On 18 March 2026, the EIC Scaling Club community came together in Paris for the Growth Forum, hosted at Bpifrance (EuroQuity) as part of European Deeptech Week. The Forum marked a key milestone and a moment to celebrate the achievements and progress made over the past 14–20 month byScaling Club companies – and the wider ecosystem around them.

The timing was right: the EIC Scaling Club Impact Report signalled strong momentum as member companies have achieved 67% funding growth over the 14–20 months since joining, compared to 26% for a control group of European peers. Collectively, the cohort has raised €2.13 billion since joining, with an estimated combined valuation of €10–13 billion.

Beyond funding, the progress is visible in broader scale-up traction – including 2,182 new jobs created and 200 strategic partnerships closed across the cohort.

Against that backdrop, the Growth Forum Awards were designed to spotlight the ambition, execution and leadership that turn potential into scale, across three categories: the Top Fundraising Achievement Award, the Leadership Commitment Award, and the Most In-Demand Mentor Award.

1. Top Fundraising Achievement Award

Fundraising is a collective effort, and these awards recognise the highest-raising companies in each Scaling Club sector since joining the programme, based on impact data updated in mid-March.

These awards highlight companies that have been able to sustain strong fundraising momentum while navigating long sales cycles, complex R&D and the realities of scaling deep tech. They also reflect the strength of the ecosystem supporting them – from investors to partners and the wider Scaling Club community.

Sector winners:

• Digital: Axelera AI
• Climate: CorPower Ocean
• Health: Osivax

Finalists by sector:

• Digital: Axelera AI, PLD Space, Multiverse Computing
• Climate: CorPower Ocean, cylib, Vay Technologies
• Health: Osivax, Arctic Therapeutics

2. Leadership Commitment Award

Scaling deep tech requires strong teams – and strong teams are built with deliberate leadership choices.

The Leadership Commitment Award recognises outstanding commitment to inclusive and diverse leadership within the EIC Scaling Club. It combines leadership diversity impact data – particularly the Women in Leadership indicator – with active engagement in mentoring sessions and programme events.

Inclusive leadership does not happen by default. It takes accountability, measurement and consistent action – especially during high-growth phases when hiring, culture and decision-making systems are being built at speed.

Winner:

• Quobly

Nominees:

• cylib
• Quobly
• Aldoria

3. Most In-Demand Mentor Award

Mentorship is one of the strongest levers for faster scaling – particularly when the advice is practical, sector-aware and delivered at the right moment.

The Most In-Demand Mentor Award is given to the mentor with the highest demand across Scaling Club companies (Digital | Health | Climate). Group Managers reviewed and delivered mentoring sessions, including lead facilitation (weighted as two meetings).

Winner:

• Mikko Suonenlahti

Nominees:

• Mikko Suonenlahti
• Tero Vauraste
• Jean-Michel Deligny

In Mikko’s words: “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.”

Recognising excellence within the programme

A final note of congratulations goes to Nicolette Komitska, who received the Excellence in Programme Leadership Award – an internal recognition for outstanding contribution to the programme.

To all winners and nominees: congratulations, and thank you for raising the bar for what European deep tech scaling looks like.

About the EIC Scaling Club

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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