SH&P Pitch & Protect: The £10K IP Fund for Start-Ups and Innovators

The SH&P Pitch & Protect initiative is an exclusive opportunity for one lucky start-up company or small-to-medium enterprise (SME) to secure £10,000 in funding for intellectual property support. This funding will go towards the work of our highly-experienced attorneys in helping your company develop its intellectual property and take the steps to legally protect it. We are with you all the way and you couldn’t be in better hands.

So, the question is, are you an ambitious start-up or early-stage business with an innovative idea?

You could be in the process of developing ground-breaking technology, a revolutionary product or a unique design that will have mass market appeal.

No matter what, every business needs to know that long term success can depend on how secure its intellectual property (IP) rights are.

Working out what those rights are and then protecting them so they can’t be freely copied can be daunting for any business, but it is vital to get this part right.

It is not too dramatic to say that it could be the difference between success and failure.

As a practising law firm with over 100 years’ experience, we understand the challenges early-stage businesses face in identifying and protecting what they create.

As a result, in 2025, we launched Pitch & Protect: The £10K IP Fund.

Pitch & Protect is a unique opportunity for one visionary individual, start-up company or early-stage business to secure a comprehensive IP package with SH&P worth £10,000.

How it works

Participating in Pitch & Protect is simple:

• Submit a confidential online application giving details about your business, what you are working on and why you need funding.
• SH&P will review and shortlist the 15 most promising applicants.
• Shortlisted applicants will be invited to a confidential remote pitch session in front of our panel.
• The application and pitch that impresses our panel the most will win £10,000 in IP funding to be used as SH&P legal services and fees.

Why this matters

Legally protecting intellectual property assets (for example, by patenting an invention) is key for any business wanting to attract investors and gain a competitive edge.

By creating a market ‘monopoly’ your competitors cannot benefit from your protected assets, leaving you all alone to exploit them.

Yet, the costs involved can often be a major hurdle for early-stage businesses that do not have funding and who must instead take risks by leveraging assets to raise funds.

Pitch & Protect provides a real solution to this challenge, covering critical IP expenses and giving one outstanding applicant the opportunity to succeed with essential support from our very experienced attorneys.

SH&P commitment to innovation

We understand the importance of supporting the next generation of innovators.

Our conversations with universities, incubators, accelerators and industry experts have made it clear: cost can be a major barrier to obtaining IP protection for start-ups and early-stage companies.

The various comments we have received in feedback to the Pitch & Protect initiative reinforces why this is so important. These include:

“I think the idea is great. The costs associated with IP are a significant barrier for both growing and established companies, often delaying or even preventing expansion and, to some extent, stalling innovation altogether.”

“Pitch & Protect: The £10k IP Fund is a fantastic opportunity for those innovators who may not be able to pursue protecting their IP due to a lack of funding.”

“I love the concept of the competition. This will go down well with the early-stage innovation community – it’s got a nice balance between offering much-needed support in this area whilst dangling the carrot of funds to actually move the process along. Really like it.”

In a nutshell: we want to change the landscape of intellectual property for the next generation of inventors and designers.

Pitch & Protect: The £10K IP Fund is a unique platform where applicants are given an opportunity to secure legal services funding that will make a real difference.

For the winner, it can be a game changer.

We believe we are the perfect match-up for start-ups and early-stage enterprises.

Pitch & Protect represents a unique opportunity for one deserving applicant to secure essential IP protection.

Could the next winner be you?

Our Pitch & Protect 2025 winner was Adarsh Bhardwaj of Regeno Ltd, a Strathclyde start-up on the cusp of doing something very big in clean energy technology.

Could you be the next winner?

We will be making another Pitch & Protect announcement soon. Make sure you get to hear about as soon as we announce.

Register your interest here.