Why are businesses choosing automated grant application tools?
Grants are powerful. They fuel innovation, support growth, and unlock new markets. But let’s be honest: applying for them often feels like a never-ending challenge.
From researching opportunities and decoding eligibility criteria to writing complex proposals and managing submissions, the traditional process is time-consuming and mostly overwhelming. That’s why more and more businesses are flipping the switch to automated grant application tools.
In this post, we dive into why this shift is happening and how tools like an AI Grant Consultant are helping businesses take control of their funding journey.
The role of public grants in driving business growth
Public grants are one of the few funding options that actually give businesses equity-free capital to grow. That means launching a new product, expanding to new markets, or investing in R&D, all without financial risk or giving up control of your company.
Europe is leading the way with programmes like Horizon Europe. Running from 2021 to 2027, it has a massive €95.5 billion budget supporting innovation, technological development, and the green and digital transition.
By January 2025, at its halfway point, Horizon Europe had already supported over 15,000 projects, with a total budget exceeding €43 billion. From deploying hydrogen-powered buses in European cities to advancing inclusive AI tools for researchers, the programme is delivering real, measurable impact. It's estimated that 80% of the initiatives backed by the European Research Council have resulted in significant scientific breakthroughs or major progress in their fields.
Even smaller businesses can benefit from the programme. So far, more than 9,000 SMEs have taken part in Horizon Europe projects and over €7.54 billion in funding has already been allocated to this business category.
For startups and small businesses, these funds can be a real game-changer, especially in the early stages when gaining traction is key. Plus, being backed by a trusted government programme is a serious credibility boost, opening doors to new partners and investors.
And it’s not just about business growth. Programs like Horizon Europe also deliver substantial long-term benefits for countries. According to the European Commission, every €1 invested in the grant program is expected to return €11 in GDP growth and up to €6 in societal value by 2045, an average annual increase of €15.9 billion to EU GDP.
What’s broken in the traditional grant process
That all seems great. So where’s the problem? Why are automated grant application tools becoming so necessary to access these opportunities?
The traditional process is full of roadblocks. Opportunities are scattered across dozens of portals, documentation is dense, eligibility feels like solving a puzzle, and writing a strong application can take weeks, often requiring expensive consultants.
“Applying for grants is a full time job. Businesses that truly want to access public funding need to constantly search through outdated government websites, read through rules and regulations, and then spend up to 50 hours preparing an application. Now imagine doing all of that, several times a year, with no guarantee of success”, explains Bernardo Seixas, CEO of Granter.
But the real challenge runs deeper. Each programme comes with its own set of criteria, formats, and deadlines. There’s no standard, which makes it nearly impossible to manage multiple applications at once. On top of that, there’s little feedback or transparency, forcing businesses to chase updates manually while juggling tight timelines.
The result? A process that’s confusing, slow, and built for the few who have time, resources, or insider knowledge. And this is where most businesses give up.
How automation transforms the grant process
Let’s face it: the grant application process we know wasn’t designed for today’s pace of innovation. It’s bureaucratic, fragmented, and requires a level of time, expertise, and patience that most businesses simply don’t have.
The problem isn’t a lack of opportunities. In fact, it’s the opposite.
The EU has committed a budget of over €2 trillion between 2021 and 2027, combining its long-term framework and the NextGenerationEU recovery plan. Over half of that will go directly into modernising the European economy through research and innovation, climate and digital transitions. That means billions are up for grabs.
Even with more grants available than ever, most companies still miss out. Not because they’re not eligible, but because they don’t know where to look, which opportunities are actually relevant, or how to craft an application that truly reflects their project and purpose.
We have seen grant discovery platforms and writing assistants for a while, but that only solves a small part of the problem. Like mentioned earlier, the whole grant application process creates roadblocks for most businesses. That’s why complete automation is no longer a nice-to-have, it’s essential.
The funding system requires a solution to not only simplify a tedious and complex process, but to streamline everything, boosting accuracy, cutting down delays and extra costs, and giving teams back valuable time to actually work on their business growth.
And it all starts with AI.
Why is AI-powered automation a game-changer for grants?
Not all automation works the same. Basic tools can help with organisation, opportunity listing and deadline reminders, but the real work is still pretty much human: analysing criteria, interpreting requirements and drafting strong proposals based on the company’s real information.
That’s where an AI Grant Consultant takes things to the next level. It doesn’t just automate tasks; it understands context, learns from the business data, and generates tailored content that aligns with what the company has to offer and what the evaluators are looking for.
The agent adapts to changes in calls, assess eligibility and admissibility, and make complex guidelines easier to follow. With AI, businesses gain not just speed, but insights that will make the difference between applying and actually succeeding.
Introducing Granter’s AI Grant Consultant
At Granter, we’ve spent the last year helping more than 3.000 businesses and unlocking over €1 million in public funding for our clients. But even with such results, we were still far from fulfilling our purpose: to make grants faster, smarter and more accessible for all kinds of businesses.
To make this possible, we decided to put AI at the core of everything. Now, we’re taking it further, introducing the world’s first AI Grant Consultant. By using our agent to power the entire grant process, from discovery to submission, we took automated grant application tools to the next level.
“It’s truly a transformation in how businesses discover, write, submit, and manage grants. We are here to empower every single European company to apply to the billions of euros awarded each year”, states Seixas.
Each company has its own personalised agent, working 24/7 to ensure it finds the best funding opportunities. The platform supports all kinds of business, such as SMEs, Startups, Scale-ups, Public Entities, NGOs, Research Centres and Universities.
The AI Grant Consultant checks the eligibility and admissibility of both the business and the project, and produces tailored applications based on the company’s own information — all automatically. And because it does so according to the official criteria, it greatly increases the application's chances of approval.
To keep track of every opportunity, we’ve created a database of 8.000 grants in Europe, which is automatically updated every time a new opportunity is announced.
Even the submission and the post-award process is automated. When an application is approved, the AI agent will manage the entire project, tracking results, sending reminders, and submitting reports and invoices.
The AI Grant Consultant works on an annual subscription basis, allowing businesses to apply to as many grants as they want, costing at least five times less than what a consultant would charge for a single application. Not to mention the time savings, which allows our clients to find and apply to more opportunities, increasing their chances of success and business growth.
Why are hundreds of businesses joining the waitlist?
To make sure every user has a personalized experience exploring the functionalities of their own agent, we’ve created a waitlist where companies can manifest their interest in the AI Grant Consultant. We currently have over 500 companies from around the world looking to have their grant journey simplified.
Being one of the best ways to guarantee sustainable growth, it’s undeniable that the race for grants is getting faster and smarter. That’s why automated grant application tools are becoming so interesting for companies looking to easily navigate their funding journey.
For many of them, especially small and medium ones, the traditional funding process is a heavy lift, requiring technical knowledge and a robust team. Automating all the steps means less time buried in paperwork and more time focusing on the actual business progress.
Another key factor is the ability to build high-quality applications from day one. By offering real-time feedback and recommendations based on official criteria, the AI agent turns a process that once required specialist knowledge into something intuitive and accessible for businesses of all sizes.
Ready to simplify your grant journey? Join the waitlist
Automation has the potential to revolutionize the grant application process by addressing many of the inefficiencies and challenges inherent in the traditional approach.
It’s time to change how you find, apply and manage these opportunities, with automated grant application tools as your new ally. With your own AI Grant Consultant you’ll have a teammate, fully dedicated to your company's growth, scanning the right opportunities 24/7 and supporting your funding journey from start to finish.
The grants are out there, what’s stopping your business from getting them? Join the waitlist today and be among the first to access your grant expert.
