Investment readiness training
Invest-Ability Training
Innovate UK Business Growth’s Invest-Ability Training supports ambitious, scaling businesses transitioning from validated innovation to early commercialisation, who are seeking their next equity raise.
The training will help you translate momentum into a clear, credible and compelling investment proposition, aligning your strategy, narrative, and positioning with what investors look for, so you can be better prepared to attract growth capital with confidence.
This highly interactive training focuses on the critical topics you need to know for venture capital fundraising. You will engage with peers on a similar journey, share challenges and gain invaluable constructive feedback from investors and other experts. Your innovation and growth specialist, or scale-up director, will work closely with you before, during and after.
To express your interest in participating, please review all information and dates below. Ensure that you read all the important details and can attend all sessions before submitting your expression of interest for one of our Invest-Ability Training cohorts.
How does Invest-Ability Training work?
Training sessions
You will join a cohort of up to 15 businesses to complete the following sessions:
- ‘Get to Know You’ (virtual session, 2 hours) Meet like-minded peers embarking on the same journey as you. You’ll also meet your expert trainer, the investment readiness specialist leading the cohort and gain an understanding of what to expect from Invest-Ability Training.
- Training Day 1 (in-person session, full day) and Training Day 2 (virtual session, full day)Substantive work on how to prepare for your next stage investment. The sessions will include:
- how institutional investors assess the opportunity
- the mechanics of running a fundraising process
- how to create investor conviction.
You will learn to view your business from an investor’s perspective, improving decision-making, story-telling and business rigour. You will hear from legal experts and investors, as well as learning from the collective experience in the room.
- Pitch Practice (virtual session, 30 minutes)Deliver a 3-minute pitch to an expert panel of investment readiness specialists and scale-up directors. Expect challenging questions and constructive feedback to help you hone your pitch and prepare for investor engagement and due diligence.
- Wrap-up (virtual session, half day)Reflect on your progress and consider the next steps for your business.
Please see ‘how to apply’ for the training dates in your region.
Investor Pitch Panel
After completing the training, you can attend an investor pitch panel, where you will:
- road test a 3-minute pitch in front of a panel of investors who understand your sector
- receive constructive investor feedback and practice handling investor Q&A
- network with investors and fellow founders
You will also have the opportunity to ask your own questions to the panel and hear from Innovate UK sector experts on relevant opportunities for your business.
There is a virtual pitch panel for each of the Industrial Strategy sectors we focus on, and for some sectors there is also an in-person event. You will be asked to select your preferred dates in your expression of interest form.
Investor pitch panel dates:
- Creative Industries (in-person, London) – Wednesday 20 January 2027
- Digital Technologies (in-person, London) – Wednesday 20 January 2027
- Clean Energy (virtual) – Wednesday 3 February 2027
- Digital Technologies (virtual) – Wednesday 3 February 2027 (virtual)
- Advanced Manufacturing (virtual) – Wednesday 10 February 2027
- Creative Industries (virtual) – Friday 12 February 2027
- Life Sciences (virtual) – Wednesday 17 February 2027
- Defence (virtual) – Wednesday 17 February 2027
- Advanced Manufacturing (in-person, Midlands) – Wednesday 24 February 2027
Is your business suitable?
Invest-Ability Training is by invitation only from your innovation and growth specialist or scale-up director.
Suitable companies should be able to evidence the following:
- At least £500k in equity raised to date, demonstrating progression beyond early-stage R&D
- Preparing to raise £1.5m+ to support commercialisation, market entry, or scaling activity in the next 6 – 12 months
- Your business is typically at late TRL 6 to TRL 8, with validated technologies demonstrated in relevant or operational environments
- Evidence of early market validation, such as pilots, demonstrators, partnerships, LOIs, procurement engagement, early revenues or regulatory approvals
- In longer-cycle sectors (e.g. biotech, medtech, regulated engineering), you may still be progressing through validation pathways, but must show clear evidence that core technical feasibility has been substantially de-risked
- You understand key constraints to scaling, including technical, regulatory, manufacturing, IP, or market barriers
- A founding team with technical depth and commercial intent, and awareness of capability gaps for scaling post investment
If you have previously participated in Innovate UK’s Invest-Ability training or Pitch Panels, you are welcome to apply to join this training cohort as the content and focus is different.
