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Great ideas need funding
Applications are open
The Student StartUp team will be awarding 3 grants of £5,000 in collaboration with Santander X. This updated funding is designed to support current students or recent graduates (of the last 5 years) with equity‑free seed funding to help their UK‑based companies grow and transform.
We have 3 x £5,000 grants available to help you test an idea or progress your startup to the next stage. This funding is awarded in collaboration with Santander Universities.
You won't need to pay the money back, but you should be able to show a return on investment from your business development.
Applicants must have progressed beyond the initial idea stage and be actively developing their venture. This could include early validation, prototyping, or a clear plan for next steps.
You can use this funding to:
- Conduct further market research
- Create or refine a prototype
- Develop a marketing plan
- Purchase essential products or services
- Launch a product or service
- Scale your business
This is not an exhaustive list. If you are unsure, please reach out to the Student StartUp team (studentstartup@port.ac.uk)
Eligibility
- Open to University of Portsmouth students and graduates (within 5 years of graduating)
- Applicants must be an enrolled student at the University of Portsmouth in any year of study during the 2025/26 academic year and/or a recent graduate of the university from the last 5 years. Any degree discipline is welcome.
- Applicants must be aged 18 or older at the time of applying
- Applicants must have progressed beyond the initial idea stage and be actively developing their venture. This could include early validation, prototyping, or a clear plan for next steps.
- If you are on a student visa you are not eligible to start a business, so we are unable to accept applications. If you are on a graduate visa, please speak to the Startup team as applications will be considered.
- If you have previously received startup funding from the Student StartUp team on two or more occasions, unfortunately, you are not eligible to apply for this funding. This new funding can only be awarded once per applicant.
- The funding is for UK-based projects and businesses only.
- Unfortunately, the funding cannot be used to pay for office space or to pay a wage, although you can use it to pay for outsourcing specific tasks/skills if you can demonstrate the impact.
Business eligibility criteria
- The business must be incorporated and registered as a UK company* or have registered for self-assessment for sole traders.
- * Named individual(s) applying can be resident in a different country as long as the business is incorporated in the UK. However, applicants holding a student visa are not permitted to apply under this condition.
- Businesses must also meet 1 or more of the following criteria:
- Be able to demonstrate demand for the product/service
- Be at MVP (minimal viable product) stage or beyond
- Be actively trading
How to Apply
Applications are now open
You can find more details about the application process below:
- Submit your application via the Santander X platform by 11.59pm on 14 April 2026. As part of your application, you should:
- submit an itemised list of how the funding would be spent if successful, with accurate costings for all items/services to be purchased. You will be asked to provide this within the application form on Santander X.
- answer a series of questions about your business. You will be asked to answer these questions within the application form on Santander X.
- If successful, you will be invited to pitch your idea. Pitching dates can not be changed and you must be available to attend in person.
Unfortunately, we cannot provide written feedback following the outcome of your application. However, if you would like to speak with someone in our team you can book an appointment where we can discuss this with you.
Assessment and Selection Process
The university’s decision on the allocation of the award is final. There is no appeal process.
When assessing applications, the university will aim to identify businesses that will benefit the most from the grant. The assessment and selection process is as follows:
The panel will be looking for:
- Evidence of successful trading. If you are not currently trading, you must submit evidence to confirm that you have a minimum viable product (MVP).
- Long-term sustainability and growth potential of your startup/project.
- A clear, itemised breakdown of how the funding will be spent, with accurate costings.
If shortlisted, you will be invited to present a pitch to a small panel.
Need some help with your application? Get in touch through StudentStartup@port.ac.uk
During the pitch, judges will look for:
- A clear and engaging presentation
- Clear communication of the problem that your startup/project is solving and how it is different to existing solutions
- Evidence of your progress so far and key successes to date
- A clear future vision and specific plans for progression
The selection panel will evaluate your application based on how clearly you explain:
- the overview of the idea, including identifying the problem and solution
- the method of revenue generation and identified costs for the business
- the work you have done so far on the business or idea
- how the funding will be spent
- the impact the funding will have on the business
- the overall feasibility and the potential to be a viable business
All criteria are scored on a scale of 1-5.
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1. Applications are open for all individuals who meet the criteria as listed in the ‘Eligibility criteria’ section above.
2. To be considered, applicants must meet all points listed in the ‘Submission criteria’ section above.
3. Each applicant can only apply once.
4. You must only use your grant for the purposes of your business, which is set out in your application, unless we agree to any changes.
5. It is the applicants ‘responsibility to ensure they read and understand the eligibility criteria and submit their application appropriately, on time and following the application instructions / requirements as indicated on the Santander X platform.
6. The successful applicants will receive a confirmation email (informing them that they been awarded) via the Santander X platform by 22/05/2026. The university will also contact you via email to confirm your successful application and next steps for the grant payment.
7. The successful applicants will receive an award value of £5,000 which will be paid by bank transfer to a UK bank account.
Successful applicants must spend the award within 12 months receipt or request an extension via the Student Startup team. We reserve the right to decline an extension. Recipients must co-operate with the university’s Student Startup and/or finance team to provide the necessary details required to make the award through the university’s process.
The startup funding initiative is managed by the Student StartUp team (who sit within the Careers and Employability Service) in collaboration with Santander Universities who provide the funding.
The Careers and Employability Service work with applicants of the startup funding opportunity. Applications to the fund are made directly on the Santander X portal from where staff in the Student StartUp team download the applications to assess against the funding criteria, in order to put successful applications through to the next stage of the application process.
The applications that are downloaded are held in a Google folder to which only members of the Careers and Employability Service have access. Basic details of each application including the name(s) of the applicant, contact details and information relating to the business opportunity for which the application is made is held on a Google spreadsheet for easy reference.
For those applications which are put forward to the next stage, Student StartUp staff will keep the application and contact the applicant with relevant information relating to the further stages of the applications. For applicants who are successful at the final stage, details will be kept to maintain records and audit purposes for a period of 10 years from the end of the academic year in which the application was made. The Student StartUp team will only share information publicly with consent from the successful applicant.
Where an application is not successful (at any stage of the application process), the Student StartUp team will keep the application for feedback purposes. The application will be deleted at the end of the academic year in which the application was made. Applications will remain on the Santander X platform for the period stated in their policies. The Student StartUp team will continue to have access to this information to contact you with relevant opportunities but will not hold the data locally.
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