Creative England is offering interest free business loans of up to £150,000 to support creative and digital businesses outside London.
The loans are for small to medium-sized companies looking to develop new products, including software, applications and content for cross platform TV development; healthcare; government services; games and interactive entertainment; business To business; e-learning and mobile applications.
Director of business development Jim Farmery said they wanted to be as ambitious about the growth of creative businesses as the talented minds and individuals that are building them.
“Through the Creative England Business Loans we hope to support the development of projects that may have otherwise found it difficult to secure funding and get off the ground.
“Our business support teams will also connect these businesses to ongoing support delivered through local networks and introduce them to new markets to ensure they continue to flourish.”
Creative England Business Loans can be between £60,000 and £150,000 per application, which will be matched 50/50 with the company sharing the development costs.
Proposals such as a mobile healthcare application, the development of a new game for tablet or mobile, or e-government content linked to a new service delivery model, may all be eligible.
A past recipient of a Creative England Business Loan has been The Floow, an independent UK digital company based in Sheffield poised to transform the motor insurance industry with their smart phone technology.
The loan enabled them to create eight new jobs and double their turnover to £500,000, and they forecast a £2million turnover for the next financial year.
Over the next four years they expect to create 70 new jobs in Sheffield and become a global telematics exporter.
The Creative England Business Loans are made possible via funding from the Government’s Regional Growth Fund. For information on how to apply, visit www.creativeengland.co.uk.
