EIC Scaling Club maps three strategies to help European deep-tech scale-ups attract growth funding

Three new "Challenge Roadmaps" published by the EIC Scaling Club identify practical strategies that high growth European deep-tech ventures plan to use in the coming 12 months to attract growth capital. The reports, developed with IESE Business School and other partners, synthesise primary research with club member data to recommend actions on three fronts. The guidance responds to repeated bottlenecks in the European deep-tech funding pipeline and offers both company-level prescriptions and points for stakeholders and policymakers to consider.

Headline findings

Across the three reports the club identifies a convergent set of priorities. First, companies intend to use boards more deliberately to accelerate market expansion. Second, there is a renewed emphasis on funnel optimisation, meaning tighter focus on customer acquisition cost and retention rather than primarily running pilots. Third, scale-ups are shifting toward stronger investment readiness practices to improve the chance of securing a lead investor. The reports also document several misalignments between what scale-ups prioritise and what investors and other stakeholders value.

Strategy 1 Use boards to accelerate market expansion

The Strong Board roadmap finds that the most common board-related priority for deep-tech scale-ups is using board members and their networks to open new markets and identify trends. Members intend to tilt board agendas toward commercial growth and away from a primary focus on fundraising. The report also highlights a notable perception gap. Other stakeholders rate board independence and governance functions such as CEO succession planning as more important than the companies themselves do. That gap can create governance blind spots at a time when strategic guidance is critical for scaling complex technologies.

Strategy 2 Prioritise funnel optimisation over pilots

The Investment Thesis report documents a shift from using pilots and proof of concept projects as the main route to attract funding. Instead companies say they will prioritise funnel metrics such as customer acquisition cost, long term retention and customer lifetime value. The argument is that clearer, repeatable metrics strengthen investment narratives and make commercial paths easier for investors to evaluate. Stakeholders in the study consistently rated funnel optimisation as more important than the companies did, indicating a lingering mismatch in priorities.

Strategy 3 Improve investment readiness and deal preparation

The Lead Investor report shows companies plan to shift priorities from visible market validation signals such as awards and customer counts toward meticulous due diligence preparation. Key actions include transparent documentation, aligning expectations among investors and founders, providing references from past investors and constructing friendly capital structures and investment terms. The report also highlights a disagreement about longer term planning. Companies place higher importance on developing scalability roadmaps and future funding strategies while other stakeholders prioritise immediate market validation tactics.

Actionable recommendations for scale-ups

Across the three reports the authors offer concrete steps. For governance these include formalising board composition, recruiting members with market access and clarifying board roles in CEO succession and governance. For commercial readiness the suggestions are to systematise funnel metrics, embed customer success processes and translate pilot outcomes into repeatable sales playbooks. For fundraising the guidance covers producing transparent due diligence packs, harmonising investor expectations, creating investor friendly capital structures and documenting references from current and past investors.

Methodology and caveats

IESE Business School led the three studies as part of a broader series of 10 reports that examine the growth challenges facing deep-tech ventures. The research relied on literature reviews, workshops, interviews, surveys of international experts and EIC Scaling Club companies, and analysis of member company data. Readers should note that the findings reflect the experiences and responses of a curated group of high growth European deep-tech companies that are EIC Scaling Club members. The statistics may not be representative of the wider population of European start-ups and scale-ups.

Implications for investors and policymakers

The reports underscore persistent structural issues in the European deep-tech funding ecosystem. Difficulty attracting lead investors and the high failure rate after pitching events point to weak signal and screening mechanisms between founders and investors. For investors the recommendation is to set clearer expectations and share due diligence templates to reduce friction. For policymakers the findings suggest value in supporting governance training, board matching services and programmes that help deep-tech ventures convert pilots into commercial contracts. Such interventions would be complementary to existing EU instruments aimed at scaling innovative companies.

Key numbers from the EIC Business Acceleration Services and the Scaling Club

The European Innovation Council provides a suite of Business Acceleration Services under Horizon Europe intended to support commercialisation and scaling. The EIC Scaling Club is one of those services and is a curated network of over 120 high growth deep-tech companies launched in 2023. The EIC BAS reports a series of activity and impact metrics which give context to the reports but which also warrant scrutiny given the short time horizon for some figures.

Those programme metrics show an active ecosystem and useful matchmaking outcomes. At the same time some metrics cover recent short periods or self reported impacts. Independent evaluation over longer timeframes would be useful to verify how many of these interventions lead to sustained scale and to successful fundraising rounds for deep-tech firms.

About the EIC Scaling Club and the report series

The EIC Scaling Club is an EIC Business Acceleration Service funded by the European Union. It is implemented by a consortium including Tech Tour, Bpifrance (EuroQuity), Hello Tomorrow, Tech.eu, EurA and IESE Business School. The three reports "Strong Board," "Investment Thesis," and "Lead Investor" are part of a set of 10 studies led by IESE that map challenges in the growth path of deep-tech ventures from commercialisation to attracting investment.

The EIC Scaling Club has published the full reports under its "Challenge Roadmaps" category. The reports include dataset descriptions and more detailed recommendations for founders, investors and ecosystem partners. The EIC provides a disclaimer that the content is for knowledge sharing and should not be taken as the official view of the European Commission.

Concluding assessment

The EIC Scaling Club reports offer practical, evidence informed advice that echoes long standing pain points in European deep-tech funding. The emphasis on operationalising boards, quantifying funnel metrics and preparing rigorous due diligence is sensible. However the recommendations are applied to a selected population of EIC Scaling Club members and the reports do not resolve deeper structural constraints such as the scarcity of risk tolerant lead investors in Europe and the long commercialization timelines of many deep technologies. For scale-ups the roadmaps are useful tactical guidance. For investors and policymakers the reports are a prompt to consider systemic measures that improve the matchmaking and signal clarity between founders and providers of growth capital.