EIC and EuroQuity-Bpifrance Healthcare Investor Day in Paris: visibility for innovators, concentrated investor flow
- ›On 23 October 2023 the European Innovation Council and EuroQuity-Bpifrance held a Healthcare Investor Day in Paris with 18 EIC-backed companies and more than 60 investors.
- ›The event generated over 150 one-to-one meetings and a full day of five minute pitch sessions focused on Alzheimer's, cancer, heart disease and antimicrobial resistance among other areas.
- ›Investors praised the pre-selection rigor of the EIC process and the quality of pitches but cautioned that visibility must be followed by tangible funding and clinical progress.
- ›The event is part of a broader EIC programme that aims to prepare beneficiaries for investor engagement and to promote co-investment alongside the EIC Fund.
EIC and EuroQuity-Bpifrance Healthcare Investor Day: a curated meeting between deeptech health startups and European investors
On 23 October 2023 the European Innovation Council joined EuroQuity operated by Bpifrance to stage an investor showcase in Paris. The one day event brought 18 companies from the EIC portfolio together with more than 60 investors drawn from a long list of European venture capital and corporate funds. Participants logged more than 150 one-to-one meetings and sat through rapid five minute pitches from each selected company.
Numbers, format and immediate outcomes
Organisers emphasised volume and curation. The day combined short, sharp pitch sessions with dedicated networking time and preselected bilateral meetings. That format is designed to give investors a quick sense of technical claims and commercial potential and to create immediate follow up opportunities. Several company founders said investor interest appeared to translate into meaningful conversations during the event.
| Metric | Value |
| Date | 23 October 2023 |
| EIC innovators presenting | 18 |
| Investors in attendance | 60+ (including leading European VCs and corporate investors) |
| One-to-one meetings | 150+ |
| Pitch format | Five minute presentations per company followed by Q&A and networking |
Who judged and who took part on the investor side
A jury of investors carried out the pre-selection that determined which EIC-backed companies would appear in Paris. That panel included partners and analysts from a wide range of specialist funds and corporate investors across Europe. Their participation is intended to signal to other attendees that the companies have already passed a layer of investor scrutiny.
The announcement listed the jury members and participating investor organisations as follows.
| Investor organisations represented | 50Partners, Adbio Partners, Angelini Ventures, Cap Horn, Debiopharm, Dieter von Holtzbrinck Ventures, Earlybird Venture Capital, EIT Health, Elaia Partners, FASE - Financing Agency for Social Entrepreneurship, HTGF, HV Capital, Invivo Capital, Karista, Karot Capital, Kurma Partners, LifeX Ventures, Miura Health Capital, Novartis, Omnes Capital, Panakès Partners, Seroba Life Sciences, Speedinvest, Supernova Invest, Truffle Capital, Verge HealthTech Fund, Vesalius Biocapital, Verve Ventures, Yaya Capital |
Company spotlights from the floor
Why investors said the EIC pipeline appealed to them
Investors on the jury praised the quality of the pitching companies and the efficiency of the format. Several recurring themes surfaced during conversations and in remarks quoted by organisers. Jury members pointed to the strictness of the EIC selection process, the clarity of pitch training EIC companies receive and the ability for events like this to deliver a high volume of 'top-tier flow' of investment opportunities. Those are real benefits, but they do not represent guarantees of funding or clinical success.
A full list of the EIC companies that pitched
| Pitching companies | |
| Actome GmbH | |
| Capri Medical | |
| Celeris Therapeutics | |
| CorWave | |
| FEops NV | |
| Glycanostics s.r.o. | |
| IMMUNETHEP | |
| INBRAIN Neuroelectronics | |
| InVera Medical | |
| MethinksAI | |
| NETRIS Pharma | |
| Neuroclues | |
| ORIXHA | |
| PROSION Therapeutics | |
| SquareMind | |
| TILT Biotherapeutics | |
| Tucuvi | |
| Yonalink | |
| Also selected but not present | GrayMatters Health and iLoF |
Context on EuroQuity and EIC support programmes
Analytical view: benefits, limits and what to watch next
Investor days are useful curation mechanisms. They concentrate attention, reduce search costs and expose startups to a spectrum of capital providers. For science-heavy healthcare companies the opportunity to reach specialized funds and corporate partners in one place can accelerate term sheet conversations and strategic partnerships. The presence of an investor jury and pre-selection adds credibility for attendees.
That said, a few pragmatic caveats apply. First, attention does not equal investment. Many events generate strong initial interest that does not translate into signed rounds. Follow-up meetings, due diligence, clinical timelines and regulatory risk remain the dominant gating factors for healthcare financing. Second, events favour companies that are investor-ready in terms of messaging and milestones. Highly technical projects with longer clinical pathways may struggle to convert exposure into capital even if the science is compelling.
Third, public support schemes like the EIC can improve signal quality by filtering projects and providing coaching. But market validation and syndication with private lead investors are still required to scale. A final point is geographic and sector coverage. While Europe has strong pockets of life sciences expertise, investor capacity is unevenly distributed. Events that broaden the investor base beyond incumbent hubs and that mobilise later stage co-investment will have the greatest chance of impacting company trajectories.
Practical next steps and contact
Organisers said the Investor Day is part of a continuing effort to create deal flow and help EIC beneficiaries progress towards fundraising. For follow up questions about the event the EIC Fund provided an events contact email at events@eicfund.eu.