26 European impact companies score new EU innovation cash – full list revealed

Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands received the most funding overall.

The council has described this year’s funding round as the most competitive since it launched the accelerator as part of its key funding programme for research and innovation, Horizon Europe. More than 1200 companies submitted proposals. The selected companies will collectively get up to €161 million in grants and approximately €226 million in equity.

Alongside impact companies focussing on environmental sustainability, the full list of 71 companies awarded funding also includes trailblazers in healthtech, AI and satellite systems.

The EIC singles out Stockholm-based SICSAI, a new Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) foundation model for robots as amongst the companies delivering the most exciting “breakthrough” technologies. The model is “equipped with the capability to structure information into a world map to match humanlike learning,” writes the EIC.

Endurosat, a company based in Bulgaria is also praised for developing the first fully integrated high data rate radio communication system for micro satellites.

Businesses from across the EU applied for the funding, with startups based in the UK and Israel also eligible for money. Only 21 percent of companies awarded cash had female founding teams.