How These Companies Received Over $27,000 in Business Expansion Grants
We have secured over $2 million in government grants for business expansion for our clients. Whether you’re looking to grow your business in Canada, U.S. or globally, there’s money waiting for you!
We know how much capital it takes to expand operations and many companies often look for loans through their contacts, banks or private lenders. But with all of these options, you have to pay back the money and the interest.
With a business expansion grant, you don’t have to pay back any money at all. This source of funding is not used nearly enough. The grants we have secured for clients range from $20,000 to $200,000, particularly in life science, agriculture, manufacturing and communication technology sectors.
What would you do if your expansion projects had another $30,000 in the budget? What about $50,000? It’s all possible.
Many companies aren’t sure what kind of expenses are covered with business expansion grants. The details are different for each grant, but the money can be used to cover a variety of costs including flights, shipping expenses, trade show booth and accommodation.
We notify clients as soon as they qualify for a market expansion grant and we set up a meeting to apply on their behalf. To give you a sense of how these have worked for our clients, here are two of many companies for which we successfully secured funding.
A $48,397 Business Grant for a Pet Food and Snacks Manufacturer
- Grant name: AgriMarketing Program: Small and Medium-sized Enterprise provides funding for companies to help implement international export plans which include promotional and market development activities.
- Grant amount: $48,395
- Costs covered by this government grant: Trade show booth, sell kits, expenses related to “ride along” sales meetings, shipping costs for product samples, meals and accommodation.
Our client was expanding into various regions in the U.S. At the time, they were already working with brokers and distributors in the U.S. But they needed to exhibit at more trade shows, attend buyer meetings with sales reps and visit various retailers that sell their products.
This business expansion grant covered all of the expenses for them to exhibit at a trade show, which included the cost of the trade show booth, displays, sell kits, travel, accommodation and meals. Their ride along sales meetings with sales and broker representatives was also covered because our client was taken to various retailers who sell their clients.
As the company visited retailers, they assessed the competitors, introduced new products and provided training to the retailer about their product so they could sell more effectively. The cost of shipping samples and sales kits for these meetings was also covered by the business expansion grant.
As a result of these initiatives, our client met and signed new distributors who would sell their products to retailers in regions they hadn’t entered yet. They developed stronger relationships with brokers, distributors, buyers and sales reps in these regions while assessing the market in the U.S. All of these efforts led to increased revenues without using their own money.
A $27,667 Business Expansion Grant for Manufacturers of Smart and Illuminated Electronic Banners and Signs
- Grant name: Going Global Innovation provides funding to support Canadian businesses who want to co-develop, validate or adapt their technologies with foreign entities to commercialize their technology.
- Grant amount: $27,667
- Costs covered by this government grant: Flights, accommodation, meals, local transportation and shipping costs.
Our client wanted to collaborate with a leading signage and banner manufacturer in Orlando USA to optimize and develop Interactive Banner Technology. The main goal was to establish a partnership agreement with the company in Orlando. The American partner contributed to their projects in three ways:
- The optimization of flexible circuit boards
- Selection of compatible materials
- Development of software for manufacturing and interactive applications
After this meeting, they signed a partnership agreement and were able to commercialize their technology.
Our client only ended up using $16,252 of the $27,667 they were approved for. But better to have too much funding than too little.
How Government Grants for Business Expansion Work
You’ve seen the variety of costs are covered by market expansion grants. Many companies mistakenly think that once they’re awarded a grant, they get all of the money up front to implement their projects.
In most cases, the money is reimbursed after submitting the requested receipts and reports about your projects. If this sounds tedious, don’t worry, we take care of all of this work for all of our clients. Take the case of our client who manufactures smart and illuminated banners and signs. Even though they were approved for $27,667 in grant funding, their actual expenses only came out to $16,252. The remaining funds couldn’t be used to do anything they wanted with it because the grant application only requested funding to specific expansion-related activities.
As you’ve seen from our clients’ stories, a business expansion grant can have a tremendous impact on the growth of business while reducing the financial risk for companies to promote their product.
Conclusion
There are many government grants for business expansion that help companies lower the financial risk of promoting their products, establishing a presence in new markets and securing profitable partnerships in other countries. These grants cover a variety of expenses including flights, the cost of exhibiting at trade shows, accommodation and shipping costs.
Many people think that grant money is given before the project can begin. But in reality, most of these grants require that a company spends their own money on the project expenses first before getting reimbursed from the grant. Our clients get their money back after we submit receipts and the requested documents from the grant. At Granted, we take care of all of the reporting for our clients.
