Keep cash flowing: The small business and startup grants available from July 1

The turn of the new financial year did not only launch a new raft of tax measures, but a smattering of small business grants designed to empower the nation’s entrepreneurs.

While the grants on offer are perhaps fewer in number and more specific than those handed out through the turmoil of COVID-19 lockdowns, they still represent a chance for small businesses and startups to turbocharge their efforts through government support.

Victoria: Made in Victoria – Industry R&D Infrastructure Fund

This $15 million fund will provide matched funding of between $250,000 and $2 million to eligible Victorian businesses hoping to invest in new research and development infrastructure.

Program details show the fund is targeting:

• new energy technologies, including wind, hydrogen, solar and batteries
• health technologies, including medtech, biotech, pharma and consumer healthcare
• food manufacturing and agriculture
• defence, aerospace and space
• digital and advanced technologies, including advanced materials, robotics, AI (Artificial Intelligence), 3D-printing, and quantum technologies.

Expressions of interest formally opened on July 6 (yes, we bent the July 1 requirement here a bit!), and you can read more details here.

Research & Development (R&D) Tax Incentive

While not technically a grant, the Research & Development (R&D) Tax Incentive, a key government measure encouraging innovative startups to investigate new technologies, is now welcoming applications for spending incurred in the 2022-2023 financial year.

For entities with an annual turnover below $20 million, the federal government states the R&D Tax Incentive “is your corporate tax rate plus an 18.5% premium.”

This applies potential tax offsets of up to 48.5% for companies on the top company tax rate.

You can read more about the scheme here.

Screen Australia grants

Small businesses in the visual entertainment sector ought to know about three grants on offer from Screen Australia as of July 1 this year.

The Online Development fund is designed to support projects hosted on major online platforms, like YouTube, Facebook, or TikTok.

Virtual reality and extended reality projects will also be considered.

Funding of up to $30,000 is intended for early-stage and emerging career practitioners.

“Applicants can apply for funding for development costs as well as proof of concept creation costs,” Screen Australia states.

You can read more here.

Screen Australia’s Producer Equity Program, also launched July 1, is offering financial assistance equivalent to low-budget documentary producers.

It will provide up to 20% of the project’s approved budget, Screen Australia says.

Details can be found here.

Finally, the Generate Fund and the Premium Fund will open funding opportunities to Australian screen creatives.

“The Generate Fund is for lower budget long-form episodic television and feature film projects with an emphasis on emerging screen content makers,” the organisation states.

“The Premium Fund, also open for episodic television and feature film projects, is for higher budget long form projects of ambition and scale from successful screen content makers.”

A pathway to commercial viability is key to that fund, and interested parties can read more here.

More to come.