Poros Group · Grant funding
Winning follow-on funding for generative AI and regulatory transparency
Aakash Kapur
Follow-on funding is a different test from a first grant. It has to show not only that the problem matters, but that earlier work has produced a stronger, more ambitious next step.
The second award
In March 2024, a second successful collaborative research and development application led by Aakash Kapur secured a £349,307 grant offer from Innovate UK. The project represented £499,010 of total planned research and development activity.
This phase moved beyond general ESG data management towards a generative AI toolkit designed to help organisations understand regulatory requirements and increase transparency. The planned capabilities included gap analysis, framework pre-scoring, readability assessment, structured tagging, performance visualisation and AI-assisted disclosures.
Building a credible follow-on case
A compelling second application needs continuity without repetition. The earlier work had established the underlying reporting problem; the new proposal showed how changing regulation and advances in generative AI created a distinct technical challenge with a larger potential impact.
The strongest case combined a precise customer need with an achievable delivery programme. Rather than presenting AI as the outcome, the application treated it as one part of a workflow intended to improve the speed, quality and consistency of regulatory analysis and disclosure.
The broader funding lesson
Across the two awards, approximately £698,600 of grant funding supported a connected innovation roadmap. The sequence matters: begin with a well-defined operational problem, learn through delivery, and use that evidence to make the next proposal more focused and more ambitious.
For founders, grants can be a powerful complement to equity and debt when the work contains genuine technical uncertainty and a wider public benefit. Success still depends on the fundamentals: a clear problem, credible innovation, a realistic plan and a persuasive explanation of why the project should happen now.