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Find similar grantsEIC STEP Scale Up is sponsored by European Innovation Council (EIC). Supports innovative scale-ups developing strategic technologies critical for Europe's competitiveness, resilience, and strategic autonomy.
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The EIC selects new European scale-ups for STEP Scale Up investments - European Innovation Council The EIC selects new European scale-ups for STEP Scale Up investments European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency The European Commission announced a new group of companies selected to receive investments of up to €30 million to help them scale up and establish a strong market position.
The investments are part of the EIC Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP) Scale Up call. Out of 24 companies that submitted their proposal, 17 were invited to interview with independent high-level experts. Six of those met all the eligibility and evaluation criteria and are now put forward for investment decisions by the EIC Fund, subject to due diligence.
If negotiations are successful, the companies may receive a combined €97 million of equity investments (between €10 and €30 million per company).
The selected companies cover a wide range of strategic technologies for Europe: Cailabs (France) - building the ground systems that make laser communications deployable; Cylib (Germany) - transforming end-of-life batteries into critical raw materials; Paebbl (The Netherlands) – turning CO₂ into future-proof building materials; SiPearl (France) - designing high-performance central processing units (CPUs) for sovereign data centres and accelerated computing; Skeleton Technologies Group (Estonia) - developing rack-to-grid power systems engineered for the demands of next-generation AI compute infrastructure; Vsora (France) - delivering ultra-high-performance AI inference solutions for both data centers and edge deployments.
These six companies, together with additional six companies that were also considered excellent but not selected in this round due to the limitations of the available STEP budget, will all receive the STEP Seal . The Seal aims to facilitate access to complementary or alternative funding as well as to EIC Business Acceleration Services.
The EIC STEP Scale Up scheme provides investments of between €10 and €30 million (per company) aiming to leverage private co-investment and achieve financing rounds of €50 to €150 million or more. This addresses the market gap in such financing rounds which are critical for scaling breakthrough innovations in Europe. The EIC STEP Scale Up call has a budget of €300 million in 2026.
This initiative, which has attracted high demand, aims to provide larger investments in companies developing strategic technologies to bring them to the market and reduce strategic dependencies. The EIC STEP Scale up will help address a market gap in deep tech scale up funding in Europe, targeting digital technologies, clean and resource-efficient technologies including net-zero, and biotechnologies.
The EIC STEP Scale Up call remains continuously open on Funding and Tenders portal with evaluation sessions taking place every quarter. In 2026, the remaining dates for proposals batching are 9 September 2026 and 25 November 2026. It is one of a range of calls being implemented across multiple EU programmes to support strategic technologies .
Publication date 28 July 2026 Author European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency
According to the current listing, eligibility includes: Open to startups, SMEs, small mid-caps, and investors representing these entities. Projects must align with Europe's strategic priorities, particularly those with high impact potential across the EU. Confirm the full requirements in the official notice before applying.
The current listing shows investment amounts ranging from €10-30 million, potentially catalysing further rounds of €50-150 million. Verify award ceilings, matching requirements, and allowable costs in the official notice.
Applications for EIC STEP Scale Up are due November 25, 2026. Build your timeline backwards from this date to cover registrations, approvals, and final submission checks.
EIC STEP Scale Up is funded by European Innovation Council (EIC). Verify program details on the funder's official page before applying.
Start from the official opportunity page linked in this listing — it carries the sponsor's submission instructions.
The European Innovation Council Pathfinder Challenge DeepRAP (Deep Reasoning, Abstraction, and Planning) funds breakthrough research in cognitive AI at the earliest technology readiness levels (TRL 1-3). Awards of up to EUR 4 million support projects exploring fundamental advances in AI reasoning, abstraction, and planning capabilities that go beyond current pattern-recognition approaches. The challenge seeks research into AI systems capable of genuine logical reasoning, abstract thought, hierarchical planning, and transfer learning across domains — capabilities that current large language models and deep learning systems struggle to achieve reliably. Projects should propose novel architectures, algorithms, or theoretical frameworks that could enable AI systems to reason about novel situations, form and manipulate abstract concepts, and plan complex multi-step strategies. Like other EIC Pathfinder challenges, this programme does not require large consortia, making it accessible to individual researchers, small teams, and startups. The deadline is October 28, 2026.
The European Innovation Council Pathfinder Challenge on Physical AI funds visionary research in embedded intelligence for autonomous robotics at the earliest technology readiness levels (TRL 1-3). Awards of up to EUR 4 million support projects exploring how AI can be physically embedded into robotic systems to achieve truly autonomous behavior in unstructured real-world environments. The challenge focuses on embodied intelligence — AI systems that learn and adapt through physical interaction with their environment rather than purely through data-driven approaches. Unlike most EU programmes, the EIC Pathfinder does not require large consortia, making it accessible to individual researchers, small university teams, and startups pursuing breakthrough concepts. This ARPA-style programme emphasizes high-risk, high-reward research that could fundamentally reshape autonomous robotics. The deadline is October 28, 2026. This is distinct from the EIC Pathfinder DeepRAP Challenge (focused on reasoning, abstraction, and planning in cognitive AI) and from Horizon Europe robotics calls that target higher TRL levels.
The FY2026 Bus Safety, Accessibility, and Innovation Research Program closes September 28. Universities, agencies, and startups are all eligible to lead — but every team must include a transit vehicle manufacturer in a prominent role, and FTA already cancelled a nearly identical NOFO in 2024 without making a single award.
Read articleThe FY2026 Agriculture Innovation Center Demonstration Program posted September 9 with a January 31, 2027 deadline. It is the first competition under a rule codified in 2024, the award floor is $600,000, and the single most common way to lose is to upload your application to Grants.gov.
Read articleThe Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund started at $1.5 billion for open RAN. Congress rescinded $850 million, NTIA canceled Round 3, and what remains is a $53 million final round pointed at AI-native radio access networks — with a $25 million per-project ceiling, a mandatory 50 percent cost share, and rolling awards beginning this fall.
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