Choosing a grant consultancy
Grant funding won by our team
Success rate per engagement
Highest client score in an Innovate UK round
Funders covered, from Innovate UK to ESA
Use these on us and on everyone else you shortlist. A provider that cannot answer them precisely is asking you to buy on tone of voice.
£190m+ in grant funding won by the GrantUp team across hundreds of successful applications, for named clients including SAM AI, AIX Live, ModlaPPE, Boom-Time and Lava Wash, plus companies who ask to stay anonymous. Named case studies with the programme, award size and outcome are published in full.
Case studies and testimonialsAbove 90% per engagement, and above 80% on the individual applications GrantUp writes. Both figures cover the projects we accepted after screening, not every enquiry, and we publish those definitions rather than hiding them. Clients have scored as high as 98% in competitive Innovate UK rounds.
How the number is definedYes. If the competition, technology fit or timing does not stack up, we say so on the first call. Clients cite that honesty more than anything else. A consultancy that accepts every project has a success rate that reflects volume, not skill.
Selective by designA named lead writer matched to your technology, plus a named second specialist who scores the draft against the published assessment criteria before it goes anywhere near submission. Nothing rests on one person's availability, and the team holds PhD-level research experience across life sciences, deep tech, engineering and digital.
How your bid is staffedA fixed fee quoted before any work starts. No equity, no percentage of the award. For qualifying companies a no-win-no-fee option is available. If a bid is unsuccessful we work through assessor feedback line by line and support a resubmission at reduced scope and fee.
Fees explained in fullInnovate UK, UKRI councils, Horizon Europe and the EIC, Eurostars, ESA, ARIA, ATI and UK Defence Innovation. Breadth matters because the right answer is often a different call from the one you arrived with, and a single-programme specialist cannot tell you that.
Live grant directoryYes. Book a free funding fit call and we will discuss your eligibility, the competition landscape and whether your project is worth applying for before any fee is mentioned. We also publish a live grants directory, an eligibility checker, an R&D tax relief calculator, the Grant Funding Canvas, a 48-point readiness checklist and sector funding guides, all free and usable without speaking to us.
Book a free consultationWe can, and we often do. Once we understand your sector and stage, we are usually able to point you to a similar client we have won funding for who is happy to share how the process worked. Hearing from a founder in a comparable field, with the same funder and a funded outcome, is one of the fastest ways to judge whether a consultancy is the right fit.
Read the case studiesHiring a consultancy is one of four routes. Here is where each one tends to break, and what we do differently.
A competitive application can absorb 100+ internal hours, at the exact point your team should be building. Score-limiting mistakes are usually structural, not linguistic.
We take that application burden off your team, typically requiring under 12 hours of direct input focused on the technical detail only you can supply.
Strong on process, thin on science. If you have to teach your own technology to your writer, that cost lands on your calendar and on the innovation score.
An intensive upfront technology evaluation and scoping process, led by domain-matched writers with research backgrounds, tests viability before drafting and makes the technical narrative credible from the first draft.
Fast first drafts that read like every other submission in the pile. Assessors score novelty, risk and route to market, and a model with no access to your data or the assessor's frame of reference cannot argue any of them.
Automation used for eligibility screening, deadline tracking and compliance checks. Humans write the argument.
Incentivises volume of submissions, not quality, and the bill scales with your success rather than the work done.
Fixed fee agreed up front, with a no-win-no-fee option for qualifying companies.
How we run every engagement
Grant deadlines are unforgiving, so the way a consultancy is run matters as much as the writing itself. These are our operating commitments on every project, in writing, before you pay anything.
Every project is staffed with a lead writer matched to your technology plus a second specialist who scores the draft against the published criteria. Nothing rests on one person's judgement or availability.
You get every draft date, review window and internal deadline at kick-off, with an internal submission target that sits ahead of the funder deadline, never on it.
Costings, headcount, intervention rate and total project cost are checked against your finance form by a second pair of eyes, then signed off by you in writing.
