Queensland Government Business Growth Fund – Round 5

Expressions of Interest open Monday, 8 May 2023

Late last week, the Queensland Government released the details for round five of its Business Growth Fund. The Business Growth Fund (BGF) targets high-growth businesses who can accelerate growth, drive Queensland’s economy and employ more Queenslanders.

Business Growth Fund

The Business Growth Fund (BGF) targets high-growth businesses who can accelerate growth, drive Queensland’s economy and employ more Queenslanders. It provides funding for small and medium-sized high-growth businesses to buy specialised equipment, enabling them to unlock growth potential, increase production, expand their workforce, and maximise economic returns to move them to the next stage of growth.

Funded businesses are expected to:

• increase confidence for growth, transitioning from small to medium-sized
• increase productivity, turnover, profit and/or employment by 20%
• improve confidence to automate, scale up, increase market share, diversify and/or exploit exporting opportunities.

The program is administered by the Department of Employment, Small Business and Training (DESBT).

Available Funding

The Business Growth Fund offers funding up to $75 000 (and not less than $50 000). Funding is paid in three parts:

1. 20% on approval of your application
2. 40% on completion and assessment of your 3-month report
3. 40% on acquittal and assessment at project completion.

Successful applications must co-contribute at least 40% of project costs.

The Queensland Government will not fund projects with a total cost of less than $83 333 (excluding GST) or payments that are made before the approval date.

Eligible and Ineligible Activities

The grant funding must be used to purchase specialised equipment to meet business growth. The equipment must have a direct link to increasing employment and maximising economic returns.

Specialised equipment is considered an independent or additional piece of complex machinery that will have a direct impact on the operations of the business to increase, automate or enhance productivity and presents a significant investment to the business. The impact of the equipment unique to the growth of the business and local economy will be taken into consideration.

Examples of eligible highly specialised equipment include (but are not limited to):

• production equipment to meet otherwise unachievable growth demand
• advanced manufacturing or digital equipment and systems
• advanced logistics systems and equipment.

The Queensland Government will not fund:

• activities bought using crypto-currencies, cash, barter, or service in-kind
• GST registration and fees
• real estate/property, hire, lease, or rental fees
• goods, services, or fees from related parties (includes companies with common shareholdings or directors, employees or immediate family)
• travel
• franchise fees
• purchase of stock
• general business operating costs (e.g. bookkeeping/accounting, tax returns, marketing/advertising activities)
• services or standard digital technology not considered specialist to the extent required (as determined by assessment panel)
• delivery fees, credit card surcharges and international transaction fees
• memberships and joining fees
• salaries
• non-specialised office equipment (e.g. desks, chairs, personal computers (PCs), laptops, monitors)
• fleet vehicles, other motor vehicles, trailers or forklifts
• bain maries, fridges or ovens
• dental chairs.

Eligibilitity Criteria

You must be an established, financial sound, small to medium-sized Queensland business with the potential for high-growth within the next 2 years.

High-growth is defined as an annual annualised 20% increase in turnover, and/or employment in the last 2 years.

To be eligible for this grant, your business must have:

• a minimum of 5 and maximum of 49 employees (by headcount) at the time of applying for the grant
• an active Australian Business Number (ABN) and be registered for GST
• Queensland headquarters
• a minimum trading history of 5 years at the time of applying for the grant
• a minimum turnover of $500,000 for the last financial year
• competitive opportunities in domestic or international markets
• experienced 2 years of high-growth and have clearly defined high-growth and employment opportunities in Queensland
• not been approved for funding under an earlier round of the Business Growth Fund
• not be insolvent or have owners/directors that are an undischarged bankrupt.

Your business must also maintain this eligibility for the duration of the grant funded activity.

Application Process

This grant program is competitively assessed in 3 stages, meaning not all applications will be funded:

1. Stage 1: Expression of interest (EOI)
2. Stage 2: Full application
3. Stage 3: Pitch.

Stage 1 will:

• open for EOI applications at 9am, Monday 8 May 2023
• close for EOI applications at 5pm, Friday 2 June 2023.

Next Steps

To check to see if you are eligible for Round 5 of the Business Growth Fund, a detailed eligibility checker is available here.

If you are eligible for the Business Growth Fund, I recommend you read more about the Fund and Round 5 on the Business Queensland website here.

If you have any questions about the Business Growth Fund, or would like any assistance in the application process, please do not hesitate to contact the JTW Accountants team.