How an EIC Corporate Day Helped Nanolike Move from Lab Spin-off to Holcim Contracts in Under a Year
- ›Toulouse spin-off Nanolike used EIC funding and an EIC Corporate Day with Holcim to deploy IoT silo sensors in Holcim operations within a year.
- ›Nanolike has received about EUR 1.8 million in EIC support since 2016, including a EUR 1.77 million grant for its TankSensor project.
- ›The collaboration progressed from a curated EIC Corporate Day meeting in January 2021 to an NDA, a Proof of Concept in Greece, KPI evaluation in October 2021 and first contracts with Holcim Greece.
- ›Holcim and its MAQER venture client unit see the sensors as a way to automate silo replenishment and avoid delivery bottlenecks, while Nanolike highlights easy installation and long battery life.
- ›The case illustrates the EIC Corporate Partnership model but also underscores common scaling risks such as integration, data governance, and the difference between pilots and wide rollouts.
From lab spin-off to corporate deployment: Nanolike’s logistics innovation
Nanolike, a Toulouse company spun out of the CNRS/INSA/University of Toulouse nanoscience laboratory, has moved a fill-level sensing system from research to commercial use inside Holcim’s operations in less than a year after an initial meeting at an EIC Corporate Day. The company’s pathway illustrates how European research spin-offs can use Horizon funding and curated corporate matchmaking to accelerate pilots and secure commercial contracts. The story also highlights typical questions when scaling deep tech pilots across complex industrial supply chains.
Company, technology and public support
Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Toulouse, Nanolike develops measurement technologies for industrial monitoring. It is a laboratory spin-off that has sought to translate academic know-how into commercial Internet of Things solutions for fill level monitoring of tanks and silos. Since 2016 the company has been supported by the European Innovation Council. EIC backing includes an initial SME Instrument grant of EUR 50,000 in 2016 and a later €1.77 million grant in 2020 for the TankSensor project. In total the company reports approximately €1.8 million in EIC grants.
How the Holcim collaboration unfolded
Holcim, the global building materials group, met Nanolike during an EIC Corporate Day organised in January 2021 by Holcim MAQER and the EIC Business Acceleration Services. The companies followed a recognisable corporate-startup engagement sequence. After the initial curated meeting they signed a nondisclosure agreement, developed a Proof of Concept in Greece, evaluated key performance indicators in October 2021 and subsequently signed their first commercial contracts with Holcim Greece. Holcim says the approach will be replicated across other Holcim markets where appropriate.
| Date | Milestone | Detail |
| 2012 | Nanolike founded | Spin-off from the Laboratory of Physics and Chemistry of Nano-objects in Toulouse |
| 2016 | EIC SME Instrument | EUR 50,000 grant to develop the business plan |
| 2020 | EIC TankSensor grant | EUR 1.77 million to develop IoT nano sensor and software |
| January 2021 | EIC Corporate Day | Initial curated meeting between Nanolike and Holcim MAQER |
| 2021 (mid) | NDA and PoC in Greece | Proof of Concept installation and field testing |
| October 2021 | KPI evaluation | Key performance indicators for the PoC assessed |
| Late 2021 onward | First contracts signed | Initial commercial contracts with Holcim Greece; plans to replicate |
What the technology does and why Holcim is interested
Nanolike’s offering is a non-intrusive fill level sensor for silos and tanks that attaches externally, operates on battery power and transmits fill data to software platforms for real-time monitoring. Holcim’s logistics organisation and its venture client unit MAQER framed the use case around automating silo replenishment, enabling vendor managed inventory and avoiding delivery bottlenecks at construction sites. Holcim highlights potential safety benefits by reducing manual stock checking and the business case from better synchronisation of supply with demand.
Voices from the field
Holcim executives framed the collaboration as practical and fast moving. Alex Scheld, Global Head of Logistics at Holcim, said that the technology enables automation of silo replenishment in real time and integration into existing ordering systems. Holcim MAQER’s Bengt Steinbrecher described MAQER’s role as establishing enduring partnerships between startups and Holcim through real business and growth opportunities. Nanolike’s Stefan Huber said manual stock calculations previously caused errors and delays and that the TankSensor expanded inventory management with digital measuring points within days. Holcim’s Victor Pacheco, responsible for the EIC relationship at Holcim, announced plans for a second EIC Corporate Day under the EIC Greenhouse Gas Programme.
Why this is significant for European innovation policy
The Nanolike-Holcim case is presented by the EIC as a textbook example of the Corporate Partnership Programme. The EIC has used corporate days and targeted matchmaking since 2017 to connect EIC-backed startups with large firms across sectors. The EIC reports dozens of such events, hundreds of corporate partners and thousands of meetings that resulted in pilots and commercial relationships. For policy makers the case shows how demand-side corporate engagement can help labs cross the so-called valley of death and how public funding can be combined with corporate clients to de-risk real-world validation.
A measured view: risks and open questions
The rapid progression from meeting to contracts is encouraging but not unusual in curated matchmaking where both sides see aligned incentives. Several pragmatic issues remain in moving beyond initial contracts and pilots, especially for hardware plus connectivity solutions deployed across many countries.
Finally, corporate spinouts working with global groups will face commercial pressures on pricing, support obligations and contractual liabilities. Public grant funding lowers some early-stage risks. It does not remove the need to secure robust commercial terms, after-sales support and product roadmaps that meet enterprise SLA expectations.
What to watch next
Observers should track a few concrete indicators. First, whether Holcim replicates the Nanolike solution in other European countries and beyond. Second, contract terms and whether they involve vendor managed inventory arrangements with defined KPIs and penalties or softer pilot agreements. Third, evidence that integration into Holcim’s ordering and logistics systems is complete and automated rather than manual reconciliation of sensor reports. Fourth, reported operational issues such as replacement rates, false positives and connectivity gaps.
For policymakers the case is useful as evidence that curated corporate-startup matchmaking can accelerate industrial uptake of deep tech. It also shows that public support works best when paired with a credible commercial pathway. Continued monitoring is needed to measure the share of pilots that convert to large scale deployments and to identify where procurement processes or interoperability standards block scale.
Bottom line
Nanolike’s move from laboratory spin-off to a Holcim contract within a year demonstrates how EU grants and curated corporate matchmaking can de-risk market entry for hardware and IoT startups. The technical promise is strong and the business case for real-time silo monitoring is clear for logistics-heavy sectors. Yet successful scaling will depend on integration, procurement, maintenance realities and data governance. The EIC Corporate Day model appears effective at creating initial commercial ties. The harder test is whether those ties translate into durable, wide-scale adoption that justifies public investment and creates sustainable industrial jobs across Europe.