EIC Tech to Market at Liftoff 2026: eight EIC-backed deep-tech teams pitch to investors in Zagreb as regional cleantech and AI projects seek scale

Brussels, July 16th 2026

Summary

›On 1 July 2026 the EIC Tech to Market Programme brought eight EIC-backed deep-tech ventures to Liftoff in Zagreb to pitch to investors and ecosystem partners.
›The event attracted more than 30 European deep-tech VCs and over 400 participants from South-East Europe and beyond.
›Start-ups pitched across cleantech, medtech, AI forecasting, flexible biodegradable electronics and biochips with bespoke follow-up from investor panels and matchmaking.
›Voltera Bulgaria presented ColteraTREC and VolteraH2 technologies which promise refrigerant-free cooling and sealed electrolysis for low-grade water but remain at lab to prototype stages.
›The EIC provided an investment readiness workshop, closed-door coaching, and access to the event matchmaking platform as part of its Business Acceleration Services.

EIC Tech to Market at Liftoff 2026: connecting EIC awardees with investors and partners in Croatia and South-East Europe

On 1 July 2026 the EIC Tech to Market Programme convened a curated group of eight EIC-supported deep-tech teams at Liftoff in Zagreb. The one-day presence was designed to raise visibility for high-risk, high-reward innovations and to facilitate introductions to investors, corporates and regional partners. Liftoff gathered more than 30 leading European deep-tech venture capital funds and over 400 participants from across the regional innovation ecosystem.

Event format and objectives

The day combined a dedicated pitching session, an investor panel, closed-door investment readiness coaching, and a continued programme of one-to-one meetings enabled by Liftoff's matchmaking platform. Michiel Scheffer, President of the EIC Board, opened the pitching session which was followed by an investor panel including representatives from Silicon Gardens, Nucleus Capital, AYMO Ventures, Day One Capital, 5QV, Feelsgood Capital, Vesna VC, SQ Capital, Nvision Ventures and CBAN. The EIC's objective was to help teams practice investor-style pitches, validate business propositions with market players, and generate tangible follow-up opportunities.

Who pitched

Bayflex (France):A flexible, biodegradable electronics patch built from organic transistors and simple Bayesian circuits that classifies body signals on the skin. The company proposes ultra low-power 'green' AI sensors suitable for wearables or implantable use. The team emphasizes low-energy sensing and degradable materials but must still demonstrate long-term stability, biocompatibility and regulatory pathways for medical or implantable applications.

ContinualIST (Italy):Provides plug-and-play AI for self-adapting time-series forecasting and anomaly detection. Typical use cases include renewable energy generation forecasts, retail demand planning and supply chain forecasting. The product is positioned as a Time Series Foundation Model offering continuous learning and zero-shot adaptation to new assets, which can reduce retraining costs and speed deployment.

Eclipta (Italy):Develops semitransparent microstripe solar cells that can be integrated into windows and facades to turn building surfaces into power generators. Such technologies aim to combine architectural integration with higher urban PV density. Commercialisation challenges include manufacturing scale, durability under building conditions and integration with building energy systems.

Kedi Mobile (Turkey):Builds AI-powered mobile and web health applications for early diagnosis. The company highlights an orthodontic pre-diagnosis tool claiming to be the world’s first AI solution in this niche. Clinical validation, regulatory classification as a medical device and data governance remain key milestones to achieve market adoption.

Ocusim (Turkey):Working on optical diagnostics for ophthalmology with the stated aims of improving detection of cataracts and glaucoma in clinic settings. The team has early-stage funding from ERC and EIC grants and international partners in Turkey, Germany and Italy. Optical diagnostic tools carry clear clinical potential but face long validation cycles and pathways to clinical acceptance.

Senscell Biosystems (France):Develops Nano-Electrode Array biochips and analysis software to record high-resolution, real-time electrophysiological activity from single cells. Applications include drug discovery, neuroscience and cardiac safety testing. NEA platforms can improve throughput and physiological relevance but require integration with lab workflows and regulatory-compliant validation for preclinical pipelines.

