The EIC Accelerator funding (grant and equity, with blended financing option) by the European Innovation Council (EIC) and European Commission (EC) provides funding in a variety of different ways. Startups and Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SME) can choose between Challenge and Open Calls which present two different budget segments of the EIC Accelerator that likewise differ in their technology focus.

While the program generally awards up to €2.5 million in grant and €15 million in equity financing per project (€17.5 million total) in either the Challenge or Open Calls, the Challenge Calls are often preferred due to their reduced competitiveness. Professional writers, freelancers or consultants often focus on working with projects that fit a Challenge Call for that reason since it can enhance the success chances of the grant proposal.

One caveat that is important to consider when it comes to EIC Accelerator Challenges is the fact that they change annually since every newly published EIC Accelerator Work Programme will outline the newest technological Challenges for that year including their specific budget allocations. This can render the planning of an application difficult since any Challenge that is valid during the first submission can disappear during the next and vice versa.

This article is using publically available datasets to identify the types of industries and funding options that were obtained by EIC Accelerator Challenge and Open Call beneficiaries.

Data Analysis

The data used in this article has been obtained from a variety of sources such as the official EIC releases (i.e. beneficiaries, budget) and directly downloadable databases from CORDIS (i.e. grant amount, Open vs. Challenge). The European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA) has likewise created an EIC Accelerator Data Hub but it has proven to be inaccurate with much of the raw data in the downloadable spreadsheets being wrong (i.e. listing grants as €50,000 for the EIC Accelerator).

Since parts of the CORDIS data were still incomplete, the data presented in this article uses information from 469 out of 563 EIC Accelerator winners between 2021 and 2024 whereas no data was available for 94 projects. The industry was determined using AI and the project description as outlined here: EIC Accelerator DeepDive: Analyzing the Industries, Countries and Funding Types of EIC Accelerator Winners (2021-2024)

152 (27%) of companies have been funded under the Challenges and 317 (56%) in the Open Call while no data was available for 94 (17%) companies.

EIC Accelerator Challenge Funding Types

The type of funding provided in the EIC Accelerator Challenges follows the expected popularity of the overall program with blended finance taking the lead followed by grant-first. Compared to the Open Calls, there is a slightly reduced interest in blended finance and an increased interest in grant-first support which can be a reflection of the riskier nature of the Challenge projects.

The following funding types were obtained:

1. Blended finance (82 companies and 53.9%)
2. Grant first (55 companies and 36.2%)
3. Grant only (15 companies and 9.9%)

EIC Accelerator Challenge Industry

The types of industries encountered among EIC Accelerator Challenge winners are significantly less diverse but more distributed than the Open call. Unsurprisingly, Energy, Battery, Quantum technology and Semiconductors are more represented which fits into the general themes encountered in the EIC Accelerator Challenges.

The following industries were funded:

1. Energy (20 companies and 13.2%)
2. MedTech / Healthcare (20 companies and 13.2%)
3. Biopharma (10 companies and 6.6%)
4. Agriculture (9 companies and 5.9%)
5. Battery (9 companies and 5.9%)
6. Quantumtech (9 companies and 5.9%)
7. Environment (8 companies and 5.3%)
8. Semiconductor (8 companies and 5.3%)
9. Clean Tech (7 companies and 4.6%)
10. Aerospace (5 companies and 3.3%)
11. Construction (5 companies and 3.3%)
12. Food Tech (4 companies and 2.6%)
13. Recycling (4 companies and 2.6%)
14. Advanced Materials (3 companies and 2%)
15. AI (3 companies and 2%)
16. Automotive (3 companies and 2%)
17. Logistics (3 companies and 2%)
18. Marine Tech (3 companies and 2%)
19. Packaging (3 companies and 2%)
20. Automation (2 companies and 1.3%)
21. IT (2 companies and 1.3%)
22. Transportation (2 companies and 1.3%)
23. Aquaculture (1 company and 0.7%)
24. Biometrics (1 company and 0.7%)
25. Biotechnology (1 company and 0.7%)
26. Cybersecurity (1 company and 0.7%)
27. Entertainment (1 company and 0.7%)
28. Geotech (1 company and 0.7%)
29. Meteorology (1 company and 0.7%)
30. Photonics (1 company and 0.7%)
31. Robotics (1 company and 0.7%)
32. Telecommunications (1 company and 0.7%)

EIC Accelerator Open Funding Type

The funding types encountered in the EIC Accelerator Open Call are comparable to the general funding of all EIC Accelerator winners but a slightly increased interest in blended finance is observed.

The following funding types were obtained:

1. Blended finance (192 companies and 60.6%)
2. Equity only (1 company and 0.3%)
3. Grant first (108 companies and 34.1%)
4. Grant only (16 companies and 5%)

EIC Accelerator Open Industry

The EIC Accelerator Open Call has unsurprisingly seen the majority of MedTech winners who applied with more general innovations that did not fit into any particular challenge. While the Challenges are indicative of the EIC’s general technology interests, the Open call is the more accurate reflection of the EIC Accelerator in the market since it shows what generally constitutes DeepTech in the eyes of the evaluators while it likewise reflects the high number of MedTech companies in the ecosystem.

