Henley Greenshoots Seed Finance Award Scheme

Greenshoots is targeted at businesses recently launched by students and graduates of the University of Reading, including the Henley Business School. Particular interest is sought from businesses that have occupied either the Henley Start-Up Business Incubator or the Entrepreneurship Hub and those who have previously participated in the IDEAFEST Student Business Idea Competition and the Henley Summer Start-Up Boot Camp that have gone on to start a business.

To be eligible for Greenshoots funding, businesses must be incorporated at/after 1 August 2017 and meet the eligibility criteria as more specifically described below:

- Entrants must be students or graduates of the University of Reading or Henley Business School

- Entrants can be individuals or teams

- Entrants must be permanent UK residents or in the case of non-EEA students or graduates hold an appropriate visa and have been living in the UK for the duration of their University studies

- Start-up must be registered as a trading company in the UK

- All entrants must be at least 18 years old

- Entrants must own a majority share (>50%) in the start-up

- Students who set up businesses as a result of their course (e.g. BA Entrepreneurship) are eligible

- HCfE reserves the right to check the personal details provided by the entrants on entry to make sure that you meet the awards eligibility criteria

The full sum of 2020 Greenshoots funding was granted to Fabian Cardozo-Cajamarca, Lizz Wilden and Yan Yang, a team of Henley Busines School graduates behind start-up technology company WakeSense. As part of their Greenshoots award, the WakeSense team were also selected to be part of the prestigious Santander Universities Emerging Entrepreneurs Programme 2020. The full story can be read here.

Applications for Greenshoots this year will open on 29 March 2021. Please check back for more details in the near future.

Greenshoots is sponsored and supported by Santander.