Individuals and businesses can apply to the Bridging the Gap fund for grants of between £5,000 and £75,000 to start up a new business, grow an existing business or safeguard jobs. Bridging the Gap is a competitive fund and the Investment Panel will be looking to identify those projects that create or safeguard the most jobs and leverage the most private sector investment into SMEs. Under the first rounds of Bridging the Gap, close to £4m has been allocated to support SMEs in the Portsmouth, Southampton, Isle of Wight, Gosport, Havant and New Forest Waterside areas. In August 2014 the fund was re-launched with a further £1.85m grant funding available on a Solent-wide basis.

The Solent LEP are offering one-to-one meetings to discuss project proposals with individuals interested in applying to Bridging the Gap. Briefing events will take place across the Solent between funding round deadlines.

For more information contact:

Scheme Provider – Solent Local Enterprise Partnership

Telephone – 023 9268 8924

Email – info@solentlep.org.uk

Website – solentlep.org.uk

Address – Solent LEP Office, Ground Floor, Building 1000, Lakeside North Harbour, Western Road, Portsmouth, PO6 3EZ

Has Solent LEP missed your scheme? If your scheme is not listed on their website and you would like it to be, please let them know.