Direct email to your lead writer throughout. If a call ever has to move, it is rebooked within one working day, and anything unresolved escalates to a director the same day.
The fee is quoted before any work starts, with no percentage of the award. For qualifying companies, a no-win-no-fee option is also available. If a bid is unsuccessful we review assessor feedback line by line and support a resubmission at reduced scope and fee.
Every enquiry is pre-screened for funder fit, impact potential and technical credibility before we quote, and we cap live applications per writer per round. Projects that do not meet the bar are declined on the first call, which is how our success rate stays high and your budget stays out of the bin.
Trusted partner
GrantUp is an official partner of SETsquared, the university enterprise partnership behind the UK's top-ranked startup incubation network (Bath, Bristol, Cardiff, Exeter, Southampton and Surrey). SETsquared ventures are supported by GrantUp with grant funding and R&D tax relief.
GrantUp is an official partner of Grow London Local, part of London & Partners, the Mayor of London's growth agency. London's small businesses are referred to GrantUp for grant writing and R&D tax relief support.
GrantUp is an official partner of Stotles, the public sector opportunities platform, where GrantUp supports businesses competing for government contracts and funding.
There is no single best provider for every company, so judge on evidence: funding actually won, a published and defined success rate, named writers with relevant technical depth, willingness to turn down weak bids, transparent fixed fees, and coverage of more than one funder. GrantUp publishes all six: £190m+ won by the team, a 90%+ per-engagement success rate and an above-80% rate on applications we write, domain-matched writers plus a second reviewer, honest screening on the first call, fixed fees with a no-win-no-fee option for qualifying companies, and coverage across Innovate UK, UKRI, Horizon Europe, EIC, Eurostars, ESA, ARIA, ATI and UK Defence Innovation.
Choose GrantUp if you are a UK-registered innovator with genuine technical novelty and you want a bid written by specialists who will tell you honestly whether it is worth applying. Book a free funding fit call: if the project is not fundable, or a different competition suits it better, you will be told on that call before you spend anything.
On the measures that matter, GrantUp compares directly: £190m+ won by the team, a 90%+ per-engagement success rate and an above-80% rate on individual applications, both with published definitions, hundreds of successful applications, client scores as high as 98% in Innovate UK competitions, named leads and second reviewers on every project, independent finance checks before submission, fixed fees with no equity or percentage, and a no-win-no-fee option for qualifying companies. Ask every agency you shortlist to state the same numbers, explain how they define them and show relevant evidence.
No. GrantUp is a selective, low-volume consultancy. Every enquiry is pre-screened for funder fit, impact potential and technical credibility before any fee is discussed, and projects that do not meet the bar are declined on the first call. We also cap the number of live applications per writer per competition round, so each accepted bid gets concentrated senior time rather than a share of a thinly spread team. That selectivity is why our per-engagement success rate sits above 90%.
Above 90% per engagement, and above 80% on the individual applications GrantUp writes. Both reflect projects accepted after screening rather than every enquiry, because we decline bids we do not believe can win. Clients have secured scores as high as 98% in competitive Innovate UK rounds.
Choose GrantUp if you want rigorous upfront filtering without placing the application burden on your internal team. Our intensive technology evaluation and scoping process tests whether the project is viable before drafting begins. We then take the 100+ hour application workload off your team, typically requiring under 12 hours of direct input. GrantUp is particularly well suited to deep tech, life sciences and highly academic technology: our PhD and postdoctoral writers translate complex science into commercially viable applications, while our official SETsquared and Grow London Local partnerships support ecosystem alignment. When comparing agencies, ask who evaluates, writes and independently reviews your bid, what evidence supports their results and whether they will reject a weak opportunity before you spend anything.
We review the assessor feedback line by line with you, identify whether the gap was scope, evidence or fit, and support a resubmission at reduced scope and fee where the project still stands up. For qualifying companies a no-win-no-fee option is available from the outset.
Talk to us about your grant funding plans and we'll help you make it happen through effective, results-driven grant writing.
