The EU funded report reveals a strategic alternative hiding in plain sight, and the way smarter public-private collaboration may speed up Europe’s innovation edge.
Again in March, the Innovation Radar Bridge initiative produced a report for the European Fee titled “Startups backed by the EU’s Framework Programmes”, a data-rich overview of how EU-funded startups, supported by grants, fairness, and R&D programmes, have fueled the emergence of a high-impact innovation ecosystem throughout the continent.
Its findings? Placing. With simply €12 billion in public help, over 13,600 startups have collectively generated €520 billion in enterprise worth and attracted €70 billion in personal VC. But solely 5% of complete EU innovation funding reaches startups immediately.
As Europe sharpens its strategic focus in areas like AI, biotech, quantum, and local weather tech, the report makes a powerful case for scaling what already works. EU-backed startups are delivering excessive affect, and extra could be performed to assist them develop.
EU help builds confidence, not hesitation
For early-stage traders, the presence of EU help in a startup’s historical past is more and more seen as a optimistic sign.
Dag Ainsoo, Common Companion at Startup Wise Guys, says his crew repeatedly backs firms with EU funding histories, and has not encountered issues from worldwide traders throughout follow-on rounds.
“We’re an EU-based early-stage investor. Usually, we’re the primary institutional backer on the cap desk. A lot of our portfolio startups later elevate from UK or US traders, and I’ve by no means seen EU funding be some extent of hesitation.”
This helps one of many report’s broader implications: public funding helps de-risk innovation and unlock a brand new layer of investable startups, notably in deep tech.
Public programmes are advancing Europe’s tech autonomy
EU programmes should not solely bridging early-stage gaps, they’re additionally aligned with broader geopolitical and industrial priorities.
As Stéphane Ouaki, Head of Division on the European Innovation Council (EIC), places it within the report:
“The EIC helps startups and SMEs to develop and scale up their breakthrough improvements, strengthening Europe’s technological sovereignty and industrial competitiveness.”
His message underscores the EU’s strategic intent: this isn’t simply innovation for its personal sake, however a part of a broader effort to bolster Europe’s place in important areas of competitiveness by focused public funding.
Scaling success takes greater than cash
Whereas EU-backed startups are inclined to outperform friends by way of technical depth and early traction, many nonetheless face challenges when scaling past Sequence A.
In line with Ainsoo, fixing this problem requires greater than capital. Founders want early groups prepared to take dangers, corporates have to be open to working with startups, and the broader ecosystem wants to cut back friction, not add it.
“Firms like Skeleton Applied sciences present what’s potential,” he provides, referring to the vitality storage scale-up now backed by a number of European programmes. “We imagine many extra like this may emerge.”
A living proof: Czechia’s environment friendly innovation mannequin
Among the many report’s standout ecosystems, the Czech Republic presents an instance of how EU alignment can translate into outcomes.
Renata Dosdá, Public Affairs and Enterprise Capital Specialist at CzechInvest, explains that Czechia’s energy lies in its engineering expertise, problem-solving tradition, and the strategic use of EU frameworks.
“The Czech Republic has a long-standing base of deep tech experience. Our startups are sometimes capable of compete internationally with comparatively modest funding, particularly when supported by EU devices,” she says.
This has translated into success throughout cybersecurity, AI, quantum computing, and medtech. Quite than being concentrated in a single hub, Czech innovation is geographically distributed however globally linked.
Renata provides, “Expertise density and world ambition are key, and EU help helps amplify each.”
The place founders ought to focus
CzechInvest and Startup Smart Guys each emphasize that EU programmes work greatest when founders deal with them as strategic levers, not simply grant alternatives.
Founders who succeed are inclined to:
- Match their know-how to the right Expertise Readiness Degree (TRL)
- Align their product with broader EU missions, corresponding to digital sovereignty, well being resilience, or industrial competitiveness
- Construct a price proposition that mixes enterprise case with public affect
These EU-funded startups are higher positioned for follow-on funding, cross-border collaboration, and long-term European progress
Why early-stage help ought to scale by accelerators
One of many report’s central challenges is that solely a fraction of innovation funding reaches startups immediately. From Ainsoo’s view, the EU ought to scale help by confirmed personal actors.
“EU programmes ought to funnel their cash through personal EU-based accelerators, like Startup Smart Guys or Antler, who’ve the abilities and know-how to allocate cash in early-stage enterprise successfully,” he says. “If we need to compete with the US, that is the place EU backing ought to go.”
He provides that public help wants to succeed in startups earlier, when capital is most wanted and outcomes are nonetheless unsure. “If we lose the most effective founders to the US, we’re not simply shedding firms—we’re weakening the entire ecosystem.”
What wants to enhance
The report makes a number of concrete suggestions for a way EU programmes can evolve:
- Set up sooner, startup-specific funding tracks in FP10
- Enhance readability and pace round fairness disbursement, particularly through the EIC Fund
- Strengthen university-to-startup spinout help
- Scale up visibility platforms for startup-investor matchmaking
As Thijs Povel, founding father of Dealflow.eu and Ventures.eu, famous in a current EU-Startups interview, one of many key challenges is making certain EU-backed startups are higher linked to non-public capital. He emphasised that bettering this bridge is important to turning early public funding into sustainable, scalable progress.
Why it’s best to obtain the report
EU-backed startups are delivering distinctive affect at comparatively low value. They’re already advancing Europe’s place in important sectors and provide a number of the continent’s strongest scale-up potential. However to really compete on a worldwide stage, Europe should go additional: fund earlier, transfer sooner, and strengthen the bridge between public help and personal progress.
Whether or not you’re a founder, investor, policymaker, or working with corporates, the report presents priceless insights and clear takeaways. Click here to download the full report.
You can even try the Dealflow.eu Community on Slack, an area constructed by the Innovation Radar Bridge consortium together with Dealflow.eu, Dealroom.co and EU-Startups, the place innovators, founders, and traders alternate concepts, share assets, and keep up to date on the newest EU-backed alternatives.
