More than 1,000 companies applied for the latest 2022 EIC Accelerator, which offers funding through a combination of grants and equity investment.
Almost 80 high-potential start-ups and SMEs have been selected for the latest European Innovation Council (EIC) accelerator following a “highly competitive” selection process.
Just one Irish start-up has made the latest cohort: Cork-headquartered cybersecurity start-up Vaultree. Founded in 2020, Vaultree is working towards real-time searchable and fully homomorphic encryption technology.
The EIC Accelerator cohort of 78 companies from 17 countries will share in up to €470m of funding through a combination of grants and equity investment depending on their needs. Vaultree, for instance, is among 16pc of successful applicants that will receive a grant only for its Vault project.
In addition to financial support, EIC-supported projects can benefit from access to expertise, corporate and ecosystem connections, and investors.
Earlier this month, Vaultree announced a $12.8m Series A funding round led by Molten Ventures.
At the time, Tim Newberry, a security entrepreneur and board member of Vaultree, said that the start-up is addressing “one of the most difficult technical challenges in cybersecurity”.
“[Vaultree is] building a new kind of privacy-enhancing encryption technology-based solution that will strengthen the protection of enterprise data while still enabling ease of use for data owners. This is a difficult technical challenge and has a huge potential market impact.”
More than 1,000 start-ups and SMEs applied for the latest 2022 EIC Accelerator and the final selection was made by a jury of experienced investors and entrepreneurs.
15pc of the companies supported in this round of the EIC Accelerator have women CEOs.
A further €1.13bn in EIC funding has been earmarked for the next accelerator, about half of which will be targeted at next-generation technologies in strategic areas for Europe. These areas include cancer biomarkers, decontamination for pandemic management, energy storage, quantum or semiconductor components, and space-tech.
The EIC was established under the EU’s Horizon Europe programme and has a total budget of €10.1bn to support game-changing innovations.
In total, more than 300 companies have been selected for funding by the EIC so far. Being selected for the latest cohort does not constitute a commitment for funding, however. The final decision on projects is made when grant preparation is finalised.
10 things you need to know direct to your inbox every weekday. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic’s digest of essential sci-tech news.