Cork cybersecurity start-up Vaultree selected for EIC Accelerator

20 Dec 2022

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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.

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Elaine Burke is the host of For Tech’s Sake, a co-production from Silicon Republic and The HeadStuff Podcast Network. She was previously the editor of Silicon Republic.

editorial@siliconrepublic.com