Women TechEU: EU pilot targets women founders in deep tech with €75,000 grants and coaching
- ›The European Commission launched Women TechEU on 13 July 2021 to support women-led deep tech start-ups at an early stage.
- ›The pilot provides a lump sum grant of €75,000 plus coaching and mentoring via the EIC Women Leadership Programme and EIC Business Acceleration Services.
- ›Up to 50 early-stage women-led deep tech start-ups from EU Member States and Associated Countries were to be funded in the pilot call.
- ›Applicants must have founded or co-founded the start-up and hold a top management position such as CEO or CTO and the company must be registered in an eligible country for at least six months.
- ›The scheme addresses the gender gap in innovation where women are underrepresented among founders and receive a small share of venture capital.
- ›Women TechEU sits under Horizon Europe innovation ecosystems and the European Innovation Council and later evolved into a larger rolling scheme managed by an external consortium with increased funding rounds.
Overview
On 13 July 2021 the European Commission announced Women TechEU, a pilot initiative to support women founders of early-stage deep tech start-ups. The programme aims to increase the number and success rate of women-led ventures in capital intensive sectors by providing targeted, early-stage funding and bespoke coaching. The Commission framed the measure as a correction to persistent gender imbalances in start-up founding and investment.
Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth Mariya Gabriel said: "Through Women TechEU, we want to increase the number of women-led start-ups and create a fairer and more prosperous European deep-tech ecosystem. We believe that today’s support to deep-tech female founders will increase their chances of success and boost the overall European innovation ecosystem by drawing in more female talent."
What Women TechEU offers
The core offer in the pilot was a combination of direct financial assistance and non-financial support aimed at the earliest, riskiest phase of deep tech ventures. The approach is to provide a compact package that helps founders validate, professionalise and pitch their projects, with the objective of improving follow-on investment prospects.
| Component | What it is | Scale or detail |
| Grant | One-off financial support to the company | €75,000 lump sum per beneficiary |
| Coaching and mentoring | Access to EIC Business Acceleration Services under a Women Leadership Programme | First-class coaching, mentoring, networking and pitching events |
| Networking | Opportunities to engage with InvestEU, Enterprise Europe Network and other ecosystem partners | Dedicated activities and potential follow-on support |
| Pilot scale | Number of start-ups funded in the first call | Up to 50 deep tech start-ups |
Eligibility and application essentials
The administrative structure of the call drew on existing Horizon Europe and EIC mechanisms. Applicants submitted short proposals typically including a pitch video and a business summary. Shortlisted applicants received coaching support to prepare fuller proposals and some progressed to interviews with EIC juries when relevant.
Why the Commission said it was needed
The Commission presented Women TechEU as a response to measurable gender imbalances in European innovation. The figures cited in the announcement underlined how few start-ups are founded by women and how small a share of venture capital reaches female founders. The policy argument is that intervention at the early formation stage can improve founders' ability to raise follow-on capital and scale.
What deep tech means and why it matters for policy
The Commission noted deep tech represents over a quarter of Europe’s start-up ecosystem and that the aggregated valuation of European deep tech companies exceeded €700 billion at the time of the announcement. Policy makers often single out deep tech for public intervention because of its long run economic and strategic relevance and the tendency of private capital to shy away from early technical risk.
Programme context and evolution
Women TechEU was launched under the Horizon Europe innovation ecosystems programme and integrated with European Innovation Council activities. The EIC Accelerator targets later stage, scaling deep tech companies but Women TechEU aimed specifically at the earlier, formative phase when the technical and business risks are highest.
After the pilot, the initiative expanded. The Commission launched further calls and increased resources. In 2022 the budget for Women TechEU calls rose and the scheme supported a substantially larger cohort. From 2023 the scheme and some calls were organised by an external consortium under EISMEA management. Subsequent open calls attracted growing numbers of applications and produced larger cohorts of beneficiaries in later rounds.
| Milestone | Detail |
| Pilot launch | 13 July 2021 |
| Pilot grant | €75,000 per company |
| Pilot scale | Up to 50 start-ups funded in first pilot call |
| Follow-up | 2022 expanded call with increased budget supporting 134 companies |
| Later calls | By 2025 calls attracted record applications. A fourth open call closed in August 2025 with over 1,100 applications and later winners were announced in November 2025 |
Practical contacts and where to apply
The call was hosted on the EU Funding and Tenders Portal under the Horizon Europe innovation ecosystems work programme. At launch applicants were given guidance materials, FAQs and info sessions. The EISMEA contact email listed for Women TechEU enquiries was EISMEA-WOMENTECHEU@ec.europa.eu.
Assessment and likely impact
The Women TechEU model tackles a real and persistent imbalance in European venture funding and entrepreneurship. Targeted early support can help founders professionalise business plans, access coaching and become more investment ready. The visibility and network effects from EIC events can also be valuable.
However the amounts offered are modest when compared to typical deep tech capital requirements. Many deep tech projects need significant R and D expenditure and later rounds of financing that are often in the millions. A single €75,000 lump sum can help with validation, customer discovery and preparing for follow-on funding but it will not substitute for larger public or private investment. The scheme therefore depends on effective follow-on pathways and on broader measures to change investor behaviour and reduce structural bias.
Measuring success will require tracking not only immediate outputs such as number of grants and events but also medium term indicators such as follow-on funding raised, company survival and scaling rates, jobs created, geographic spread including participation from widening regions and changes in investor behaviour.
What to watch next
Policymakers and practitioners should watch for data on follow-on investment to Women TechEU beneficiaries and independent evaluations of whether early cash plus coaching materially improves the ability of women founders in deep tech to secure later stage finance. Equally important are signs of systemic change in investor practices and the inclusion of widening countries in the beneficiary pool.
Background: EU policy priorities and gender equality in innovation
The European Commission places gender equality among its political priorities and has signalled the need to close gaps in leadership and participation across technology and innovation. Women TechEU was positioned as one of a series of measures including prizes and visibility campaigns designed to increase female participation in research and entrepreneurship.
The initiative sits within a broader EIC and Horizon Europe ecosystem that includes grants, equity investments through the EIC Fund and business acceleration services. Public actions in this space frequently combine direct funding, coaching and ecosystem-building to try to reduce risk and information asymmetries that disadvantage underrepresented founders.
Contacts and further reading
Primary sources for the programme included the European Commission press release on 13 July 2021, the European Innovation Council website and the EU Funding and Tenders Portal where the Women TechEU topic description and application materials were published. EISMEA handled implementation and later published updates on call results, participation rates and changes to the scheme.