It would be nearly impossible for a regular for-profit business to receive a grant. Alternative funding for small businesses is obtainable from other sources - a bank loan, a factoring service, crowdfunding or a personal loan. Bank loans are not a good idea for businesses without a steady cashflow - invoice discounting is suitable exactly for cases of irregular cashflow.
For example, if you're in an industry where client invoices are paid up to 60 days after the service has been provided.You staff, building rent, utilities, mortgage, stock, materials, etc need to be paid or the company will exhaust its resources and have to cancel new orders until more money is available. Factoring and its variations like invoice discounting, help solve that problem by using the unpaid invoice as a tradable asset, which can be sold or lent against. Factoring companies can either buy these invoices at a discount, but transfer funds within a few days, or lend money using them as a guarantee and then discount their interest when the invoice is paid.

Killian Jonhson,
Factoring UK,
http://www.factoringsolutions.co.uk/