Non-Dilutive Funding | ~$150k R&D Grant for REMOJO

With a staff of 25, rapid growth and a presence across 5 platforms, REMOJO was a venture-backed cash-guzzling monster of a startup.

To maintain maximum momentum and preserve cashflow, I needed to access every source of funding available.

The UK government had made available Research & Development (R&D) tax relief, which for loss-making companies was paid as a cash credit. I set out to access as much of this funding as possible to maximise the capitalisation of the company and extend our runway.

Challenge

The difficulty with winning these awards was in the detail:

• Ensuring your accounts are rigorous, 

• Ensuring there is sufficient documentation and clear presentation of qualifying costs and investments in research and development, 

• Articulating the case for how and why your project was innovative 

The key to unlocking the funding was a clear “Technical Narrative”: documenting and articulating the specific scientific or technological uncertainties you tried to resolve, then mapping costs and budgets against them.

Deliverables

1. Technical narrative and descriptions of innovative activities

2. Management accounting

3. Financial accounting

4. Grant writing - finished application

Results

We secured over £100,000 (~$139,000) in R&D tax credits from HMRC over two financial years - paid directly as a cheque and cash credit to our business bank account.

The funding was enormously beneficial in extending our runway after the last convertible equity fundraising round and gave REMOJO an additional 2-3 years of support without needing to return to the dilutive capital markets.