Clean Energy and Climate Technologies Growth Catalyst Fund

Wednesday 11th June 2025, 12:08pm

Innovate UK is piloting a new programme called Growth Catalyst. It seeks to accelerate highly innovative startups on their journey to becoming successful scale-ups and beyond. 

The first Growth Catalyst pilot is aimed at innovative late-stage start-up businesses (seed to series A) working in clean energy or climate technology.



Growing crops through controlled environments - credit Innovate UK

Specific areas of focus

This round will focus on technology and innovations that aim to deliver government commitment to clean energy for the UK and accelerating to net zero, helping the UK to prosper from the transition to net zero. 

This includes solutions and enabling technologies that make a significant contribution to mitigating climate emissions, across heat, power, mobility, manufacturing, materials, agriculture and food production systems.



The aim of this competition is to provide support for research and development and access to the capital investment needed to develop and commercialise your innovations. 

Your proposal must have a clear route to market, a clear link to innovation and evidence that you can create a team to deliver your proposal.



Examples area of focus: Sustainable Agriculture and Food Production Systems

Novel low emission production systems, including:

  • alternative proteins from diverse sources (e.g. plant, algae, fungi, bacteria, aquatic plants)
  • precision and biomass fermentation, 
  • cultivated meat and new production systems (insects, novel aquaculture). 

Technologies which reduce emissions in agriculture, including:

  • precision & regenerative agriculture
  • soil health
  • low emission fertilisers
  • methane reduction technologies 
  • controlled environment agriculture and electrification & alternative fuels in agriculture 

Please note this is an illustrative list. You must demonstrate how your project aligns to the scope in your application.



The competition opened on 2nd May, 2025 and closes on 2nd July, 2025 at 11am.


Find out more and apply



Innovate UK plan two further Growth Catalyst rounds this year, potentially in different industry sectors. The next pilot will be aimed at early-stage (pre-seed) start-ups.



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