WeScale Eligibility Criteria

To be eligible for support for the WeScale programme, businesses must:

Be a women-led or women-founded business
Be based on the island of Ireland
Be a registered business (pre-revenue applicants are eligible)
Have fewer than 250 employees and less than £40m (or euro equivalent) in annual turnover
Have a proven business model with demonstrated product-market fit in at least one market
Have strong potential for international market expansion
Have a scalable and innovation-driven business model
Have evidence of sustained growth over three years. Earlier stage, fast-growing companies with clear momentum will also be considered

Sole Traders and Social Enterprises that satisfy the eligibility criteria are welcome to apply.

Where demand exceeds available resources, InterTradeIreland reserves the right to apply additional assessment criteria to the WeScale Programme. Management decisions are final in these matters.

Sector eligibility

Support is primarily available to businesses developing innovative products, services, systems or processes with clear commercial potential.

Businesses whose core activity is in the following sectors are not normally eligible for support: Wholesale, retail, distribution, tourism, hospitality, primary agriculture, personal services, and professional business services.

However, businesses from these sectors may be eligible where they are developing and seeking to commercialise a new product, service, technology, system or process that goes beyond their core business activity.

Examples (for illustrative purposes only):

A hairdressing salon is not eligible for support for its core services; however, a salon developing and selling its own branded haircare products may be eligible.
A hotel is not eligible for support for accommodation services; however, a hotel commercialising booking or management software may be eligible.
A farm is not eligible for support for primary agricultural activity; however, a farm manufacturing and selling agricultural machinery may be eligible.
A solicitor’s practice is not eligible for support for legal services; however, a practice commercialising a productivity or legal-tech solution may be eligible.

Businesses involved in activities associated with gambling, significant health risks, immoral activity, or any activity that could negatively impact the reputation of InterTradeIreland will not be supported.