The European Innovation Council (EIC) selected 68 companies for funding, combining grants and equity, following the first in 2024 EIC Accelerator cut-off in March. 

The companies were selected in a highly competitive process. From a total of 969 companies that submitted a full proposal, 347 companies were interviewed by juries of experienced investors and entrepreneurs. The jury then selected the 68 best companies to receive funding.

Together, the selected companies will receive an estimated €411 million in funding, of which up to €165 million in grants and an estimated €245 million in equity*. Almost all selected companies (96%) will receive the full blended finance option, which is a combination of grants and equity investments. The equity investments will be made through the EIC Fund, EIC’s dedicated investment arm which attracts other investors to increase the overall investment to over three times the EIC investment on average. The selected companies have a geographical spread spanning 17 countries, including 5 proposals coming from widening countries. 21% of selected companies are led by women.

Here are some examples of innovative companies that will receive support:

• Latitude, a French launcher company, with the ambitions to become a world leading end-to-end space access provider, developing and operating a dedicated micro-launcher. 
• VAXDYN, a Spanish biotech start-up, leading innovation with a novel vaccine platform targeting antimicrobial-resistant (AMR) infections, a critical global health threat.
• Mifundo, an Estonian company developing the first cross-border AI and data platform. They provide a technology layer to passport credit histories across borders through one single API.

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. 

A further 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 had an increase of companies coming from the ‘Plug In’ scheme. It allows funding bodies managing certified national/regional programmes to submit projects from their portfolio directly to the full application stage of the EIC Accelerator.

Background information

The EIC Accelerator offers start-ups and SMEs grants of up to €2.5 million combined with equity investments through the EIC Fund ranging from €0.5 to €15 million or more. In addition to financial support, all projects benefit from a wide range of Business Acceleration Services that provide access to leading expertise, corporates, investors and ecosystem actors.

Companies can submit their ideas to the EIC Accelerator at any time, which are then evaluated within 6- 8 weeks. So far over twelve thousand start-ups have submitted ideas since the EIC launch in 2021. For ideas meeting the EIC criteria for excellence, impact and risk-level, companies are invited to prepare full applications to submit to one of the regular cut-off dates. The next cut-off for EIC Accelerator full proposals, as announced in the EIC 2024 work programme, is scheduled for 3 October 2024.

More information

* The equity amount is estimated on the average investments made by the EIC Fund under Horizon Europe following the due diligence process, rather than amounts requested by company