Defra Farming Innovation Investor Partnership 2025

Programme:Innovate UK & Defra

Awards:45% of project costs (up to £3M total cost)

Geographical Scope:national

Beneficiaries:public

Key Features:Blend government grants and private investment to scale up your agri-tech innovation. The Defra Farming Innovation Investor Partnership offers up to £5 million in funding for late-stage farming solutions, co-funded by investors to drive sustainable growth in agriculture.

Key Information

Funding Organisation: Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) – delivered in partnership with Innovate UK
Total Grant Funding: £5 million available in this competition
Grant per Project: 45% of project costs as grant, for projects with £750,000 to £3 million total cost
Each project must secure private investment at least 2× the grant amount (i.e. ≥ 90% of grant) from approved investors
Focus Areas: Late-stage (near-market) innovations in agriculture that improve:
- Productivity
- Sustainability
- Resilience
- UK farming progress toward net zero emissions
Eligibility: UK-registered SMEs in the farming/agri-food sector, with projects that benefit English farmers
Application Deadline: 2 July 2025, 11:00 BST
Competition Opened: 2 June 2025

Scope

This competition supports late-stage, near-market agri-tech innovations that are:

Already technically validated at smaller scale
Ready for demonstration, pilot, or commercial deployment
Focused on benefits to English agricultural operations, particularly in:
- Productivity and profitability
- Environmental sustainability
- Net zero emissions
- Farm resilience to external pressures

Project types may include:

Systems, technologies, or processes for scalable deployment
Demonstration of benefits via on-farm trials
Development of commercial delivery infrastructure

Projects must be ready for real-world implementation and capable of producing results by late 2027.

How the Funding Works

Key funding structure:

Up to 45% of project costs funded by the grant
At least 90% of grant value must be matched in private capital
Example: A £1 million grant requires £2 million in private investment, creating a £3 million total project

The remaining funds (beyond grant) can come from:

Approved investors
Your company’s own funds

Innovate UK and Defra will only issue a grant offer once:

Your application passes their technical evaluation
You secure a formal investment deal

Competition Overview

The Farming Innovation Investor Partnership 2025 is a pilot funding model under Defra’s Farming Innovation Programme, designed to scale up promising agricultural innovations by combining public grant funding with private investment.

Rather than awarding 100% public grants, Defra (via Innovate UK) offers up to 45% of your project costs as a grant — but only if you secure at least double that amount from a private investor.

The goal is to use public money to attract venture capital or growth investment into the UK agritech sector, helping late-stage innovations reach the market. The £5 million available will be distributed across multiple projects, each requiring total eligible costs between £750k and £3 million.

For example:

A £2 million project may receive up to £900k in grant and must secure at least £1.8 million in private funding.
There is no upper limit on private investment — Defra encourages substantial investor participation.

Projects must be:

Ambitious, late-stage innovations in farming
Proven at small scale, now needing support for commercial deployment
Beneficial to English farmers, growers, or foresters by:
- Improving productivity
- Enhancing environmental sustainability
- Reducing emissions
- Boosting resilience to climate or market risks

This competition targets near-market innovations (final experimental development stages) that could soon be adopted at farm scale.

It extends the successful £270 million Farming Innovation Programme (which previously funded earlier-stage agri-tech R&D) into the scale-up space, addressing the “valley of death” in startup financing.

As Minister Mark Spencer put it:

“By bringing together cutting-edge agri-innovation and public and private investment, we can unlock new technologies that help make our farm businesses as productive as possible.”

Eligibility

To apply, you must meet these criteria:

Be a UK-registered SME (including micro businesses) operating in the agriculture or agri-food space
Deliver a project that benefits English farmers
Submit a project with eligible costs between £750,000 and £3 million
Plan for a project duration of 18 months
Not begin work before 1 April 2026
Complete the project by late 2027
Secure private investment equal to at least 2× the grant amount from a Defra-approved investor

Additional requirements:

You can apply without an investor already confirmed, but must be prepared to negotiate with one of the 8 approved lead investors if shortlisted
You must reach an investment agreement (term sheet) with a selected investor before receiving a grant offer
The private capital:
- May be in the form of equity or venture investment
- Must be new funding aligned to your innovation’s scale-up

Each SME can lead only one application in this competition.

Application and Evaluation

Open: 2 June 2025
Deadline: 2 July 2025
Apply via the Innovate UK online portal

Applications must include:

Project overview and commercialisation strategy
Description of on-farm benefits and scale-up plans
Overview of investment needs and how funds (grant + capital) will be used

Evaluation Criteria:

Innovation impact on UK farming (productivity, sustainability, net zero)
Maturity and technical feasibility
Clarity and strength of commercialisation pathway

Only projects that:

Pass Innovate UK’s evaluation, and
Secure investor interest,

will proceed to the final award stage. Up to 5–10 projects may be funded.

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Our Service Offering in Grants

Our services include:

Grant scouting and strategy: identifying the right UK and EU funding opportunities for your project pipeline
Bid writing: crafting compelling, compliant applications with strong technical and commercial narratives
Grant management: supporting delivery, reporting, and compliance throughout the project lifecycle
Innovation loans: helping secure and manage Innovate UK loans for late-stage development and market readiness
International support: leveraging our global network to access cross-border innovation funding opportunities

Book An Introductory Meeting

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