The EIC Accelerator supports individual Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), in particular Startups and spinout companies to develop and scaleup game-changing innovations. In some cases small mid-caps (up to 500 employees) are supported.

The EIC Accelerator provides substantial financial support with:

  • grant funding (non-dilutive) of up to €2.5 million for innovation development costs,
  • investments (direct equity investments) of up to €10 million managed by the EIC Fund for scale up and other relevant costs. 

In addition, EIC selected companies receive coaching, mentoring, access to investors and corporates, and many other opportunities as part of the EIC community.

The EIC welcomes applications from innovators in all EU Member States and countries associated to the Horizon Europe programme. It particularly welcomes applications from startups and SMEs with female CEOs.

Funding opportunities

The EIC Accelerator provides blended finance (Innovation and Market Deployment Action) which is composed of:

  • An investment component usually in the form of direct equity or quasi-equity such as convertible loans.
  • A grant component to reimburse eligible costs incurred for innovation activities, including demonstration of the technology in the relevant environment, prototyping and system level demonstration, R&D and testing required to meet regulatory and standardisation requirements, intellectual property management, and marketing approval (e.g. at least TRL 6 to 8). 

Applicants for EIC blended finance can choose to request the investment component only.

You can apply for EIC Accelerator funding at any time through the EIC platform. You will need a video pitch, a slide deck and respond to a short set of questions about your innovation and your team.

You will normally receive feedback within 4 weeks. If your application meets the basic criteria for EIC Accelerator funding, you will be invited to prepare a full application to submit to one of the periodic cut-off dates for Accelerator Open or Accelerator Challenge funding.

Your full application will be assessed by our experts against the full criteria for EIC Accelerator funding. If your application meets all of the criteria, will be invited to the face to face interviews with an EIC jury as the final step in the selection process.

Applications that meet all the criteria at the remote evaluation stage and are assessed positively by the EIC jury but not recommended for funding, will be awarded a Seal of Excellence to help them secure funding from other sources. Companies with a Seal of Excellence can also get support from EIC Business Acceleration Services. To be eligible for a Seal of Excellence you must give consent to sharing some basic information about your application with other funding and support organisations.