EIC Accelerator’s largest round: 99 companies, €627 million and a test of Europe’s equity tools
- ›The European Innovation Council selected 99 start-ups and SMEs to receive a total of €627 million under the EIC Accelerator.
- ›Companies can receive grants and/or equity up to a stated maximum of €17.5 million each, though grant and equity components are managed under different rules.
- ›65 of the 99 companies requested equity funding totalling up to about €414 million, signalling strong demand for equity from EU-backed instruments.
- ›Grant cash is expected to flow within months but equity disbursements will be delayed because EIC equity arrangements need re-establishment under Horizon Europe.
- ›The selected firms span 21 countries including seven widening countries and cover a broad set of technologies from biodegradable polymers from CO2 to assistive glasses for the blind.
EIC Accelerator’s largest round: 99 companies, €627 million and a test of Europe’s equity tools
On 16 December 2021 the European Innovation Council (EIC) announced the results of its largest Accelerator selection to date. Ninety-nine start-ups and small and medium sized enterprises were chosen to receive a combined allocation of €627 million to help commercialise their technologies. The funding is a mix of grants and equity investments to be deployed depending on each company’s needs. The announcement highlights both the scale of demand for EU-backed risk capital and a practical challenge for the EIC: the equity component will take longer to implement because the EIC Fund’s investment arrangements require re-establishment under Horizon Europe.
The announcement in numbers and practical detail
Key figures published by the Commission and EISMEA describe the round as the largest so far for the EIC Accelerator. The aggregate envelope is €627 million. Individual companies can receive grants and/or equity up to a stated maximum of €17.5 million. The 99 companies were selected after a multi-stage process introduced under Horizon Europe that included an ideas screening stage, full written applications judged by external experts and an interview with a jury composed of experienced investors and entrepreneurs.
| Metric | Value / comment | Source note |
| Number of selected companies | 99 | EIC announcement 16 Dec 2021 |
| Total EIC funding allocated | €627 million | EIC announcement |
| Maximum funding per company | Up to €17.5 million | Stated in announcement; see background notes on grant and equity components below |
| Companies requesting equity | 65 (requested up to €414 million of equity) | EIC announcement |
| Geographic spread | 21 countries including seven Horizon Europe 'widening' countries | EIC announcement |
| Applications to the October 6 cut-off | 1,109 (this cohort came from that cut-off) | EIC announcement |
| Activity since EIC launch in March 2021 | Over 4,000 ideas submitted and over 1,800 full applications | EIC background information |
Highlighted projects from the selected cohort
The EIC release named several representative projects across different sectors. These examples illustrate the variety of technologies that reached the final selection. Descriptions reflect company claims as presented to the EIC and in public materials.
| Company | Country | Technology / short description | Noted funding type in announcement |
| MIWA Technologies, a.s. | Czechia | Smart reusable packaging designed to minimise waste | Selected for EIC Accelerator |
| Epigene Labs SAS (mCUBE) | France | mCUBE: multi‑omic, data driven drug discovery, biomarker identification and patient selection platform for oncology | Selected for EIC Accelerator |
| CO2BioClean GmbH (CO2TEXTILE) | Germany | Patented fermentation process that uses industrial CO2 emissions to produce biodegradable PHA biopolymers intended for textiles | Selected for EIC Accelerator |
| DAC Sp.z.o.o. (DAC) | Poland | Cooling technology that uses air instead of high‑GWP HFCs with claimed CO2 reduction by about 50% | Selected for EIC Accelerator |
| .lumen (SC DOTLUMEN SRL) | Romania | Assistive glasses for people with severe visual impairment that sense the environment and provide feedback through audio and haptic cues | Selected for EIC Accelerator |
How the EIC Accelerator and EIC Fund are structured
Selection process and timing issues to watch
The EIC under Horizon Europe uses a staged selection process. Applicants submit a short proposal and video, then full applications where shortlisted. Finalists attend interviews with an expert jury. According to the published timeline the 99 companies were drawn from the 1,109 proposals submitted to the cut-off on 6 October 2021. Separately, 65 companies selected following the June cut-off were already announced in October.
