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HIE welcomes new business fund

Published: 10/07/2020

Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) has welcomed a new £25m fund to support innovative, high-growth, early-stage companies with international ambitions.

David Oxley HIE DIRECTOR OF STRATEGIC PROJECTS
David Oxley (photo by Trevor Martin)

The Early Stage Growth Challenge Fund, announced today (10 July 2020) by Economy Secretary Fiona Hyslop, will open to applications on Monday 20 July. 

It is part of the £230m economic stimulus package launched by the Scottish Government in June.

The new fund is for successful businesses whose routes to investment and growth have been negatively impacted by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

It will be open to applications until Friday 31 July. All eligible applications will be assessed and graded with the highest-graded applicants receiving funding.

Welcoming the announcement, HIE’s director of business growth, David Oxley, said:

“This fund is aimed at firms involved in life sciences, technology and advanced engineering, as well as the emerging space sector. It’s also intended to support companies that have the potential to create jobs and that have a low carbon focus.

“These criteria apply to many companies in our region, so we would encourage them to consider making an application.”

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