EIC Fund’s first major equity bet: €15 million for SiPearl and what it means for Europe’s chip ambitions

Brussels, June 14th 2022

Summary

›The European Innovation Council Fund made its first direct equity investment under Horizon Europe by committing €15 million to French start-up SiPearl.
›SiPearl will also receive a €2.5 million EIC Accelerator grant and aims to commercialise a high-performance, low-power European microprocessor for exascale supercomputers.
›The EIC Fund says its equity investment will catalyse more than €100 million in a Series A round once other investors are announced.
›The investment follows a restructuring of the EIC Fund under Horizon Europe and comes with caveats about implementation timelines and due diligence for future investments.

EIC Fund’s first major equity investment and the SiPearl deal

On 14 June 2022 the European Commission announced the first direct equity investment by the European Innovation Council Fund under Horizon Europe. The beneficiary is SiPearl, a French start-up spun out of the European Processor Initiative consortium. The announced package combines a €2.5 million EIC Accelerator grant with a €15 million equity cheque from the EIC Fund as part of SiPearl’s Series A financing round. The Commission says the EIC Fund commitment will catalyse more than €100 million from strategic and public investors to be revealed by the company.

Deal mechanics and immediate context

Item	Amount	Purpose / notes
EIC Accelerator grant	€2.5 million	Support for development and scaling of the chip technology
EIC Fund equity investment	€15 million	Direct equity as part of SiPearl’s Series A round
Series A total reported target	More than €100 million	EIC says €15 million will catalyse additional investors to reach this figure

What SiPearl is building and why it matters for Europe

SiPearl describes itself as designing a high-performance, low-power microprocessor aimed at European exascale supercomputers. Exascale systems perform on the order of one billion billion calculations per second. Processors for these systems must balance extreme computational throughput with energy efficiency and data security when processing large volumes of sensitive scientific and industrial data. The Commission framed the investment as contributing to Europe’s technological sovereignty and its ability to host and run world-class supercomputers for applications in medical research, energy management and climate modelling.

European Processor Initiative and EuroHPC background:SiPearl is a spin-out from the European Processor Initiative consortium. EPI was a collaborative research effort funded under the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking to develop a European processor roadmap. The EIC framed this as an example of how EU research and public procurement programmes can translate into marketable technologies when combined with targeted financial instruments.

EIC Fund: purpose, pilot record and restructuring

The EIC Fund is the equity and investment arm linked to the EIC Accelerator. Under its design, EIC Accelerator grants can be combined with equity investments managed by the EIC Fund. Prior to the formal launch under Horizon Europe the EIC Fund ran a pilot phase that invested in almost 140 technology start-ups. The June 2022 announcement stressed that the Fund was being restructured under Horizon Europe legislation and that an external fund manager would be appointed in the coming weeks. The Commission said this restructuring and manager appointment would reduce implementation times for grants and investments over time to better match the pace of fast-moving deep tech start-ups.

EIC Accelerator financial rules and options:The EIC Accelerator offers grants up to €2.5 million and equity investments through the EIC Fund ranging typically from €0.5 million to €15 million. Firms can apply for grant only, grant first with potential later investment, blended finance combining both grant and equity, or for equity only. The programme allows applications for larger investments exceeding €15 million if projects address technologies of strategic European interest.

SiPearl’s corporate snapshot

At the time of the announcement SiPearl employed 109 people spread across France, Germany and Spain with sites in Maisons-Laffitte, Grenoble, Massy and Sophia Antipolis in France, Duisburg in Germany and Barcelona in Spain. The company works closely with 27 partners from the European Processor Initiative consortium, which include research centres, supercomputing facilities and industry stakeholders who are likely early customers and end users.