Operationally the Commission and EISMEA said that in most cases the grant component will be disbursed within the coming months. The equity component is awaited because arrangements for implementing EIC equity investments must be re-established under Horizon Europe. That procedural re‑set is the reason equity agreements will take longer, and it will also delay payments for companies selected in the earlier round. In addition, the adoption of the EIC Work Programme was delayed, which pushed the January 2022 cut-off date back.
What the numbers imply for the European innovation ecosystem
Several factual points are important beyond the headline total. First, demand for equity is strong. Sixty five of the 99 companies requested equity, representing up to €414 million of the total announced €627 million envelope. That demand underlines a shortage of growth capital in Europe and the appetite of scale‑oriented start-ups for patient, relatively large cheque sizes.
Second, equity investing by a public instrument is operationally and legally different from grant-making. The EIC Fund must operate alongside private co-investors and meet rules set under Horizon Europe. Reconstituting those mechanisms takes time and creates a pipeline timing risk for portfolio companies that rely on equity to scale quickly. Finally, the EIC’s role as both an identifier of breakthrough projects and as a direct investor is unusual in Europe. It can mobilise follow-on private capital through signalling, but it also concentrates scrutiny on how well the EIC Fund can execute co-investments at scale.
Risks, caveats and where to apply healthy skepticism
Press releases and company material often present optimistic impact claims. That is normal for fundraising communications. Independent verification of technical readiness, commercial traction and life‑cycle environmental benefits is typically limited at the time of selection. Examples in this cohort include firms claiming to make textile fibres from captured CO2 via fermentation or to eliminate toxic refrigerants from cooling systems. Those are plausible technology routes but they face significant scaling, cost, regulatory and supply chain challenges before broader market impact can be assessed.
A second caveat is timing. The EIC’s own statement flags that equity investments are likely to take longer because legal and administrative arrangements must be completed under Horizon Europe. For companies that require the equity to make critical capital expenditures the delay creates execution risk. Finally, headline maximums such as the €17.5 million cap should be read in the context of separate grant and equity rules and the realisation that many awards will be mixtures of smaller grant tranches plus an equity cheque and not large upfront payouts.
Practical next steps for companies and where to find information
Companies can submit to the EIC Accelerator at any time through the Funding and Tenders Portal. For proposals that meet the EIC criteria on excellence, impact and appropriate risk level, applicants are invited to prepare full applications for one of the regular cut-off dates. The EIC said it will publish the next cut-off date as soon as the work programme timing is clarified.
Background context: EIC activity since launch
The fully fledged EIC was launched in March 2021 under Horizon Europe. According to EIC materials, since launch over 4,000 start-ups and SMEs submitted ideas and over 1,800 full applications were made to the June and October cut-offs referenced above. The EIC pilot phase supported thousands of firms earlier and the 2021 impact report documents follow-on investments, valuations and other headline performance indicators from the pilot era.
| Item | Detail |
| EIC Accelerator typical grant ceiling | About €2.5 million (background material) |
| EIC Fund equity range (typical past descriptions) | Around €0.5 million to €15 million |
| Largest round announced | 99 companies, €627 million total (16 Dec 2021 announcement) |
Bottom line
The EIC Accelerator’s selection of 99 companies and the allocation of €627 million is a notable boost for Europe’s deep tech pipeline. It shows strong interest among innovators for EU-backed equity alongside grants. The operational friction around equity deployment under Horizon Europe and the gap between headline funding promises and implementation timelines are the key issues to follow. How quickly the EIC Fund can operationalise co-investments and attract private partners will determine whether the package becomes a catalytic source of scale-up capital or a slower signalling instrument that reduces near-term execution flexibility for firms.