On Wednesday, the European Innovation Council (EIC) announced the selection of a new set of 32 companies to receive funding (combining equity and grant) under the EIC Accelerator programme.
The companies were selected through a highly competitive process that saw a total of 476 applications from across Europe.
The first 2023 EIC Accelerator cut-off, which did not include the EIC Accelerator Challenges calls, saw 159 companies being interviewed by juries of experienced investors and entrepreneurs.
€196M in grants and equity
The 32 selected companies will receive close to €196M in a combination of grants and equity investments, with the equity investments being made through the EIC Fund.
The selected companies have a geographical spread spanning 14 countries. 94 per cent of recommended funding is for beneficiaries in EU Member States, of which 17 per cent is for widening country applicants.
EIC says that 40 per cent of the selected companies have a female CEO, CTO, or CSO, which is the highest share to date.
While the blended finance (grants combined with equity investments) recommendation remained broadly the same as in recent cut-offs (53 per cent), grant-first recommendations rose again (38 per cent) with grant-only recommendations moving in the opposite direction (9 per cent).
The European Innovation Council (EIC) also announced that most of the companies that have applied for grant financing will receive their funds within the next two to three months, while investment decisions will be made within two months.
Seal of Excellence
The 126 applications which have successfully met all the criteria at the remote evaluation stage and were assessed positively by the EIC jury, although not recommended for funding, will be awarded a Seal of Excellence.
This initiative aims to support these promising projects in securing alternative sources of funding, including the Recovery and Resilience Funds and European Regional Development Funds, adds EIC.
New cut-off closed
Alongside this, a new cut-off closed on 22 March with 551 full proposals has been submitted.
Of these, 468 were submitted to the Open topic and 83 to the Challenges topics.
The proposals’ requested amount of funding is over €3.3B and the applicants come from 34 countries, of which 15 are from widening countries.
Proposals are now being evaluated by independent experts. The most promising companies will then be invited to pitch in front of a jury of investors and business experts in May, with selection decisions expected in the second half of June.
In addition, the EIC Fund continues to progress in taking investment decisions on companies selected by the EIC Accelerator in 2021 and 2022, and has now taken 93 decisions worth €574.7M.
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.
Since its launch in March 2021, more than 6,500 startups and SMEs have sent their ideas, and over 3,330 have submitted full applications.
The next cut-offs for full applications are June 7, 2023, and October 4, 2023.
We have listed some of the innovative projects and companies from the Netherlands selected in the current cut-off. You can check out the entire list here.
COVAL ENERGY
HQ: Brabant
Recommended finance type: Grant First
Coval Energy is a clean-tech company developing technological solutions that use CO2 as a feedstock rather than a waste product.
Since its inception, the company developed two technology platforms that address the need in a wide variety of markets to significantly reduce CO2 emissions such as sustainable aviation fuels, protein-based aquafeed, seasonal electricity storage, and hydrogen-fired turbines.
inBiome
HQ: Amsterdam
Recommended finance type: Grant First
InBiome has developed the world’s first diagnostic test that can detect all bacterial species in a single assay.
Even uncultivable- and antibiotics-treated species are detected, says the company.
Current applications include replacing traditional culture in ICUs for more accurate and same-day results, infection control, gut flora analysis, and various R&D applications for healthcare, pharmacy, and food industries.
Ocean Grazer
HQ: Groningen
Recommended finance type: Grant First
Ocean Grazer is a Dutch start-up and a spinoff from the University of Groningen. The Dutch company develops hybrid solutions for the offshore renewable energy sector.
The company integrates multiple renewable sources with onsite storage technology to improve the efficiency of offshore wind farms and the energy yield per square kilometre.
Ocean Grazer’s latest product, the Ocean Battery, is a scalable, modular solution for large-scale storage of electricity that is produced by renewable sources such as wind turbines and solar energy farms at sea.
SentryX
HQ: Utrecht
Recommended finance type: Blended Finance
SentryX is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing a non-opioid platform, BR-003, for the treatment of acute pain after surgery.
The company was founded in 2017 as a spin-out from the University Medical Center Utrecht.
SentryX plans to commence the first clinical trial in Switzerland and in the Netherlands in the second quarter of 2023.
INNATERA NANOSYSTEMS
HQ: Rijswijk, South Holland
Recommended finance type: Blended Finance
Innatera is an ultra-efficient neuromorphic processor that mimics the brain’s sensory data processing mechanism.
Based on a proprietary analog-mixed signal computing architecture, Innatera’s processors leverage the computing capabilities of spiking neural networks to deliver ground-breaking cognition performance within a narrow power envelope.
These devices enable always-on pattern recognition capabilities in sensor-edge applications.
STIL
HQ: Delft
Recommended finance type: Blended Finance
STIL has developed an innovative solution that suppresses tremors – an anti-tremor orthosis.
This medical device contains specialised dampers that suppress the tremor but do not restrict voluntary motion. Meaning, when an involuntary movement occurs, an opposite force is applied that suppresses only the tremor.
Vitestro
HQ: Utrecht
Recommended finance type: Blended Finance
Vitestro aims to bring autonomous blood-drawing equipment to hospitals in Europe.
The company’s device combines AI-based, robotic needle insertion and ultrasound-guided 3D rebuilding to ensure precise and safe blood collection.
It has already tested its prototype on more than 1,000 individuals.
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