Vasc-on-Demand (Germany):Produces standardised, ready-to-use artificial human blood vessels that integrate into 3D tissue models to create more realistic in-vitro systems. The team has been active across conferences, secured awards and EIC Transition funding. Their technology targets a clear industry need to reduce animal testing and improve preclinical predictivity, though scaling manufacturing and proving reproducibility remain central operational tasks.

Voltera Bulgaria (Bulgaria) - ColteraTREC / VolteraH2:Presents a portfolio of breakthrough energy technologies including a refrigerant-free electrochemical heat-pump technology labelled ColteraTREC and a sealed electrolysis approach for hydrogen production called VolteraH2. ColteraTREC aims to replace vapour-compression cycles and harmful refrigerants by using a Thermally Regenerative Electrochemical Cycle, claiming high theoretical efficiencies and lightweight, low-cost components. VolteraH2 focuses on a sealed electrolyser cell that can work with low-grade water, including seawater, avoids platinum group metals and operates under pressure to produce compressed hydrogen. Both technologies are at prototype and lab demonstration stages and face typical deep-tech scale, materials, lifetime, and certification challenges before commercial deployment.

Company	Country	Technology focus	Near-term applications
Bayflex	France	Biodegradable organic electronics and low-power Bayesian circuits	Wearable and implantable low-power sensors
ContinualIST (Credence)	Italy	Time-series foundation model for forecasting and anomaly detection	Renewables forecasting, retail demand, supply chain, imbalance markets
Eclipta	Italy	Semitransparent microstripe solar cells	Building-integrated photovoltaics
Kedi Mobile	Turkey	AI health apps, orthodontic pre-diagnosis	Early diagnostics and telehealth
Ocusim	Turkey	Optical ophthalmology diagnostics	Clinic detection of cataracts and glaucoma
Senscell Biosystems	France	Nano-Electrode Array biochips and analytics	Drug discovery, neuroscience and cardiac safety assays
Vasc-on-Demand	Germany	Off-the-shelf artificial blood vessels for tissue models	In-vitro vascularised tissue models for pharma and research
Voltera Bulgaria (ColteraTREC / VolteraH2)	Bulgaria	Electrochemical heat pumps; sealed high-temperature electrolysers	EV thermal management, data center cooling, hydrogen production

Investor engagement, coaching and matchmaking

After the public pitches, participants joined a closed-door investment readiness workshop led by investors Deni Nurkić from Nucleus Capital and Srdja Iveković from Vesna Deep Tech Venture Fund. The format aimed to create candid conversations about capital strategy and fundraising readiness. All participants had access to Liftoff's matchmaking tools to set up one-to-one meetings with investors, corporate partners and other ecosystem actors. Such matchmaking is a usual EIC BAS instrument to convert visibility into follow-up due diligence conversations and pilots.

Grow in Europe Bootcamp and pre-event preparation

Ahead of Liftoff, Voltera Bulgaria and ContinualIST attended the Grow in Europe Bootcamp on Cres Island from 28 to 30 June. The bootcamp brought together investors and promising start-ups in AI and cleantech and offered tailored investor matchmaking, hands-on workshops and one-to-one mentoring. The EIC reported that these activities helped the two teams strengthen their investment readiness while preparing for the next funding round.

Deeper profiles and technical context

ColteraTREC and VolteraH2 - what is being claimed and what to watch for

Thermally Regenerative Electrochemical Cycle (TREC):ColteraTREC is built on a TREC approach where electrochemical cells move heat and electrical energy through reversible electrochemical reactions. In theory such cycles can achieve high thermodynamic efficiency, because they use electrochemical potentials rather than mechanical compression. The project claims near-theoretical efficiency, biodegradable separators and compact regenerative heat exchangers. These are promising features but real-world performance depends on electrolyte stability, electrode durability, cycle efficiency at scale and heat exchanger integration.

