Is Europe’s deep tech scene really gaining speed? A new report from the EIC Scaling Club confirms it with data.
Europe's Deep Tech Scale-ups: Building Momentum report analyses the funding of the club’s 120 selected companies, of which 119 remain active. The EIC Scaling Club is an initiative of the European Innovation Council that brings together deep tech scale-ups from 26 countries. The report uses Dealroom data through 29 September 2026 and compares the Club companies with a control group of 240 similar companies that applied but were not selected.
This article highlights six signals of growing momentum in Europe’s deep tech sector, drawing on the report’s findings.
Since joining the Club, its companies have raised funding more frequently and in larger amounts than the control group.
56% of the Club companies raised funding, vs 38% in the control group. They raised an amount equivalent to 128% of their pre-joining funding, compared with 56% for the control group.
Among companies that raised funding after joining, the Club portfolio averaged €60.6M compared with €39.7M for the control group. The two groups were level at the start of 2025, but by Q3 2026 the average Club company had raised €38.1M in cumulative funding since Q1 2024, vs €21.6M for comparable companies outside the EIC Scaling Club.
EIC Scaling Club council member Jan Goetz, CEO and Co-Founder of IQM Quantum Computers, says the Club’s mix of founders, investors and industrial partners is paying off: “Club companies are out-raising comparable peers.”
After joining, the Club companies raised €4.06B. Most of it came from private investors, and the pace is rising.
Funding grew by about 40% a year, with the strongest growth in the last 12 months. By Q3 2025, cumulative funding averaged €15.2M per Club company. By Q3 2026, it had reached €38.1M.
The report also estimates that the portfolio's total valuation grew from €9.2B at joining to €14.3B after two years, which is equivalent to 25% annual growth.
Patrik Sobocki, Senior Investment Director at Industrifonden and an EIC Scaling Club council member, says the data show “the strong effect of scale-up support in Europe.”
Before joining, 5% of Club companies had raised €100M or more in total. After joining, 16% of Club companies (9% for the control group) had raised €100M or more in total.
The share with €50M+ more than doubled, from 14% to 30%. Nine rounds of €100M+ made up 51% of the capital raised after joining. The largest included rounds by Multiverse Computing (€500M), PLD Space (€288M), and Axelera AI (€234M). As often in venture capital, a few companies drive the totals: the top 20 raised 82% of the capital.
EIC Scaling Club council member Victoria Hernández Valcárcel, Member of the EIC Board of Directors, says the results “show that Europe can build its own global champions.”
Early public money helps deep tech companies attract private capital. About 80% of the capital raised after joining came in rounds with an EIC or other public co-investor, and each EIC Fund-backed round included about five other investors.
Among the 67 Club companies that raised funding after joining, 54% secured funding in rounds involving public co-investors, including 22% with EIC Fund equity participation. In the nine €100M+ rounds, 55% of investor participations were from private investors, 24% from corporate investors and 21% from public or EIC investors. These shares reflect investor participation, not the amounts invested.
Maria Zubeldia, Director of Entrepreneurship at Oxford Saïd Business School and an EIC Scaling Club council member, points to the Club’s role in “connecting deep tech scale-ups with investors, corporates, mentors and international networks,” so European innovators can grow and compete globally.
The largest funding amounts are going to technologies critical to Europe’s competitiveness and technological sovereignty. New Space raised €1.34B, Next-Gen Computing (Quantum & AI Compute) €1.32B and Renewable Energies €589M, together accounting for around 80% of the €4.06B total.
Annual funding growth reached 101% in space and 93% in quantum and AI compute. In the nine mega-rounds, about €1.0B went to quantum and AI compute, about €0.8B to space and about €0.2B to fusion energy.
EIC Scaling Club council member Jennifer Schenker, Founder and Editor-in-Chief at The Innovator, puts the stakes plainly: “Europe’s prosperity and security depend on its ability to grow globally competitive tech companies at scale.”
Companies that raised funding come from 21 countries, so the map reaches beyond the usual hubs.
Spain raised the most, €1.48B across 16 companies, ahead of Germany (€750M) and the Netherlands (€508M). Bulgaria’s four companies raised €390M, more than France’s 24 companies (€369M). Latvia, Slovakia, and Estonia also make the top 12. Still, Spain, Germany and the Netherlands together account for around two-thirds of the total funding raised after joining.
The results also underline the importance of a pan-European portfolio. While the Club brings together companies from 26 countries, funding is concentrated among a relatively small number of companies, making it difficult to predict where the next major deep tech success will emerge.
Jean-Michel Deligny, Chair of the Investment Committee at Triple B and an EIC Scaling Club council member, calls the Club “a unique pan-European programme that complements national initiatives.”
Among investor participations with a disclosed origin in the nine €100M+ rounds, 27% were non-European, mostly from the US. This compares with 18% of investor participations across all funding rounds after joining.
Europe needs more European capital, stronger customer demand and more effective public procurement to keep ownership and value in Europe as its companies grow. The report also highlights the role of partnerships in helping companies scale: 210 publicly disclosed partnerships were identified, with commercial partnerships accounting for the largest share (32%).
“Innovation only truly makes a difference when it reaches people in their everyday lives, when it is developed by workers on the ground and becomes accessible to everyone. That is why helping deep tech startups grow and bring their innovations to market is so important, both for society and for Europe's competitiveness. I therefore welcome the EIC Scaling Club’s continued efforts to help these startups grow and turn their promising ideas into real-world solutions.”
— Michiel Scheffer, President of the Board European Innovation Council
For more information, read the full Europe's Deep Tech Scale-ups: Building Momentum report.
The EIC Scaling Club is a curated community of 120 European deep tech scale-ups with the potential to build world-class businesses and solve major global challenges. Through the programme, Club companies connect with investors, corporate innovators and other industry players to support their growth and international expansion.
The EIC Scaling Club is an EIC-funded initiative run in partnership by Tech Tour, Bpifrance (EuroQuity), Hello Tomorrow, Webrazzi, EurA and IESE Business School.
Subscribe to our newsletter here to stay up-to-date!