EU Scale-Ups Double Funding With Public Backing
Deeptech companies in the EIC Scaling Club raised €4.06 billion after joining, a sign public money is pulling in private capital.
Updated on Nov. 4, 2026 in Startups
The European Innovation Council's EIC Scaling Club, which tracks 120 European deeptech scale-ups, reports that club members have raised €4.06 billion since joining the program. This is an evidence-based report on already-completed funding rounds, not a forward-looking product or technology announcement.
Why it matters
The figures suggest that public backing through EIC Accelerator grants and EIC Fund equity is helping European deeptech companies attract private capital, a trend that bears on whether Europe can keep its frontier-technology firms from scaling elsewhere. The club launched in April 2024, so these results reflect roughly two years of activity.
The report measures funding outcomes rather than technical performance, with club members' post-joining capital up 128% against a 56% gain for a control group of 240 comparable companies. Nine mega-rounds of €100 million or more accounted for 51% of post-joining funding, and New Space, Next-Gen Computing and Renewable Energies made up 80% of total capital raised.
The players
European Innovation Council (EIC)
The European Union body that runs the EIC Accelerator grants and EIC Fund equity investments supporting deeptech startups across Europe.
The details
The EIC Scaling Club supports deeptech scale-ups, meaning companies built on hard science and engineering rather than software alone, through two public tools: EIC Accelerator grants and EIC Fund equity investments. These instruments reduce the financial risk of early-stage deep tech, which in turn draws in private investors. About 80% of capital raised after joining came in rounds that included a public backer, and each EIC Fund-backed round attracted an average of five additional investors.
Timeline
The EIC Scaling Club launched in April 2024.
Club scale-ups raised €4.06 billion combined over the two years since launch.
The Tech Race
The EIC Scaling Club is positioned as a European counterweight to U.S. and Asian deeptech funding, with its scale-ups' mega-rounds drawing non-European investors into 27% of slots compared with 18% across all post-joining rounds. The 210 publicly disclosed partnerships, 32% of them commercial collaborations, indicate the cohort is building industrial ties rather than relying on capital alone.
Founders of European deeptech companies with a public funding relationship may find it easier to raise follow-on rounds, since about 80% of post-joining capital came alongside public backers. Availability of the EIC Accelerator and EIC Fund for new applicants is not addressed in the stub, so eligibility and timing remain unclear.
The takeaway
The data points to public capital crowding in private investors at scale, which is the core trajectory for European deeptech financing. Watch for whether the 40% compound annual growth rate holds in the next EIC Scaling Club report, since sustained growth would strengthen the case that the gap versus the control group is more than a one-time effect.
Further reading
For context on how public money is reshaping young companies, see the Startups section.
