Creative businesses in Brighton & Hove to get boost from South East Create Growth programme

The Create Growth Programme is a first of its kind opportunity targeted at creative businesses with the potential to grow.  The award acknowledges the highly entrepreneurial pool of high-growth creative businesses in the South East not yet at the scaling stage, who can benefit from intensive, targeted, expert support.  

Free support for creatives

This free programme will provide the South East’s creative businesses with the support, the networks and the investment they need – transforming their innovative creative ideas into the leading creative businesses of the future.



Following a competitive process, a consortium of partners working on behalf of the South East Creative, Cultural and Digital sector has secured one of only six awards to regional partnerships across the UK to deliver the Create Growth Programme.  

The Create Growth Programme

The Create Growth Programme is a Department for Digital Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) initiative to support high-growth potential creative businesses outside of London to become investment ready. It will also increase the number of investors willing to invest in creative businesses, by educating and developing investor networks.

Eligible businesses will be able to access an intensive business support programme designed to improve the leadership capacity of pre-scale-up creative businesses, so that they are better placed to access finance, particularly investor finance.  They will also have access to national and regional angel investor networks that are interested in creative industry investment opportunities.  

Who this is for

Eligible businesses will be between the seed and scaling stages and will fall into one of the following sub-sectors:

  • Film, TV, Video, Radio & Photography
  • Design & Designer Fashion
  • Music, Performing & Visual Arts
  • CreaTech, Augmented Reality (AR) Aritificial Intelligence (AI), Virtual Reality (VR), Extended Reality (XR) and Gaming

They will:

  • Be Intellectual Property-rich micro and Small to Medium Sized Enterprises
  • Have turnover growth of 10% year-on-year over approximately 3 years (including either prior to or during the pandemic)
  • Employ a minimum of 2 people over the last two years (full-time, part-time or freelance)
  • Have created a revenue generating product, launched a new platform or service or reached a market of scale
  • Have generated a sales revenue in the last 2 years
  • Be located within the administrative boundaries of Greater Essex, Kent, Medway, East Sussex, West Sussex or Brighton and Hove.

A share of £7m in grants

Businesses within the Consortium’s local authority areas who meet the eligibility criteria will also be able to access a share of £7m in grants.  Companies applying for finance will need to demonstrate their potential to scale rapidly and become sustainable through private investment. The investment fund and investor building activities will be delivered by the UK’s innovation agency, Innovate UK.

These interventions will support the development of new business models, creating investable propositions that bring these creative sub sector closer to the investor markets.  Simultaneously, investor markets will be coached by Innovate UK on the benefits of creative sector investment.

Register your interest now

The programme is being set up now and will launch in January 2023. The funding must be spent by March 2025.   Access to the programme is likely to close in October 2024 when the final cohort of businesses will be recruited (to be confirmed).

If you are interested and think your business might be eligible, please register your interest by emailing: info@createsoutheast.org.uk

Confidence in Brighton & Hove

Brighton & Hove City Council Leader Phélim Mac Cafferty said: “It is fantastic that our city working with important organisations across the region has secured this new funding for local small business hungry to grow.

"The Creative Digital and IT industries are an essential, resilient part of our local economy and identity in Brighton & Hove. And this funding signals further confidence in our area to grow jobs, innovation and opportunities.

"I encourage all eligible businesses to make the most of the opportunities this programme will offer, from business support to funding, and sign up now to receive more information when it becomes available.”