EIC Fund’s 2022 milestone and what it means

In 2022 the European Innovation Council Fund reached a visible milestone when it announced its first 71 investment decisions. The Fund describes this activity as part of a 'patient capital' mission, taking minority equity positions of up to €15 million to share risk with private investors and to help EIC Accelerator beneficiaries scale. Public communications from the EIC highlight a set of companies that used the Fund’s co-investment to close follow-on rounds in 2022 in sectors ranging from electric vehicle infrastructure to indoor security drones, clinical artificial intelligence and recycling of photovoltaic waste.

How the EIC Fund works

Selected 2022 examples: from automated EV charging to PV recycling

The EIC highlighted a group of companies that closed funding rounds with EIC Fund participation in 2022. The programme materials referenced six companies in total and provided case details on several. The examples below preserve the original information and add context on the technologies and the likely commercialization challenges they face.

DazeTechnology — automating electric vehicle recharging

Country and round: Italy, Seed round closed February 2022 with EIC Fund participation. Technology summary: DazeTechnology developed Dazeplug, an autonomous conductive charging system for electric vehicles. The solution uses a vehicle mounted and ground interface to automate plug in and charging operations without human intervention. Commercial context: conductive automated chargers aim to reduce the friction of EV charging in shared or fleet contexts where precision docking can be difficult. For hardware heavy solutions the path from prototype to repeatable manufacturing and regulatory approval can be capital intensive.

EIC engagement and events: DazeTechnology participated in EIC ePitching on Space and Transport on 27 April 2022 and in the Scaling Up with the EIC event on Sustainability and Technology on 14 June 2022 in Paris. Founder quote: Giacomo Zenoni, Founder and CEO, said that EIC’s backing helps open investor networks and lends credibility because investors recognise selection under Horizon 2020.

Indoor Robotics — indoor security drone

Country and round: Israel, Series A of USD 15 million including EIC Fund participation closed in June 2022. Technology summary: Indoor Robotics commercialises a small indoor security drone called Tando. Its selling points are an ability to operate around common indoor obstacles such as chairs and steps, a multi sensor suite, and proprietary algorithms to map and navigate indoor spaces autonomously. The product also functions as a fixed security camera when not in flight. Commercial context: indoor drones are a niche but growing market for facility security and inspection. The transition from pilot installations to volume production and enterprise sales requires scaling manufacturing, certification and robust service models.

Status: With the Series A closed the company stated it was preparing to move into full production and to develop a go to market strategy.

Kahun — clinical reasoning with AI powered assessment

Country and round: Israel, Seed round of USD 8 million with EIC Fund among investors, announced September 2022. Technology summary: Kahun builds an AI driven clinical reasoning engine and a clinical assessment chatbot. The product is designed to follow the questioning logic of trained physicians to rule in or rule out diagnoses and provide decision support. Kahun’s algorithmic engine is based on a mapped knowledge base the company describes as more than 30 million evidence based medical insights and provides citations and links to those sources. The funds were designated to continue developing and updating that evidence map and to refine the clinical application.

Commercial context: clinical decision support tools face regulatory scrutiny, requirements for explainability, and the need for clinical validation studies to achieve adoption by health systems and practitioners. An evidence linked knowledge engine is valuable but maintaining and curating such an evidence graph is resource intensive.

ROSI SAS — recycling high value materials from end of life solar panels

Country and round: France, round of €7.4 million including EIC Fund, ITOCHU Corporation and InnoEnergy, announced November 2022. Technology summary: ROSI operates a recycling line designed to recover high purity silicon, silver and copper from end of life photovoltaic modules and manufacturing scrap. The recovered materials are processed for reintegration into advanced industrial uses. Funding use: ROSI combined private financing with France Relance subsidies and a loan from BPI France to build its first industrial recycling line. The company positions itself as a European deep tech startup enabling circular feedstocks for the PV value chain.

Company view: Yun Luo of ROSI said EIC support for Green Deal technologies accelerates prospects for industrial deployment. Context: PV recycling is emerging as panels installed in the past decade age out. Recycling processes that recover metals and high purity silicon are strategically relevant but must be commercially viable against low virgin feedstock prices and require partnerships across collection, logistics and secondary metallurgy.

Summary table of highlighted 2022 co-funded rounds

Analysis and caveats

The 2022 announcements underline two complementary elements of the EIC Fund approach. First, the Fund provides risk capital and a public validation signal that can help early stage deep tech companies access private funding. Second, the EIC leverages its broader ecosystem for introductions and acceleration events which can help portfolio companies refine business strategy and investor pitch.

At the same time there are limits to what these investments alone achieve. The maximum equity check of €15 million can be meaningful at seed or Series A for some hardware light companies but is modest for deep tech firms that require large capital infusions for manufacturing scale up, clinical trials, or complex supply chain investments. Public co investment is not a substitute for ongoing follow on private capital and does not reduce the underlying technical and market risks. The EIC’s selection funnel that favours only top scoring proposals improves the probability of success but the profile of deep tech failures means some funded companies will still not reach large scale.

Finally, headline claims about leverage from public co investment should be treated carefully. The EIC and related Commission communications often cite multiple euros of private capital mobilised for each euro of public equity. That leverage can be real in aggregate but it varies by cohort and the metric depends on whether one counts follow on rounds that would have closed regardless of EIC signalling. Independent verification and long term outcomes matter more than short term round closings.

Implications and what to watch next

For policy makers and ecosystem actors the EIC Fund’s early portfolio and its 71 decisions in 2022 are worth watching for real outcomes over several years. Key indicators to monitor include follow on financing beyond the first post EIC round, commercial revenue growth, successful industrial scale ups such as manufacturing lines brought online, and exits through acquisition or IPO.

For entrepreneurs, EIC capital can be a useful de risking partner and market signal. But companies must still build distribution, regulatory approvals and manufacturing or service operations to realise scale. For investors, EIC participation reduces some information asymmetry but thorough commercial and technical due diligence remains essential.

Overall the EIC Fund’s 2022 activity demonstrates the European Union’s continued effort to use public equity to bridge the financing gap for deep tech in Europe. The real test will be measurable scaling outcomes over the coming five to ten years.

Further context and resources

The EIC Fund is administered as part of the European Innovation Council framework overseen by the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency. Investments are linked to companies selected under Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe EIC Accelerator programmes. Public documents from the EIC describe the Fund’s investment guidelines, the Accelerator selection process and the business acceleration services that accompany investments.

If you are tracking this topic, follow disclosures from the EIC Fund and EISMEA on portfolio performance, third party analyses of public co-investment leverage, and independent assessments of deep tech scaling outcomes in Europe.