On 18 March 2026, the EIC Scaling Club community came together in Paris for the Growth Forum – the programme’s fourth and final in-person gathering and a milestone marking two years of collaboration across Europe’s deep tech ecosystem.
Set within the wider European Deeptech Week in Paris, the Growth Forum was hosted at Bpifrance (EuroQuity), welcoming 300+ participants – EIC Scaling Club companies and investors, alongside mentors, corporates and public decision-makers, including:
Part celebration, part workshop, the Growth Forum was the biggest Forum edition yet and sought to build on recent momentum, focusing on what matters most at scale: industrialisation, fundraising and strategic partnerships – and how Europe can move faster to turn breakthrough technologies into global category leaders.
With five panels, 30+ speakers and many Scaling Club companies pitching and contributing to discussions, the programme brought together the Club’s 10 Market Groups and a packed agenda of keynotes, fireside conversations, company growth sessions and best practice discussions.
Throughout the day, participants moved between stage sessions and dedicated networking moments designed to spark concrete next steps – from pilot-to-partnership pathways with corporates to investor conversations about growth capital.
Giving cause for celebration and adding context to many of these conversations was the EIC Scaling Club Impact Report, and the news that member companies have achieved 67% funding growth over the 14-20 months since joining, compared to 26% growth for a control group of their European peers. Member companies have raised €2.13 billion since joining, boasting an estimated combined valuation of €10-13 billion across the portfolio.
Beyond funding, the impact data point to broader scale-up traction: 2,182 new jobs created, 200 strategic partnerships closed, and significant progress in market expansion and customer acquisition across the cohort.
You can view the full Impact Report here. Note that it’s an online document that is continuously updated.
With the numbers signalling real momentum, attention turned to the practical question: what will it take to scale even faster – and more often – in Europe?
1. Scaling deep tech partnerships with ambition: The corporate leader perspective
A recurring message from corporate leaders was clear: successful deep tech adoption depends less on innovation units and more on operational business teams taking ownership early. Turning pilots into deployed solutions requires integration, shared incentives and a long-term view from both sides.
As Florent Illat, Director General, Safran Corporate Ventures, put it: “We [see] deep tech start-ups as potential disruptors of business and partners as well, so supporting companies and helping them develop their technology is also a business opportunity for us.”
2. Europe’s deep-tech scale-ups: Policy actions to bridge financing, procurement and collaboration gaps
Panellists emphasised that disruptive technologies need to be translated into business value – in terms of cost, competitiveness and performance improvements. They also highlighted that corporate-start-up collaboration works best when it is embedded in strategy and brought to the board level, enabling faster decisions and clearer pathways to scale.
3. Best practices: EIC Scaling Club
The session on what has worked in the Club reinforced the importance of structured support and proximity between founders, investors and mentors. Strategic guidance for international expansion, curated peer learning and easier access to industrial partners were cited as core ingredients in accelerating progress.
Mariano García Orgiles, Investor Relations Lead, PLD Space, noted: “The support from the EIC Scaling Club has been amazing and helped us be part of the European deep tech conversation by receiving exposure and recognition.”
4. Scaling Europe: Overcoming regulatory, talent and culture barriers
Conversations on scaling barriers centred on fragmentation – from regulatory frameworks to procurement complexity – and the need for greater alignment to unlock cross-border growth. Panellists also underscored that talent and culture are as decisive as capital: Europe’s scale-up mindset, retention strategies, and ambition to build globally competitive companies must keep pace with technological excellence.
Egle Markeviciute, ESNA Advisor Board Member and former Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Economy and Innovation of Lithuania, highlighted the challenge for many innovators: “For many member-states, public procurement can be unreachable for startups that need it. That’s why more simplified rules harmonised across the EU could make a difference.”
5. Europe’s missed opportunity: Fixing the growth-capital gap
The panel on growth capital came back to a structural bottleneck: Europe has strong early-stage activity, but still lacks the depth of late-stage funding needed to build global champions. A key point was the under-participation of long-term institutional capital – and the importance of mobilising more patient funding for deep tech and life sciences at scale.
Continuing the theme of celebration, the day also included awards celebrating the ambition and leadership driving the community forward.
The event saw companies such as Axelera AI, CorPower Ocean and Osivax take home the Top Fundraising Achievement Award for their respective sectors – Digital, Climate and Health.
In the Leadership Commitment category – an award that combines leadership diversity impact data with active engagement in mentoring sessions and programme events – Quobly earned the trophy for its outstanding commitment in the field.
Among mentors, it was Mikko Suonenlahti who took home the Most In-Demand Mentor Award. Mentorship is one of the strongest levers for faster scaling, and earning this award is a direct reflection of the significant impact Mikko has had on the many European companies he has had the chance to work with: “It has been a pleasure and privilege to support the big, bold visions of Europe’s leading 100+ deep tech startup founders in the Club.”
This Forum was the biggest edition yet – a big thank you to everyone who contributed their time, expertise and energy, including our wonderful event supporters, hosts and the organising team.
300+ participants
10 Market Groups
5 panels
30+ speakers
480+ one-to-one meetings held
The EIC Scaling Club is a curated community where 120 European deep tech scale-ups with the potential to build world-class businesses and solve major global challenges come together with investors, corporate innovators and other industry stakeholders to spur growth.
The top 120 European deep tech companies have been carefully selected from a pool of high-growth scale-ups that have benefitted from EIC financial schemes, other European and national innovation programmes, and beyond.
The EIC Scaling Club is an EIC-funded initiative run in partnership by Tech Tour, Bpifrance (EuroQuity), Hello Tomorrow, Tech.eu (Webrazzi), EurA and IESE Business School.
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