After a rigorous assessment, 65 start-ups and SMEs have been selected to receive €363 million of funding in a form of grants and equity investment of up to €17 million.

The successful companies are established in 16 countries and operate in various fields, e.g. in healthcare, digital technologies, energy, biotechnology, space and other. The selected projects vary enormously from, for instance, a breakthrough satellite-based SaaS (Software as a Service) solution (Seqana) to Norwegian Bluegrove AS that introduced the most advanced salmon welfare monitoring and prediction solution to take care of fish welfare.

This is the first batch of companies that will be funded under the fully-fledged European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator, whereas a further 1.098 of the applications sent to the second cut-off on 6 October are now being assessed. The EIC Accelerator supports development and scaling up of ground-breaking innovations made up by SMEs, startups and spinout companies from diverse sectors. The application process is open at any time of the year through the EIC platform.

European Innovation Council announces new wave of start-up champions