Coined by Swati Chaturvedi, Deeptech is a set of disruptive and cutting-edge technologies based on scientific discoveries, engineering, mathematics, physics and medicine. These include technological applications that solve real-world problems offering significant advances.
Staggering 279 scaleups from 33 countries applied this year!
Deep Tech investment continues to gain steam in Europe attracting an unprecedented amount of interest and activity. In a recent development, around 279 scaleups from 33 countries have applied for EIT Digital Challenge 2019.
In fact, it’s a 40% growth compared to 2018 and the highest country variety in the 6-year history of Europe’s flagship deep tech competition in digital.
The most active countries were Germany, the UK, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain. For the first time, next to European companies, the competition was also open to scaleups from Horizon2020 associated countries.
Best European Deep Tech scaleups!
EIT Digital calls the best European deep tech scaleups and fast-growing startups that are ready to expand internationally to apply in five categories – Digital Tech, Digital Industry, Digital Cities, Digital Finance and Digital Wellbeing.
Five scaleups in each category
The five best scaleups in each category will be invited to an exclusive event in Brussels in the fall 2019. Among these 25 finalists, an international expert jury will select two winners per category who will receive international growth support from the EIT Digital Accelerator for an entire year, worth €50,000.
Additionally, the winner in each category will also receive a cash prize of €50,000. The 10 winners of the EIT Digital Challenge will be announced by early November 2019.
“We are extremely satisfied about the popularity of the EIT Digital Challenge and the record number of submissions”, says Chahab Nastar, Chief Innovation Officer of EIT Digital. “This competition is not just about prizes or praises, it is about identifying the next generation of Europe’s digital champions. The large number of applications shows that our value proposition – concrete hands-on support of digital deep tech scaleups across Europe – really resonates with European entrepreneurs.”
Supported 300 startups so far!
The 10 EIT Digital Challenge winners with a team of 40 business developers and fundraising experts to help them secure target customers and raise capital, operating from 16 cities across Europe as well as a hub in Silicon Valley. Since 2012, the Accelerator has supported 300 startups which have raised a total of €630 million in venture capital.
Received 2100 applications from 35 countries!
Since its launch in 2014, the EIT Digital Challenge has received an impressive total of 2100 applications from 35 countries. While it initially targeted startups, the EIT Digital Challenge has evolved to become Europe’s flagship competition for deep tech scaleups in digital. In 2019, the average scaleup applicant has €780,000 in revenues in its last fiscal year, has raised €2.4 million of funds, and employs 31 people.
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