Verified against official EU sources · last checked 9 days ago (11 Jun 2026)
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Overview
The EIC Accelerator is the European Innovation Council's flagship funding for high-risk, high-potential startups and SMEs working on deep tech. It backs a single company, never a consortium, which sets it apart from most Horizon Europe calls, and it targets technologies sitting at Technology Readiness Levels 5 to 8: validated in the lab or field, but too risky for private investors to scale alone. The offer is blended finance: a non-dilutive grant of up to 2.5 million euros plus equity from the EIC Fund, typically 1 to 10 million euros and more through the STEP Scale-Up route. You can ask for grant-only, equity-only, or both. For 2026 the Commission allocated roughly 414 million euros to the Open call and 220 million to thematic Challenges, around 634 million in total. The funded look concrete, not abstract. Companies like Alvus, building a full biomethane value chain from farm residues, fight-dm1, developing a first-in-class therapy for myotonic dystrophy, and PAH-Advance, advancing a drug for pulmonary arterial hypertension, each took this route and secured the full 2.5 million euro grant. The catch is competition: end-to-end success runs near 3 percent, so a sharp, evidence-backed application is not optional.
Is this for you?
Success rates — the honest picture
Roughly 1 in 33 applications gets funded. A sharp, evidence-backed proposal is what separates the funded from the rejected.
Eligibility
- 1For-profit single SMEs (under 250 staff, turnover under 50M euros) legally based in an EU Member State or a Horizon Europe associated country; you apply alone, never as a consortium.
- 2Your core technology must already be validated in a relevant environment (TRL 5 at minimum) and not yet fully market-ready, the gap the grant is meant to close; pure research at TRL 1-4 belongs in Pathfinder, not here.
- 3Single mid-caps with up to 499 employees can apply, but only for the investment-only equity track, not for the grant.
- 4UK-based companies can currently apply for the grant-only scheme only; they are locked out of the blended-finance and equity routes because the UK is not associated for those parts.
- 5You need a breakthrough with real market-creating potential, not an incremental improvement on something that already exists; evaluators reject anything that reads like a faster, cheaper version of a known product.
- 6Universities, research institutes, and natural persons cannot apply on their own; the applicant must be the company that will commercialise and scale the innovation.
How to Apply
- 1
Step 1, the short proposal: 12 pages plus a 10-slide deck and a 3-minute video, submitted any time on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal. It is scored GO or NO GO by remote evaluators, and the single most common reason for a NO GO is failing to make the technological novelty and its risk obvious in the first read.
- 2
A GO unlocks Step 2, the full proposal, capped at 20 pages from 2026 (down from 50). This is where most applicants lose: a credible, evidence-backed market size, a defensible IP position, and a financial plan that actually adds up matter far more than ambition or polish.
- 3
Three remote expert evaluators score Step 2 on excellence, impact, and implementation. You need a strong consensus, not an average; one evaluator who does not believe the technology or the team can sink an otherwise good proposal.
- 4
Pass Step 2 and you are invited to Step 3, a live jury interview with investors and entrepreneurs in Brussels or online. Around half of those who reach interview are funded, so this stage rewards founders who can defend hard numbers and answer sharp questions, not rehearse a pitch.
- 5
After a GO at interview, the non-dilutive grant is contracted first; grant signing and first payment typically take a further 2-3 months. The equity component is negotiated separately with the EIC Fund and routinely takes much longer, often 6-12 months more.
- 6
From 2026 there are six full-proposal cut-offs a year (7 January, 4 March, 6 May, 8 July, 2 September, 4 November). Step 1 has no deadline, so the real planning question is which cut-off you target for Step 2 once you hold a GO.
Typical Budget Breakdown
2026 Deadlines
Open Calls
Live opportunities from the EU Funding & Tenders Portal.
EIC Transition Open
16 Sept 2026HORIZON-EIC-2026-TRANSITIONOPEN · HORIZON EIC Grants · €100.0M budget · Open
Advanced Materials for Miniaturised Energy Harvesting Systems
28 Oct 2026HORIZON-EIC-2026-PATHFINDERCHALLENGES-01-01 · HORIZON-EIC-LUMP-SUM · Forthcoming
Biotechnology for Healthy Ageing
28 Oct 2026HORIZON-EIC-2026-PATHFINDERCHALLENGES-01-02 · HORIZON-EIC-LUMP-SUM · Forthcoming
DeepRAP: Deep Reasoning, Abstraction & Planning towards trustworthy Cognitive AI Systems
28 Oct 2026HORIZON-EIC-2026-PATHFINDERCHALLENGES-01-03 · HORIZON-EIC-LUMP-SUM · Forthcoming
Funded Projects
166 projects funded · €394.2M in EU contribution · sourced from CORDIS.
