Commission announces six winners of the STEP Scale Up call

The European Commission announced that six companies have successfully passed the evaluation phase of the European Innovation Council (EIC) Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP) Scale Up call on 28/07/2026.

The six companies were selected from the 24 that submitted their proposals, corresponding to a 25% success rate. Out of them, 17 were invited to an interview with high-level independent experts.

The winners were from:
• France (3): Cailabs, SiPearl and Vsora;
• Germany (1): Cylib;
• The Netherlands (1): Paebbl;
• Estonia (1): Skeleton Technologies Group.

Following the evaluation phase, the companies are now being put forward for investment decisions by the venture capital investment arm of the EIC, the EIC Fund. Following the negotiations, they could receive a total of €97 million in equity investment.

Launched on 31/10/2024, STEP Scale Up is a financial instrument that the EIC tested in 2025 with a budget of €300m. Continued in 2026, it enables the EIC to support deep-tech startups through larger investments, ranging from €10 to €30m per company, designed to attract…