European Commission gives €32.5 million to 70 deep-tech firms to strengthen their capacity

The European Commission will distribute €32.5 million among 70 winning companies from the November 2025 European Innovation Council (EIC) Pre-Accelerator call, a programme designed to strengthen the capacity of SMEs and start-ups.

The EIC published the list of winners, which represented 22 countries, on 23/04/2026. Portugal has the most winning companies (11), followed by Turkey and Estonia, which each have seven. Each company will receive up to €500,000.

Estonia had the highest number of laureates per capita, with five laureates per million inhabitants. Slovenia comes second in this ranking, with 2.3 laureates per million inhabitants.

Awardees will receive tailored support, including coaching, one-to-one advisory services, boot camps and pitching sessions to improve their investment readiness and visibility. The initiative helps early-stage deep-tech start-ups in widening countries strengthen their technology, business and fundraising capacity to access EIC Accelerator or other funding sources.

The EIC Pre-Accelerator iss a joint initiative between the EIC and the Widening…