business or been trading for less than two years and need finance for your new business?

Looking to borrow between £500 and £25,000 over one to five years to help your business grow?

• Find out about start up loans

Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund

Are you looking for growth finance to help you achieve your ambitions? Whether you're an entrepreneur, a start-up or an established SME business the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF) has a range of finance options for you including Microfinance, Debt Finance and Equity Finance.

Crowdcube

Looking to raise growth finance for your start-up, early stage or growing business? Do you want to retain control of raising finance while building a crowd of investors who believe in your business?

Seedrs

Do you want to raise investment to finance your startup or growing business? Considering crowdfunding but need legal advice and support to easily present your business to a large community of potential investors?

Rosebud Business Finance

Rosebud enables Lancashire’s most ambitious businesses to grow.

Its vision is to see Lancashire businesses and people fulfil their potential, driving the growth of Lancashire’s economy.

It provides the resources, tools and connections to help ambitious businesses to thrive.

Rosebud offers a range of financial and growth support services. This includes hands-on support, expert guidance and tailor-made finance packages or co-investment opportunities for companies across Lancashire from a diverse range of sectors and industries, who are looking to grow and scale.

Eligible businesses – those who are operating as a limited company and based in one of the 12 Lancashire Country Council Local Authority Areas – can borrow from £25k to £100k with interest rates up to 14%, for up to five years.

More information and T&Cs are available at www.rosebudfinance.co.uk

Funding Circle

Are you looking for a quick and affordable loan of up to £1m for your growing business without the costs and complexity of dealing with a bank?

Funding Circle is a peer-to-peer business loans provider and in partnership with Lancashire County Council, any eligible Lancashire based businesses can borrow from £5,000 up to £1 million for a period of up to 5 years. The loan will be funded by people from around the UK alongside Lancashire County Council.

Manufacturing Made Smarter

If you are manufacturer, engineer or maker with facilities of operations in the North West and want to invest in new digital technology or upskill your staff so that they can use them, then register for an assessment.

You will be supported with fully-funded, impartial, expert advice and grant funding to support your project implementation.

Your technology project might involve:

• Creating bespoke products with 3D printing
• Delivering consistent production quality with machine learning
• Making training safer through virtual reality
• Increasing productivity through automation

What can Made Smarter offer?

• Fully-funded specialist advice to assess your current operations and develop your digitalisation strategy
• 50% grant funding to implement new technology, software and hardware into your manufacturing
• Access to student placements to help you understand how to implement the technology

Chamber Low Carbon Grants

If you are an eligible, Lancashire based, small to medium sized enterprise looking to install equipment, or measures to improve your energy or resource efficiency, or perhaps thinking about installing on-site renewable energy generating equipment, the Chamber Low Carbon Programme could be in a position to help.

Typical projects have funded Installation of: • LED lighting • Solar Photo Voltaics • Solar Thermal • Biomass • Anaerobic digestion • Small hydro power • Ground and Air Source Heat Pumps • IR Heating • Variable speed drives • Voltage optimisation... and more