The European Innovation Council (EIC), announced on Monday, July 15 that it has selected 68 companies for funding (combining grants and equity), following the first 2024 EIC Accelerator cut-off in March.
Out of 969 companies that submitted a full proposal, 347 were interviewed by juries of experienced investors and entrepreneurs. The jury then selected the 68 best companies to receive funding.
The selected companies will receive a total of approximately €411M in funding, with up to €165M in grants and an estimated €245M in equity.
Almost all of the selected companies (96 per cent) will receive the full blended finance option, which combines grants and equity investments.
The equity investments will come from the EIC Fund, the dedicated investment arm of the EIC, which also attracts other investors to bring the overall investment to over three times the EIC’s investment on average.
The selected companies are from 17 different countries, including 5 proposals from widening countries. Additionally, 21 per cent of the companies chosen are led by women.
In most cases, the companies will receive the grant financing within the next three months, while the investment decisions depend on the urgency of the companies’ needs.
Additionally, 273 applications that were assessed positively by the EIC jury, but for which there was insufficient funding available, will be awarded a Seal of Excellence.
The Seal of Excellence will help these companies to find alternative sources of funding, including from the Recovery and Resilience Funds and European Regional Development Funds.
The March cut-off saw an increase in companies participating in the ‘Plug In’ scheme, allowing funding bodies managing certified national/regional programs to directly submit projects from their portfolio to the full application stage of the EIC Accelerator.
EIC Accelerator
The EIC Accelerator programme supports individual Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), particularly startups and spin-out companies, to develop and scale ground-breaking innovations.
The programme offers startups and SMEs grants of up to €2.5M combined with equity investments through the EIC Fund ranging from €0.5M to €15M.
In addition, EIC-selected companies also receive coaching, mentoring, access to investors and corporates, and other opportunities.
The next cut-off for EIC Accelerator full proposals, as announced in the EIC 2024 work programme, is scheduled for 3 October 2024.
We have listed some innovative projects and companies from the Netherlands selected in the current cut-off.
Ore Energy
HQ: Delft
Recommended finance type: Blended Finance
Ore Energy is developing a new generation multi-day energy storage system to reduce the cost of long-duration energy storage by 10 times compared to currently used lithium batteries.
NoPalm Ingredients
HQ: Wageningen
Recommended finance type: Blended Finance
A unique fermentation platform for the production of local, and sustainable alternatives to palm oil from bio-waste streams
Nearfield Instruments
HQ: Rotterdam
Recommended finance type: Blended Finance
The Dutch company develops and delivers process control metrology solutions that measure essential 3D nanostructures non-destructively during microchip manufacturing.
Fonon Tech
HQ: Eindhoven
Recommended finance type: Blended Finance
FononTech focuses on impulse printing, a technology that prints small electronic circuits for electronic devices. With Impulse Printing technology, micro-electronics manufacturing can be reduced by a factor of 1000.
Spherical systems
Recommended finance type: Blended Finance
SPHERICAL is dedicated to designing semiconductors for satellite electronic subsystems, ensuring faster, more efficient, and superior systems. The company was incubated at the European Space Agency BIC Noordwijk.
Quix
HQ: Enschede
Recommended finance type: Blended Finance
The company focuses on the development of quantum computing using integrated photonics. QuiX’s goal is to disrupt quantum computing with its “high-tech”, scalable, future-proof, plug-and-play integrated photonic solutions
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