Women TechEU Open Call

The Women TechEU 2 EIC project is on a mission to ignite the potential of women-led early-stage startups in deep tech. 160 talented women entrepreneurs from across the European Union and Horizon Europe associated countries will be receiving direct support. With 75k€ grant (non-diluting finance) and a personalised business development programme, the project will be paving the way for these innovators to shine as leaders in deep tech innovation across Europe.

This project is a continuation of the Women TechEU scheme that was first managed by EISMEA (European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency) from 2021 to 2023 and by another consortium during 2024 - 2026, and it has now become a fully-fledged cascade funding project that is run by an EU-wide consortium made up of different innovation ecosystem players, representatives of women entrepreneurs and also investors.

During 2 years, the project will give out a total of 12 M€ in non-diluting finance in an open call with 4 different competitive submission deadlines In each submission deadline 40% of the funding is secured for startups coming from widening areas. Each cohort will then be also invited to use the menu of business development services that will be provided over a period of 6 months. Constant contacts and checkups of the KPIs that will be jointly developed by the entrepreneurs and their coaches will ensure that there is a smooth ongoing scaleup of their businesses, in order to prepare the winners to eventually also apply for the EIC Accelerator or Pre Accelerator scheme.

Women TechEU programme

This unique Women TechEU Programme offers:

• Service 1 - Women mentors (one meeting per month during 6 months).

• Service 2: Investor readiness.

• Service 3 - Export Readiness Check.

• Service 4 - Soft Skills Training.

• Service 5 - Sales Strategy.

• Service 6 - Environmental Impact Assessment.

• Service 7 - High Impact Events

• Service 8 - Peer-meetings.

• Service 9 - Perks programme and Community.

At the moment of submission, the applicant will select her top three services that she would like to get from Women TechEU project. During the execution of the Programme of Services selected services from the EIC Business Accelerator Service will also be offered.

Following the M3 Programme evaluation. At least 60% of the selected startups will move to a new phase called “Paving the way”. These startups have access to services meant to support their scaling-up:

• Service 10 - Fast Track to EIC Accelerator.

• Service 11 - Open Innovation and Corporate Access.

• Service 12 - Targeted meetings with investors.

• Service 13 – Community creation.