The European Commission has announced that it has selected 65 innovative startups and SMEs to be funded through the European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund.
Eight of these companies are based out of the Netherlands.
The startups will receive €363M of funding for breakthrough innovations. They make the first batch of companies to be funded under the fully-fledged European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator.
Mariya Gabriel, Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education, and Youth, says, “The EIC Accelerator is a unique European funding instrument of the European Innovation Council. It supports the development of top-class innovations through crowding-in private investors and offers a portfolio of services to support their scaling-up. With the European Innovation Council, we aim to bring Europe to the forefront of innovation and new technologies, by investing in new solutions for the health, environmental and societal challenges we are facing.”
Here’s what the selected startups and SMEs will receive
Each company will receive a combination of grant financing and equity investment of up to €17M to help develop and scale up their innovations in healthcare, digital technologies, energy, biotechnology, space, and other sectors.
The companies were selected following a new two-step process introduced under Horizon Europe. They are established in 16 countries.
The demand for equity financing through the new EIC Fund was particularly high, with 60 out of the 65 companies seeking it. This means that €227M out of the total €363M is expected to be in the form of investment.
Brief about the EIC
The European Innovation Council was launched under the Horizon Europe programme. The programme witnessed success during a pilot between 2018 and 2020 and has a budget of €10.1B. Approx €1.1B of this budget has been made available in 2021 for the EIC Accelerator.
The EIC programme helps startups and SMEs from early-stage research to proof of concept, technology transfer, as well as in financing and scaleup. €495M of the budget is earmarked for Strategic Health and Digital technologies and Green Deal solutions.
The EIC programme offers both grants and investments to companies – mainly startups and SMEs. The investments are managed by the EIC Fund.
8 Netherlands-based companies make the list
Eight of the selected companies are from the Netherlands. Take a peek at them here:
Orbisk
Founder(s): Bart van Arnhem, Olaf van der Veen, Richard Beks
Founded in: 2019
Total Funding: €1.1M
Orbisk aims to make the world food system more sustainable through computer vision and AI technology. The company helps hospitality organisations with a complete insight into their food waste which helps them cut their food waste in half.
Orbisk provides plug-and-play installation of food waste monitors in the kitchen. The monitor is ready for immediate use from day one and will register all of the food waste in the kitchen automatically. The food waste monitor has a camera with AI technology that automatically recognises which products are being thrown away.
An online report gives an insight into food waste – per week, day, or ingredient – including how much is being thrown out and how it can be prevented. The data shows exactly when the waste occurs and why. This way, the hospitality sector can optimise supply, the purchasing process, or the menu, based on data. This not only saves money but also prevents a lot of unnecessary food waste.
Plant-e
Founders: David Strik
Founded in: 2009
Total funding: Undisclosed
Plant-e develops products that enable the generation of electricity with living plants, promoting multiple land-use and plant preservation. The company aims to focus on reducing global methane emissions and treating wastewater flows.
The company mentioned on its website that “by using the technology, we can power stand-alone electrical equipment – such as lighting and sensors – without connecting to the electricity grid and wherever plants and water are available. At the same time, we reduce methane emissions and store CO2. This makes us the only company in the world that CO2- produces negative power: clean, green, and reliable.”
Sensius
Founders: Paul van den Biggelaar, Peter van Paassen
Founded in: 2015
Total funding: $341K (approx €294K)
Sensius is an Erasmus MC Spinoff company developing novel cancer treatment using hyperthermia. The company claims to have created a personalised, deep penetrating thermotherapy solution, using proprietary technology and software, that is able to optimise the treatment regimen for each cancer patient.
Sensius’ thermotherapy solution has been designed to fit seamlessly into the workflow of cancer patients undergoing treatment with radiotherapy. The technology has been validated by a growing body of clinical data and KOL support from a broad range of cancer specialists.
The company’s products have a clear path to market in Europe and the US, via a CE Mark filing in Europe and US IDE filing. The initial target indication is head and neck cancer, which is expected to be followed by breast cancer and melanoma.
Blue Heart Energy
Founders: Michiel Hartman
Founded in: 2016
Total funding: N/A
Blue Heart Energy (BHE) has developed the first heat pump for residential use based on a Thermo Acoustic (TA) heat engine, a toxic-free, flexible, and highly efficient solution. It is a sustainable solution that does not require any refrigerants and is meant to accelerate the energy transition.
What is a heat pump? It is a device that transfers heat from a colder area to a hotter area by using mechanical energy, as in a refrigerator.
The BHE technology has been designed to be easily integrated by OEMs and system integrators in existing heating/cooling heat pumps. The company seeks to make sustainable heating and cooling accessible to everyone to shape a better world.
