About UKTI UK Trade & Investment is the government organisation that helps businesses locate in the UK and grow internationally.

UK Trade & Investment is the government organisation that helps UK-based companies succeed in the global economy and assists overseas companies to bring their high quality investment to the UK.

What we can do for you

UKTI can help you:

• find a global business partner in the UK

• raise venture capital start-up funding for a new company

• find information, advice and guidance about relocating to the UK

• by giving you hands-on help to get to the UK

• grow your business in the UK, into Europe and the rest of the world

So, what are you waiting for?

Are you facing the prospect of growing your business into Europe but don’t know where to start?

Do you have multiple target locations in mind but need to make complex comparisons across a range of criteria?

Do you have a research and development requirement yet can’t get the resources in your home territory?

You're not alone

Many CEOs in small and medium sized businesses trying to reach out to the global marketplace are daunted at the prospect.

UKTI can help you now, just contact your local UK Trade & Investment team

Number one global network – the facts

Our offices around the world are in constant contact with our London HQ and regional development agencies in the UK.

Together we can offer you a joined-up network that combines unparalleled global reach with deep local knowledge of the UK.

Perhaps it’s not surprising then we have a track record of business development that is second to none.

How we work – a case study

In the following example you can find out how we helped a potential super-growth company.

Dr. Jeong Hyun Lee, a former NASA engineer, had hit a brick wall trying to raise money to develop a global company based on innovative environmentally friendly nanotechnology.

He was in the US, trying to raise venture capital.

But he was having no luck.

He didn’t have the right contacts and connections.

He didn’t know who to go to for help.

He didn’t know what to do next.

Nobody wants to know

The people he had made contact with kept telling him that the project was too “early-stage”.

It was just too complicated.

Not only was the technology unproven, they said, but the holding company and intellectual property was in Korea.

It looked like an insoluble problem.

UK Trade & Investment get involved

It was at this point that Dr Lee’s predicament suddenly appeared on our radar screen in North America.

Spotting growth potential

We were prepared to pull out all the stops to turn his vision into a reality in the UK.

Our Global Entrepreneurs team came up with a radical idea.

The solution – resource globally to go global

We proposed that in order to go global the new company would have to be resourced globally.

We drew on our global network to solve what looked like an impossible problem.

We set up a global headquarters in London, sourced a top-flight management team from Sweden to back up our Korean talent.

In order to get the new company up and running we helped raise the first round of funding from the US.

The first client comes on stream

With UK Trade & Investment's help the new company, iCurie, soon won their first client – in Japan!

Further funding was then secured from the US to bring the first wave of Dr Lee’s products to market.

Now we're working hard to help the company grow into a truly global operation and iCurie looks set fair to fulfil the promise of becoming yet another UK super-growth success story.

UK Trade & Investment’s time, effort and expertise is set to pay dividends for Dr Lee and for the UK.

So, how can we help you?

If like Dr Lee, you’ve got a great business idea or a good track record but are encountering the kind of difficulties described above:

• making the right connections overseas with people who think like you

• having trouble locating resources in your home market

• finding it hard to pinpoint the information and expertise to help you make critical decisions

We can help you

We’re here to help you grow your business. Contact your local UK Trade & Investment team to talk about business opportunities in the UK.