Horizon Europe — EIC Accelerator

What it is

Blended finance, not a pure grant: a lump-sum grant of up to €2.5m plus an optional equity investment of €1–10m — and UK applicants can access the GRANT-ONLY scheme, not the equity. For single deep-tech startups, SMEs and small mid-caps (under 500 employees) with high-impact innovations; short proposals accepted continuously, full proposals at fixed cut-offs. Extremely competitive.

Verified 2026-08-21 on eic.ec.europa.eu: grant is a lump-sum contribution BELOW €2.5m (valueMax 2100000 is an approximate £ conversion, not a funder-stated £ figure); investment component €1–10m (more via STEP ScaleUP); funder states 'Applicants from the United Kingdom can only apply for the grant-only scheme'. Step 1 short proposals accepted continuously (batched first Tuesday of each month, 5pm Brussels); Step 2 full-proposal cut-offs in 2026: 7 Jan, 4 Mar, 6 May, 8 Jul, 2 Sep, 4 Nov (remaining this year: 2 Sep and 4 Nov) — rolling:true reflects the continuous Step 1 intake. Eligible: single startups/SMEs, small mid-caps up to 499 employees (investment-only for rapid TRL9 scaling), or natural persons intending to establish one; third-country applicants must relocate before Step 2. funderType 'national_gov' is the least-wrong enum for a supranational funder (no EU value exists). Recent rounds funded 61 (Feb 2026) and 38 (Jun 2026) companies.