EIC Funding

At Winnovart, we are currently researching the impact of blended funding programmes on the European innovation & investment ecosystem. We believe that blended funding (mixing grants & equity investments) is the most interesting development in the European grants-funding ecosystem for many years, promising to reshape its future.

The EIC Fund is Europe's flagship blended funding programme, combining EC innovation grants with equity investments from private investors (typically VCs). The biggest programme of this kind in Europe with a substantial multi-annual investment budget. There is, however, a significant gap between its promise and current delivery.This is our series of Explainers, aiming to clarify key aspects of...

In 2022, €1+ billion in grant and equity funding was made available to SMEs and small midcaps via the European Innovation Council (EIC) – the European Commission’s flagship innovation funding programme for the period 2021-2027. The EIC Accelerator programme helps high-risk, innovative SMEs and start-ups willing to develop and commercialise new products, business models, and services. These...

The investment gap refers to the difference between the number of companies that have been selected for equity investment by the EIC Fund and the number of companies that have signed a deal. There is limited public information on the number of companies that have signed a deal with the EIC Fund under Horizon Europe. This data is available for companies that signed deals during the pilot phase...

The European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund is the investment vehicle of the EIC Accelerator programme - the EC's flagship innovation funding programme. With a budget of €3 billion from 2021-2027, the EIC Fund is positioned to be one of Europe's largest deep-tech venture capitalists (VCs) during this period. Through the structure of the fund, a minimum of €3 billion of private funds will be...