Defra Farming Innovation Investor Partnership 2025
UK registered SMEs can apply for a share of up to £5m to develop innovative farming solutions. This must align with private investment from selected investor partners.
Opportunity Details
When
Registration Opens
02/06/2025
Registration Closes
02/07/2025
Award
Your project’s total eligible costs must be between £750,000 and £3 million; up to 45% of costs can be covered by a grant from this competition. The aligned private investment must provide you with suitable capital at least twice the amount of the grant requested to complete your project; this capital does not have to support the project directly.
Organisation
DEFRA
Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will work with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to invest up to £5 million in innovation projects. This funding is linked to Defra’s Farming Innovation Programme delivered by Innovate UK.
The aim of this competition is to:
- develop ambitious late stage innovative solutions, technologies, systems or approaches that will make significant steps towards improving productivity, profitability, increasing sustainability and resilience
- help the agriculture sector move towards achieving net zero emissions by 2050
- support commercialisation of late stage experimental development projects that are close to market and ultimately their adoption by farmers
Your proposal must be able to demonstrate how the project will benefit farmers, growers or foresters in England.
To be offered grant funding your project must be assessed as eligible for grant funding and must have secured aligned investment with a lead investor from the pool. You can view the areas of expertise and investment preferences for the pool of investors.
You can apply for this competition before you speak to an investor but initiating dialogue with investors is strongly encouraged. In addition to investment, the lead investors in the pool can provide you with commercial acumen in (e.g.) leadership, market access, skills and resources.
Successful UK registered SME’s will receive:
- grant funding from Innovate UK
- aligned investment funding with one of the programme’s pool of investors acting as the lead investor
If you would like help to find an investor partner, contact Innovate UK Business Connect’s Investor Partnerships team or Agrifood team.
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To lead a project your organisation must:
- be a UK registered micro, small or medium sized enterprise (SME)
- be prepared to negotiate heads of terms for an aligned private investment
An SME can only lead on one application.
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Your project must:
- have total eligible costs of between £750,000 and £3 million
- last 18 months
- carry out all of its project work in the UK
- intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
- not start before 1 April 2026
- be able to demonstrate how it will benefit farmers, growers or foresters in England
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You must agree the private investment through a lead investor and reach heads of terms by 3 December 2025.
The aligned private investment:
- must provide you with suitable capital at least twice the amount of the grant requested to complete your project, support company growth and scale ambitions
- can be directed for use in your company, whereas the grant is to support the project only
- can be used to fund additional costs typically ineligible for support by Innovate UK
- must be provided under commercial terms negotiated with the lead investor and not Innovate UK
The investment can be in the form of either direct equity investment or a convertible loan. It must come from a lead investor from the pool of investors associated with this programme. The lead investor may decide to syndicate with other investors from within or outside of the pool.
If you would like help to find an investor partner, contact Innovate UK Business Connect’s Investor Partnerships team or Agrifood team.
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The aim of this competition is to:
- develop ambitious late stage innovative solutions, technologies, systems or approaches that will make significant steps towards improving productivity, profitability, increasing sustainability and resilience
- help the agriculture sector move towards achieving net zero emissions by 2050
- support commercialisation of late stage experimental development projects that are close to market and ultimately their adoption by farmers
Your project must:
- demonstrate your ambition to finalise a late stage innovation
- show your potential to grow and scale your business through successful negotiation of investment from a lead investor associated with the competition
- provide a coherent project plan which integrates into your business strategy
Your solutions must significantly improve farm focused:
- productivity
- sustainability and environmental impact
- progression towards net zero emissions
- resilience
Your project must be able to demonstrate how the project will benefit farmers, growers or foresters in England.
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Your project must address a significant industry challenge or opportunity in at least one of the industry subsectors:
- livestock
- plants
- novel food production systems
- bioeconomy and agroforestry
We are not funding projects that:
- are not carried out by single SMEs
- are collaborative research and development (R&D) projects
- are not part of a company’s growth plan
- are unable to prove there is potential for return on investment and growth
- are equine specific
- involve wild caught fisheries
- involve aquaculture for fish production or human consumption
- involve cellular expression of proteins or cultivated meat
- involve cellular or acellular production systems, fermentation systems for bacteria, yeast or fungi for human consumption
- have the primary focus being Total Controlled Environment Agriculture (TCEA)
- are for the production of crops or plants for medicinal or pharmaceutical use
- do not benefit farmers, growers or foresters in England
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An online briefing event will be held at 11am on Thursday 5 June: click here for the joining link.
If you would like help to find an investor partner, contact Innovate UK Business Connect’s Investor Partnerships team or Agrifood team.