A deep-tech company has built a hardware platform that represents a genuine breakthrough, validated at a meaningful technical level. To turn it into a scalable product it still needs to complete the last development steps and prove the platform at a representative scale, and then it needs significant capital to industrialise and enter the market. Ordinary venture funding alone would be dilutive and expensive at this stage.
The EIC Accelerator is the European Innovation Council's instrument for high-risk, high-impact deep-tech companies that are ready to scale a breakthrough. Its blended finance combines a grant of up to EUR 2.5 million for innovation activities with an optional equity investment of up to around EUR 10 to 15 million from the EIC Fund. It is aimed at innovations past the early research stage, with strong evidence of technical feasibility and clear market and impact potential, and it is selective: companies go through a written application and an interview before a jury. It suits a deep-tech company whose next step needs both a final push of non-dilutive funding and substantial growth capital.
The platform is exactly the kind of breakthrough deep-tech innovation the EIC Accelerator backs. The grant funds the remaining innovation activities, the last development and the work to prove the platform at scale, coming to about EUR 2.5 million. On top, the company can seek an equity investment from the EIC Fund to finance industrialisation and market entry, bringing growth capital alongside the non-dilutive grant. The two together cover the gap between a validated platform and a scalable product.
The EIC Accelerator is a multi-stage, highly selective competition. A company submits a short application, then a full business plan, and finally pitches to a jury in an interview, with only proposals that pass each stage advancing. It is aimed at innovations past early research, typically with a prototype validated in a relevant environment, and it weighs the breakthrough nature of the technology, the team, and the market and impact potential. The grant can be sought on its own or as blended finance with an EIC Fund equity investment for the scale-up. Given the high bar and the substantial preparation involved, a clear, evidence-backed case for both the technology and the market is essential.
A €2.5M EIC Accelerator award.
The grant carries the final, pre-revenue development, and the equity option provides the growth capital to industrialise and scale. A breakthrough platform gets a realistic path from validation to market without relying on dilutive funding for the whole journey, which for capital-intensive hardware is often the difference between scaling and stalling.
EIC Accelerator (blended) · grant + equityFor a company scaling a genuine hardware breakthrough, the EIC Accelerator's blended finance pairs a substantial grant for the final development with growth capital for the scale-up, a combination few other instruments offer. It is especially suited to hardware, where the capital needed to industrialise dwarfs the cost of the last development steps.
The questions we hear most. Short answer first, detail after.
High-risk, high-impact deep-tech companies ready to scale a breakthrough, with strong evidence of technical feasibility and clear market and impact potential. Deep-tech hardware platforms are a typical fit.
A grant of up to EUR 2.5 million for innovation activities, plus an optional equity investment from the EIC Fund of up to around EUR 10 to 15 million for industrialisation and market entry.
Hardware scale-ups are capital-intensive: the grant covers the final, pre-revenue development without dilution, and the equity provides the larger growth capital needed to industrialise.
Very. The process runs through a short application, a full business plan and a jury interview, with only proposals that pass each stage advancing.
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