Statements from officials and founders

Mark Ferguson, Chair of the EIC Board, said the investment was a milestone that demonstrated continuity with the successful pilot and a step towards making the EIC an investor of choice for European innovators. Philippe Notton, SiPearl founder and CEO, emphasised that SiPearl was born under EU innovation programmes and positioned the deal as part of Europe’s strategy for supercomputing, citing the LUMI supercomputer’s rise into the Top500 as evidence of progress.

Technical note on exascale processors and design challenges

Designing processors for exascale systems is not solely a matter of raw clock speed. Architects must optimise parallelism, memory bandwidth, interconnects and data movement to keep power consumption within practical limits. Modern supercomputers use heterogeneous architectures that combine CPUs, specialised accelerators such as GPUs or AI accelerators, and high speed networks. A European processor effort therefore faces engineering complexity and manufacturing supply chain considerations. Moving from research design to mass production requires not only capital but also access to advanced fabrication and packaging ecosystems.

Why low power matters for exascale:At exascale levels, energy consumption becomes a principal constraint. A processor that delivers high floating point performance per watt can substantially reduce operational cost and carbon footprint for large scale facilities. Energy efficiency also affects the feasibility of deploying multiple machines for different research or industrial purposes.

Implications for European industrial policy and innovation financing

The SiPearl investment sits at the intersection of industrial policy, research translation and venture finance. Public backing of foundational chip technologies reflects an explicit policy objective to reduce strategic dependency on imports and external suppliers. Public equity can help bridge a financing gap in capital intensive technology projects where private investors are hesitant to assume early stage risks. However the use of public equity raises governance questions about accountability, value for money and exit planning. The announcement promised catalysis of private capital but provided limited detail at the time on valuation, governance arrangements or the identities of the other co-investors.

How public investment can both help and complicate scaling:Public investment can de-risk early commercialisation and attract private co-investors. At the same time it can complicate future fundraising if market investors believe public capital distorts valuation or brings policy conditions. The success of blended finance depends on transparent governance, clear milestones and credible routes to commercial returns.

Risks, open questions and what to watch next

The announcement leaves several substantive items to monitor. SiPearl said the Series A will exceed €100 million once other investors are confirmed. The identities and types of those investors matter for future governance and market signal. The EIC Fund was restructuring and awaiting an external fund manager appointment which affects implementation speed and investment oversight. Due diligence and the investment terms were not public at the time of the announcement. Observers should watch for disclosures on co-investors, valuation, board representation and concrete milestones tied to the grant and equity tranches.

Item to monitor	Why it matters	Source or indicator
Co-investors in Series A	Signals private market appetite and syndicate strength	Announcements from SiPearl and EIC Fund filings
Investment terms and governance	Affects exit prospects and public return on investment	Grant and investment agreements, reporting to EIC Fund Board
Progress on external fund manager appointment	Determines EIC Fund implementation capacity and speed	EIC Fund procurement announcements
Technical milestones for the processor	Measures technology readiness and commercial feasibility	SiPearl technical updates and EuroHPC procurement outcomes

How this fits into Europe’s broader innovation ecosystem

The EIC Fund investment in SiPearl illustrates how several strands of EU policy and funding interact. Horizon Europe provides research and innovation funding. EuroHPC supports supercomputing infrastructures and consortia. The EIC Accelerator and EIC Fund combine grants and equity to shepherd technologies from prototype to market. These instruments aim to address a persistent challenge in European innovation which is translating excellent research into internationally competitive industrial players at scale. The approach reflects a shift towards more active public involvement in strategic technology areas.

Final assessment

The SiPearl deal was a visible early test of the EIC Fund operating under Horizon Europe. It aligns with legitimate aims to strengthen European capabilities in high-performance computing. The practical outcome will depend on execution. Key success factors include timely delivery of technical milestones, transparent co-investment terms, robust governance and clear metrics for public accountability. The Commission's communication emphasised catalytic effects and sovereignty goals. Those claims require follow up through concrete disclosures on syndicate composition, milestone progress and how public funds will be protected and leveraged for wider industrial impact.