This statistic is likely the reason why MedTech is generally less represented among the Challenges unless it is a very specific technology application such as mRNA vaccines or surface decontamination technologies which had allocated Challenge budgets in the past. Since MedTech is already dominating the Open Calls, there is no need for the EIC to allocate additional Challenge budgets to such topics.

Over 56% of all funded companies in the EIC Accelerator Open Call fall into the MedTech and Biopharma segments.

The following industries were funded:

1. MedTech / Healthcare (147 companies and 46.4%)
2. Biopharma (32 companies and 10.1%)
3. Agriculture (12 companies and 3.8%)
4. AI (12 companies and 3.8%)
5. Energy (11 companies and 3.5%)
6. Advanced Materials (10 companies and 3.2%)
7. Aerospace (8 companies and 2.5%)
8. Semiconductor (7 companies and 2.2%)
9. Biotechnology (6 companies and 1.9%)
10. Environment (6 companies and 1.9%)
11. Quantumtech (6 companies and 1.9%)
12. Automotive (5 companies and 1.6%)
13. Telecommunications (5 companies and 1.6%)
14. Chemicals (4 companies and 1.3%)
15. Food Tech (4 companies and 1.3%)
16. Photonics (4 companies and 1.3%)
17. Automation (3 companies and 0.9%)
18. Clean Tech (3 companies and 0.9%)
19. Electronics (3 companies and 0.9%)
20. Packaging (3 companies and 0.9%)
21. Construction (2 companies and 0.6%)
22. Marine Tech (2 companies and 0.6%)
23. Music Tech (2 companies and 0.6%)
24. Recycling (2 companies and 0.6%)
25. Robotics (2 companies and 0.6%)
26. Textile (2 companies and 0.6%)
27. Aquaculture (1 company and 0.3%)
28. Battery (1 company and 0.3%)
29. Biometrics (1 company and 0.3%)
30. Consumer Products (1 company and 0.3%)
31. Cybersecurity (1 company and 0.3%)
32. Entertainment (1 company and 0.3%)
33. Forestry (1 company and 0.3%)
34. Geotech (1 company and 0.3%)
35. IT (1 company and 0.3%)
36. Logistics (1 company and 0.3%)
37. Meteorology (1 company and 0.3%)
38. Metrology (1 company and 0.3%)
39. Mining (1 company and 0.3%)
40. Transportation (1 company and 0.3%)

This article was last modified on Jun 13, 2024 @ 11:52

These tips are not only useful for European startups, professional writers, consultants and Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SME) but are generally recommended when writing a business plan or investor documents.

Deadlines: Post-Horizon 2020, the EIC Accelerator accepts Step 1 submissions now while the deadlines for the full applications (Step 2) under Horizon Europe are:

• Step 1
  • Open now: Apply as soon as possible to be eligible for the next Step 2 submission deadline
• Step 2 (closing 17:00 Brussels Time)
  • 1^st cut-off 2025: -
  • 2^nd cut-off 2025: March 12^th 2025
  • 3^rd cut-off 2025: -
  • 4^th cut-off 2025: October 1^st 2025
• Step 3
  • 4^th cut-off 2024: January 13^th to 17^th 2025
  • 1^st cut-off 2025: TBD
  • 2^nd cut-off 2025: TBD
  • 3^rd cut-off 2025: TBD
  • 4^th cut-off 2025: TBD

The Step 1 applications must be submitted weeks in advance of Step 2. The next EIC Accelerator cut-off for Step 2 (full proposal) can be found here. After Brexit, UK companies can still apply to the EIC Accelerator under Horizon Europe albeit with non-dilutive grant applications only - thereby excluding equity-financing.

Contact: You can reach out to us via this contact form to work with a professional consultant.

EU, UK & US Startups: Alternative financing options for EU, UK and US innovation startups are the EIC Pathfinder (combining Future and Emerging Technologies - FET Open & FET Proactive) with €4M per project, Thematic Priorities, European Innovation Partnerships (EIP), Innovate UK with £3M (for UK-companies only) as well as the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grants with $1M (for US-companies only).

Any more questions? View the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section.

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by Stephan Segler, PhD
Professional Grant Consultant at Segler Consulting

General information on the EIC Accelerator template, professional grant writing and how to prepare a successful application can be found in the following articles:

A Quick FTO Guide for EIC Accelerator Applicants in a Rush

2023 Budget Allocations for EIC Pathfinder, Transition and Accelerator

Developing the Unique Selling Points (USP) for the EIC Accelerator

Explaining the Resubmission Process for the EIC Accelerator

A Short but Comprehensive Explanation of the EIC Accelerator

EIC Accelerator Success Cases

Deciding Between EIC Pathfinder, Transition and Accelerator

A Winning Candidate for the EIC Accelerator

EIC Accelerator Interview Preparation Process: Scripting the Pitch (Part 1)