All submissions are reviewed by an expert panel to identify the companies that will benefit the most from Invest-Ability Training.
How to apply
If you wish to apply, please select your preferred date below and complete the expression of interest.
If you do not meet all the suitability criteria but believe that you can greatly benefit from this, please contact your innovation and growth specialist to discuss further.
Please note that:
- All of the training sessions are mandatory to attend. Please ensure that you can join all of the dates before submitting an expression of interest for a particular cohort.
- Training Day 1 will be held in person at the regional location specified on the training dates below. Please check if this works for you before submitting your expression of interest.
- The ‘Get to Know You’ session, Training Day 2, Pitch Practice and ‘Wrap-Up’ session will be held virtually.
- You will be asked in your expression of interest if you wish to attend a pitch panel, and you will be able to select up to 3 possible dates. We will endeavour to allocate your first date preference, however, a specific date allocation cannot be guaranteed and you may be invited to any of the dates you have selected.
- It is mandatory for the senior-level representative from the company who is going to pitch to the investors at the Investor Pitch Panel to attend all preceding training sessions.
Training dates 2026-27
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Please ensure that you can join all of the dates before submitting an expression of interest.
- Expression of interest deadline: Tuesday 1 September 2026
- Expression of interest outcome: Tuesday 15 September 2026
- ‘Get to Know You’ Meeting: Tuesday 29 September 2026 (virtual session)
- Training Day 1: Tuesday 20 October 2026 (in-person session, London)
- Training Day 2: Tuesday 3 November 2026 (virtual session)
- Pitch Practice: Tuesday 17 November 2026 (virtual session)
- Wrap up Session: Tuesday 1 December 2026 (virtual session)
Expression of interest - Cohort 1
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Please ensure that you can join all of the dates before submitting an expression of interest.
- Expression of interest deadline: Thursday 3 September 2026
- Expression of interest outcome: Thursday 17 September 2026
- ‘Get to Know You’ Meeting: Thursday 1 October 2026 (virtual session)
- Training Day 1: Thursday 22 October 2026 (in-person session, South West, location tbc)
- Training Day 2: Thursday 5 November 2026 (virtual session)
- Pitch Practice: Thursday 19 November 2026 (virtual session)
- Wrap up Session: Thursday 3 December 2026 (virtual session)
Expression of interest - Cohort 2
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Please ensure that you can join all of the dates before submitting an expression of interest.
- Expression of interest deadline: Wednesday 16 September 2026
- Expression of interest outcome: Wednesday 30 September 2026
- ‘Get to Know You’ Meeting: Wednesday 14 October 2026 (virtual session)
- Training Day 1: Wednesday 4 November 2026 (in-person session, Midlands, location tbc)
- Training Day 2: Wednesday 18 November 2026 (virtual session)
- Pitch Practice: Wednesday 2 December 2026 (virtual session)
- Wrap up Session: Wednesday 16 December 2026 (virtual session)
Expression of interest - Cohort 3
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Please ensure that you can join all of the dates before submitting an expression of interest.
- Expression of interest deadline: Tuesday 22 September 2026
- Expression of interest outcome: Tuesday 6 October 2026
- ‘Get to Know You’ Meeting: Wednesday 21 October 2026 (virtual session)
- Training Day 1: Tuesday 10 November 2026 (in-person session, Wales, location tbc)
- Training Day 2: Tuesday 24 November 2026 (virtual session)
- Pitch Practice: Tuesday 8 December 2026 (virtual session)
- Wrap up Session: Wednesday 6 January 2027 (virtual session)
Expression of interest - Cohort 4
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Please ensure that you can join all of the dates before submitting an expression of interest.
- Expression of interest deadline: Thursday 24 September 2026
- Expression of interest outcome: Thursday 8 October 2026
- ‘Get to Know You’ Meeting: Wednesday 21 October 2026 (virtual session)
- Training Day 1: Thursday 12 November 2026 (in-person session, Northern Ireland, location tbc)
- Training Day 2: Thursday 26 November 2026 (virtual session)
- Pitch Practice: Thursday 10 December 2026 (virtual session)
- Wrap up Session: Thursday 7 January 2027 (virtual session)
Expression of interest - Cohort 5