Team & culture
GrantUp is a specialized team of grant funding experts, PhD scientists and engineers, former funding assessors and career bid writers. Every proposal is written by people, and when you brief us, you brief the person who writes yours.
£190m+
Grant funding won by our team
100's
Grant applications written and won
18
Specialists across science, engineering and bid writing
36+
Technical fields our specialists cover
Our culture
CREATE is the acronym that runs through the whole GrantUp group. It shapes how we hire, how we work with each other and how we treat a client's deadline.
We work together with kindness, honesty and transparency, fostering teamwork and mutual respect, and we celebrate milestones as a united team, in partnership with our clients.
We leverage our expertise, experience and tooling to deliver the best result. We act as trusted guides, adapting and innovating to put our clients' success first at every step.
We communicate with mindfulness and empathy, building trust through freedom, flexibility and transparency, empowering our team lets everyone thrive in an environment of mutual respect.
We take full ownership at every level, deliver on our promises with integrity, and strive for exceptional results that lead to shared success.
We approach challenges with unwavering determination, thinking on our feet, taking proactive ownership, adapting to change and finding the route to a win.
We commit to constant learning, self-improvement and innovation, treating every challenge as an opportunity to get better at the craft.
“We are experts in unlocking grant funding. Our clients get PhD-level subject matter experts and former assessors, people who have written and reviewed hundreds of applications, not a piece of software generating text.”
Dr Aaron Mason, Founder
How your bid is staffed
Your lead writer is chosen for genuine domain experience in your field, whether that is an assay, a device, a semiconductor process or a model, so the technical narrative is written by someone who understands it.
A second specialist scores every draft against the published criteria before it reaches you. Several of the team have assessed and reviewed applications for funders themselves.
Finance, compliance and portal submission are handled by dedicated people rather than squeezed in by the writer at the deadline, and capacity is capped per competition round.
The team
Senior Grant Writer
Kevin is a highly experienced international bid and grant specialist with over 20 years of experience securing funding for innovative organizations, supporting small and mid-sized companies, universities, health systems and local government to win competitive grants and deliver complex multi-partner projects.
Innovation Consultant
Nathan is a grant consultant with a strong technical background in life sciences and data-driven research, supporting organizations to develop robust, evidence-led funding applications. He holds a PhD in Neuropathology, where his research focused on protein aggregation and diagnostics for neurodegenerative disease.
Managing Director
Sarah brings deep technical expertise in grant funding and R&D tax relief, with over 15 years of experience in both, and an outstanding track record of positive outcomes for small and mid-sized companies across multiple industries.
Senior Grant Writer
Katie is a highly experienced innovation consultant and grant writer with over a decade of expertise securing funding for science and engineering projects. She has raised over £35 million for initiatives in advanced manufacturing, recycling, biotech, food processing, agri-tech and sustainable innovation.
Senior Grant Writer
Ben is a highly experienced bid writer with wide-ranging expertise across funder requirements in multiple sectors, having secured more than 350 grants for clients over the past 15 years. Alongside agency and research council applications he has unique experience developing proposals for charities, trusts and foundations, and serves as an expert reviewer.
Innovation Consultant
Lisa is an innovation consultant with experience supporting organizations to secure and deliver grant funding across complex, multi-year programs, bringing a structured approach to funding planning, bid development and opportunity identification.
Lead Innovation Consultant
Thomas has written and won Innovate UK grant applications and has reviewed submissions, so he reads a draft the way an assessor does. He has deep knowledge of the UK and EU landscapes including Horizon Europe, NIHR and Innovate UK, and has been a key lead on a significant share of the funding GrantUp has secured.
Founder
Aaron has a track record of winning grant funding and delivering the projects that follow, across current and past businesses as a founder. He is passionate about writing high-quality, clear and compelling applications for companies that want to win funding.
Operations Manager
Lucy is GrantUp's Operations Manager, making sure the business runs smoothly behind the scenes while the team focuses on delivering high-quality funding applications.
Senior Funding Consultant
Shelley brings decades of commercial experience supporting innovative businesses, helping organizations identify and pursue funding opportunities that let them grow, scale and bring new ideas to market.
Senior Funding Consultant
Rebecca has extensive experience supporting innovative businesses to access funding through innovation grants, technical project development and R&D tax relief, across software, manufacturing, deep tech and medtech.
Senior Funding Consultant
Katy brings over twenty years of experience developing partnerships that deliver measurable business growth, with a proven ability to identify high-value opportunities and negotiate collaborations that support innovation, market expansion and access to funding.
Senior Grant Writer
Martin brings over 30 years of experience in high-technology industries, combined with seven years specializing in grant funding and innovation bids.
Customer Success Manager
Stacy brings a scientific background in molecular diagnostics, with experience developing innovative testing panels and working across highly technical research environments.
Innovation Consultant
Anjuli is an experienced grant consultant with a strong track record supporting innovation-led projects from application through to delivery, shaping compelling bids and providing hands-on support across the lifecycle of funded projects.
Lead Innovation Consultant
Jessica has written across the full Innovate UK and Horizon Europe pipeline, from CR&D competitions and Innovation Loans through EIC Accelerator and Pathfinder bids. She knows how each funder's review culture differs, which is where most first-time applicants lose points.
Lead Innovation Consultant
Felix writes Innovate UK grant submissions and knows how assessors weigh technical risk against commercial potential. He coaches founders on exactly what to change between a decline and a resubmission.
Senior Grant Writer
Matthew is a bid writer with over 10 years of experience at the interface between university research and industry innovation, supporting organizations to secure competitive grant funding across national and European programs. He serves as an expert reviewer, giving him valuable insight into how proposals are assessed.
If you have extensive experience winning Innovate UK, UKRI or Horizon Europe grants and want to help our clients access funding too, we would like to hear from you.
Get in touchTalk to us about your grant funding plans and we'll help you make it happen through effective, results-driven grant writing.