promise
€2.5MBraiN20®: A paradigm shift in Acute Ischemic Stroke (AIS) patient management
🇪🇸 TIME IS BRAIN SL · EIC Accelerator Blended Finance
GREENPIX
€2.5MFirst miniaturized universal gas analyzer for all renewable gases in all their extensive and complex composition at all production and consumption phases including Hydrogen purity for fuel cells
🇫🇷 APIX ANALYTICS · EIC Accelerator Blended Finance
apyx
€2.5MThe first non-surgical repair for Pelvic Organ Prolapse
🇮🇱 ESCALA MEDICAL LTD · EIC Accelerator Blended Finance
EUROZIP
€2.5MEUROZIP: European Zinc-Ion Plant
🇸🇪 ENERPOLY AB · EIC Accelerator Blended Finance
Reliefed
€2.5M3D tab cooled Battery pack solution based on an innovative 3D extrusion manufacturing process to better manage thermal regulation of EV batteries
🇸🇪 RELIEFED AB · EIC Accelerator Blended Finance
fight-dm1
€2.5MFirst-in-class oligo therapy for myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1)
🇪🇸 ARTHEX BIOTECH SL · EIC Accelerator Blended Finance
CELLBOX
€2.5MInnovative transport of cell-based materials in culture, ensuring product safety, quality and function
🇩🇪 CELLBOX SOLUTIONS · EIC Accelerator Blended Finance
PAH-Advance
€2.5MPAH-ADVANCE: accelerating the clinical path of NTP42, a disease-modifying drug for cardiopulmonary diseases including pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH)
🇮🇪 ATXA THERAPEUTICS LTD · EIC Accelerator Blended Finance
Heart Function Support
€2.5MAn innovative, minimally invasive device to support the natural motion of the heart in patients with heart failure
🇸🇪 SYNTACH AB · EIC Accelerator Blended Finance
Alvus
€2.5MA complete biomethane value chain — from agricultural by-products to energy — a new concept for exploiting farm residues
🇮🇹 ALVUS SRL · EIC Accelerator Blended Finance
PREVENTDIABETES
€2.5MThe world's first needle-free continuous glucose monitor to prevent and manage diabetes at scale
🇫🇮 GLUCOMODICUM OY · EIC Accelerator Blended Finance
hyperPV
€2.5MHyperPV, the first GPU-Powered Physical Verification Framework with High Performance Computing capabilities.
🇷🇴 AMSIMCEL SRL · EIC Accelerator Blended Finance
Key Features
Frequently Asked Questions
You must be a for-profit startup or SME (under 250 employees) legally established in an EU Member State or a country associated to Horizon Europe. Single mid-caps with up to 499 employees can apply, but only for the investment-only (equity) track. UK-based companies can currently apply for the grant-only scheme only, not blended finance.
The grant covers innovation activities up to a maximum of 2.5 million euros as a lump sum, and it is fully non-dilutive. On top of that, the EIC Fund can invest equity of typically 1 to 10 million euros, with larger tickets possible through the STEP Scale-Up route. Combined as blended finance, most companies in recent rounds (around 85 percent of winners) received both grant and equity together.
No. The EIC Accelerator funds a single company, not a consortium, which is the opposite of most Horizon Europe collaborative calls. You apply on your own, and you can request grant-only, investment-only, or blended finance depending on what you need to scale.
From 2026 the EIC moved to a bimonthly schedule with six full-proposal cut-offs a year: 7 January, 4 March, 6 May, 8 July, 2 September, and 4 November 2026. The short proposal (Step 1) can be submitted at any time with no deadline, and a GO result lets you submit your full proposal to any of these batching dates.
It is highly competitive. For the October 2025 cut-off, 121 of 923 full applications (about 13 percent) were invited to interview, and 61 of those (about 50 percent) were funded, giving a full-application success rate near 6.6 percent. Once you count the Step 1 short proposal stage, the end-to-end success rate from first submission to funding is roughly 3 percent.
The full journey usually runs 6 to 12 months. Short proposals (Step 1) get a result in about 4 to 6 weeks, full proposals (Step 2) take roughly 2 to 3 months to evaluate, and the jury interview (Step 3) follows for those shortlisted. After a GO at interview, grant agreement signing and the first payment typically take a further 2 to 3 months, while the equity component is negotiated separately and can take longer.
Winners show a genuine technological breakthrough at TRL 5 to 8, a large and credible market, a clear path to scaling internationally, and a strong team able to execute. The 2026 process rewards tight, evidence-backed writing: the full proposal is now capped at 20 pages (down from 50), and the short proposal is 12 pages plus a 10-slide deck and a 3-minute video. Concrete traction, defensible IP, and a realistic financial plan separate the funded from the rejected far more than ambition alone.
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