Sealed Electrolysis (VolteraH2):Voltera’s sealed electrolyser concept places electrolyte and electrodes within a controlled sealed cell where electrolysis is fed by water vapor rather than bulk liquid feed. This design is reported to tolerate low-grade feedstocks, including seawater, avoid reliance on platinum-group catalysts and produce pressurised hydrogen. If validated at scale this could significantly reduce hydrogen production costs and water treatment needs. The key risks remain materials corrosion, long term cell life, energy efficiency under real intermittent renewables and system-level balance-of-plant costs.

Both ColteraTREC and VolteraH2 have attracted EIC and Horizon support and are part of a ColteraTREC consortium that includes academic and industrial partners. Public project documentation shows EU funding for prototype development and lifecycle assessment studies. Investors typically require independent performance metrics and pilot customers to move past laboratory milestones to commercial rounds.

Vasc-on-Demand - context and traction

Vasc-on-Demand aims to deliver standardised artificial human blood vessel systems for improved preclinical models. The project has been active across conferences, won regional awards and participated in training and coaching programmes. Their trajectory demonstrates a common EIC Transition path where teams move from scientific proof-of-concept through productisation and market validation with hospital and pharma partners.

ContinualIST / Credence - what a Time Series Foundation Model means in practice

The EIC Tech to Market Programme and its role

The EIC Tech to Market Programme is part of the EIC Business Acceleration Services. It supports researchers and innovators at the transition from lab to market through a mix of entrepreneurial training, venture-building services, coaching and targeted ecosystem exposure. Training modules include Entrepreneurship Foundation, Entrepreneurship Immersion and Business Idea Validation plus ecosystem development events. Venture Building Services provide modular support covering team formation, legal and IP advisory, financial set-up, regulatory and standards assistance and bespoke matchmaking to talent and investors. Participation is typically limited and targeted at EIC Pathfinder and EIC Transition beneficiaries as well as related cohorts.

The EIC uses these activities to amplify the practical value of research funding, but the programmes do not remove systemic obstacles to scaling deep-tech. The critical next steps for most ventures remain capital to scale pilot systems, customer pilots with industrial partners, and regulatory or clinical validation where relevant.

What this means for the South-East Europe ecosystem

Events like Liftoff demonstrate increased regional appetite from VCs and corporates to engage with deep-tech founders from South-East Europe. For local ecosystems this visibility can accelerate talent retention, cross-border supply chain formation and the development of pilot customers. However, investors at the event will still be selective. Deep-tech projects typically require larger capital, longer timelines and domain expertise which can limit investment velocity compared with software startups. Public and EU-backed acceleration programmes help but cannot substitute for series A and industrial anchor customers that validate commercial models.

A measured assessment

The event was a useful convening and practice stage for teams that need to refine investor-facing narratives. The EIC's positioning and the participation of many specialist funds are positive signals for follow-on capital availability in Europe. At the same time the technologies represented span widely different development risks and time horizons. Independent technical validation, pilot deployments, manufacturing scale-up and regulatory clearances are the usual gating items before larger commercial investment. Observers and potential partners should treat headline claims with cautious interest and look for clear TRL metrics, independent test data and customer pilot agreements.

How to follow up and where to find more information

The EIC Tech to Market Programme and the broader EIC Business Acceleration Services publish open calls and event information on the EIC Community platform. Teams interested in the entrepreneurial trainings or venture building services can consult the EIC Tech to Market Programme pages for application windows, cohorts and contact points. For project-level details readers can consult public project pages such as the ColteraTREC CORDIS fact sheet and company websites for Voltera BG, Vasc-on-Demand, ContinualIST, Bayflex and others.

For investors, corporates and potential partners, the practical next steps are to request technical data rooms, run independent due diligence on TRL and IP positions and, where appropriate, engage on pilot or procurement pathways to de-risk scale activity.