Hardt
Founders: Marinus Van Der Meijs, Mars Geuze, Sascha Lamme, Tim Houter
Founded in: 2016
Total funding: €31.9M
Hardt Hyperloop develops a transport system for traveling huge distances completely emission-free, safe, and accessible to everyone. It is developing both the technology and the market Hyperloop – a clean alternative to short-haul flights. Hyperloop uses less energy per passenger than train or airplane and is completely powered by renewable electricity.
The company is working with various public and private partners, including the Dutch Government, the Province and Municipality of Groningen, Dutch Railways, Royal Schiphol Group, Tata Steel, and Royal BAM Group, in the Hyperloop Development Program (HDP) on the integration of this new modality alongside cars, trains, and planes in the European Hyperloop Centre.
The European Hyperloop Centre is being developed in close collaboration with the Province and Municipality of Groningen. The company is planning to demonstrate lane-switching for high-speed hyperloop in 2023.
MicroSure
Founders: Raimondo Cau
Founded in: 2014
Total funding: €5.8M
MicroSure is a medical device company founded by Eindhoven University of Technology and Maastricht University Medical Center. The company’s focus is to improve patients’ lives through developing robot systems for microsurgery.
Its current product is MUSA, a surgical robot for open microsurgery. MUSA is designed in close cooperation with microsurgeons and engineers, specifically for microsurgical applications. MUSA provides “superhuman” precision for microsurgeons, enabling new interventions that are currently impossible to perform by hand.
Delmic
Founders: Albert Polman, Christiaan Zonnevylle, Jacob Hoogenboom, Sander den Hoedt
Founded in: 2010
Total funding: €2.3M
Delmic aims to create a greener and healthier future by making microscopy an easy and accessible technique through automation of the entire workflow. It produces correlative light and electron microscopy solutions to help researchers and companies get insights faster and easier.
Currently, the company has two main product lines, cathodoluminescence solutions (SPARC Spectral, SPARC Compact and JOLT) and correlative light and electron microscopy solutions (SECOM, SECOM SR, DELPHI).
Delmic is also currently working on two new projects. One is aimed to simplify the complex workflows involved in Cryo-electron tomography; another project will help to increase imaging speed without sacrificing image quality with an automated multi-beam scanning electron microscope.
VarmX
Founders: Paul Bilars, Pieter Reitsma
Founded in: 2016
Total funding: €40.8M
VarmX is a pharmaceutical spin-off from the Leiden University Medical Center that manufactures therapeutic proteins to instantaneously restore blood clotting in bleeding patients.
Co-founder Reitsma took a piece of DNA from snake venom and made medicine that counteracts the effect of the new generation of anticoagulants. This is how he was able to invent a breakthrough medicine for patients taking anticoagulants.
Anticoagulants, commonly referred to as blood thinners, are chemical substances that prevent or reduce coagulation of blood, prolonging the clotting time.
VarmX’s lead product in the pipeline is PseudoXa – a modified recombinant human coagulation factor X that is capable of immediately restoring blood clotting in the presence of direct factor Xa anticoagulants (DOACS) such as rivaroxaban, apixaban, and edoxaban.
These coagulants are taken by millions of patients world-wide for the prevention and treatment of thrombosis and stroke, but as a side effect severe bleeding often occurs. PseudoXa is capable of stopping and preventing such bleedings thus making the usage of DOACS much safer.
Other selected startups
Among the companies that were selected also include:
- French Alice & Bob invented a new type of self-correcting quantum hardware to build the world’s first fault-tolerant commercial quantum computers;
- Lithuanian UAB INOVATYVI MEDICINA developed a smart, sensory, tele-operated robotic system, which allows an endovascular procedure to be performed without exposure to harmful X-rays;
- Norwegian Bluegrove introduced the most advanced salmon welfare monitoring and prediction solution to take care of fish welfare
You can check out the complete list of selected startups here.
How to apply for the programme?
According to EIC, companies can submit their ideas at any time for an immediate fast assessment. The startups are then selected by the EIC Board, which has independent members appointed from the world of innovation including entrepreneurs, researchers, investors, corporates, and others from the innovation ecosystem.
Once selected, invitations are sent to candidates in order to prepare a full application with the help of free business coaching. These are then evaluated at regular cut-off dates approximately every 3 months.
Since March, more than 4,000 startups and SMEs have sent their ideas, out of which 801 presented full applications to the first cut-off on 16 June 2021, while 1098 are set for the second cut-off on 6 October. These are now being assessed.
The results of the second batch of EIC Accelerator companies will be announced by the end of the year and the next cut-off date is expected at the beginning of 2022.