What the scheme actually requires, whether trading history matters, and why the £25,000 cap is a per-person ceiling rather than an instalment — which changes how the ask should be sized.
A UK government-backed personal loan to the founder, delivered by the British Business Bank through accredited partners. It is not a business loan: it does not sit on the company balance sheet, and the borrower is personally liable for repaying it.
The headline that matters: there is no trading-history requirement. Pre-revenue, pre-launch and pre-incorporation all qualify. This is the key difference from a Bounce Back Loan, which required an already-trading business and self-certified turnover.
GOV.UK states three gates, all of which must apply:
Beyond those, the assessment is on the individual, not the company:
Any structure qualifies: sole trader, limited company, partnership, LLP or CIC.
Trap to check before anything else. The five-year clock runs on the trading business, not the idea. If ProofGuard were ever run through an older existing company, it fails eligibility on day one — and Cowen Edutainment Ltd (09735571) is well past five years, so it cannot be the applicant vehicle. ProofGuard needs to be Aaron as a sole trader, or a new limited company. Confirm this first: it dictates everything downstream.
The obvious plan — borrow for the MVP now, borrow again for production later — runs into one rule:
Your total outstanding Start Up Loan balance is capped at £25,000 per person at any one time.
A Second Loan exists, but it only releases the headroom you have created by repaying the first. Borrow £10,000, repay £3,000, and you can apply for up to £18,000 more — you never exceed £25,000 outstanding. It is not £25,000 now and another £25,000 later.
So: size the ask against the full scope to market, not just the MVP. A staged drawdown is not something the scheme will fund on demand later.
Move the amount and pick a term. Figures use the current 7.5% fixed rate on a standard repayment loan, with no fees — the scheme charges no arrangement fee and no early-repayment penalty.
A longer term lowers the committed monthly payment. Because there is no early-repayment charge, you can still overpay whenever cash allows.
Above the £25,000 per-person ceiling — a single applicant cannot borrow this much.
| Term | Monthly | Total repaid | Interest |
|---|
The trade worth understanding. Going from 3 years to 5 on a £10,000 loan drops the monthly payment by about £111 but adds only around £824 of interest across the whole term. With no early-repayment penalty, taking the longer term and overpaying when you can gives you the low committed payment and the option to clear it early. Choosing a short term to "save interest" buys nothing that overpaying would not.
This figure has to survive the Personal Survival Budget. The monthly repayment is a personal commitment, not the company’s, and the assessor tests it against your household income and outgoings. Pick a number that is comfortable on a bad month, not a good one.
Indicative only. Calculated as a standard repayment loan at 7.5% nominal annual interest (0.625% a month), rounded for display. Your delivery partner’s offer is the figure that counts.
Up to four owners or directors of the same business can each apply separately, taking the business ceiling to around £100,000. Each application is independently credit-assessed and each borrower is personally liable for their own loan only.
That makes the real strategic question: is ProofGuard a one-founder cap table or more than one? It is a decision about ownership and personal liability well before it is a decision about funding.
Verify before relying on it. The four-applicant / £100,000 figure comes from secondary sources — the official Start Up Loans site blocks automated retrieval. Confirm it directly with the delivery partner before building a funding plan around the higher number.
| Document | Owner | What it has to show |
|---|---|---|
| Business plan | Paul drafts | Problem, market, product, competition, route to market, team, financials. Skeleton here → |
| 12-month cash flow forecast | Paul drafts | Month-by-month in and out, proving the business services the repayment |
| Personal Survival Budget | Aaron only | Personal monthly income vs. household outgoings — proves affordability |
| Personal credit check | Aaron only | Pull your own file first, before any lender search is run |
| ID, proof of address, bank statements | Aaron only | Standard KYC |
Free templates for the business plan, cash flow forecast and Personal Survival Budget are published on the Start Up Loans site, and successful applicants also get free help writing the plan.
Evidence helps. Milestone 1 of the MVP — validating the ESP32-C3 boards with the on-board antenna against the through-wall range test and the phone-locked test — gives the plan something most applications do not have: a demonstrated working prototype rather than a concept. Get that on paper before submitting.
GOV.UK — Apply for a Start Up Loan → Business plan skeleton →
Checked 19 August 2026.
GOV.UK — Apply for a Start Up Loan (eligibility, amount, 7.5%, term, mentoring)
Start Up Loans — Second Loans
Changes to Start Up Loans from 6 April 2026 (rate rise, 36→60 month expansion)
BEF — Second Start Up Loan (£25,000 total outstanding cap)
Start Up Loans — Personal Survival Budget
Scheme eligibility overview · 2026 scheme review (four-applicant / £100,000 figure — secondary, unconfirmed)
Scheme terms change. Confirm current rules with the delivery partner before submitting. Nothing on this page is regulated financial advice.