www.eicscalingclub.eu

Dear Community Member, 

Can we still say Happy New Year? We're not sure, but we just did!

Please find below an update on the EIC Scaling Club, the European Innovation Council and the broader European deep tech ecosystem(s).

Kind regards,

The EIC Scaling Club team

News and insights from the EIC Scaling Club

We hope you enjoyed the holiday break and 2024 is off to a good start.

We have stayed busy selecting the best deep tech companies, investors, corporate innovators and other industry stakeholder to join our curated community.

Make sure to check your inbox to see whether you've been invited to apply for membership!

We cannot wait to showcase the first cohort on 9 and 10 April in Brussels and Leuven at our kick-off event, the upcoming Ignition Forum event - more info about that is coming soon but you should already save the date!

Also to be marked in your calendar: the upcoming EIC Summit in Brussels on 18 and 19 March as part of the European Research & Innovation week.

Spotting Europe's next unicorns

Tech Tour, one of the core partners in the EIC Scaling Club, has announced the 2024 edition of the 'Tech Tour Growth50' list, shining a light on European tech companies with a substantial potential for fast growth in a number of sectors. 

A warm welcome to our early members

We're delighted that so many companies, investors and organisations have already placed their trust in us and joined (and applied to join) the EIC Scaling Club! 🙏

We are gathering many of the most promising Deep Tech companies from across Europe to join the EIC Scaling Club; all whom have been carefully nominated by a selection of a distinguished group of investors, corporations, agencies and clusters.

Members will soon benefit exclusively from the Club’s network, mentorship programmes, investor matchmaking sessions and more.

We are looking forward to welcoming many more of you as we gear up to build a curated, high-level community of deep tech innovators to reach the next level.

A small selection of early members:

Here are some insights from leading innovators to kick off 2024 with:

Thoughts on European deep tech from Massimo Portincaso (Arsenale, Deepwave Ventures, Hello Tomorrow, ex-BCG)

We caught up with Massimo Portincaso, a "recovering management consultant" who co-led Boston Consulting Group's deep tech practice towards the end of his 15-years+ BCG tenure, an investor and advisor at Deepwave Ventures and now the entrepreneur behind fledgling bio-manufacturing startup Arsenale.

Massimo was also a valued part of the efforts behind EIC ScalingUp TOP50, the predecessor to the EIC Scaling Club, and serves as Chairman of the Advisory Board to Hello Tomorrow, one of the partners in this project.

Check out the interview here.

Shift4Good co-founder Yann Marteil backs EIC Scaling Club's mission to accelerate global impact

We had a chat with Yann Marteil, co-founder and managing partner of Shift4Good, an impact VC fund dedicated to investments in transportation decarbonisation technologies.

To support the EIC Scaling Club, Yann will serve as President of the 'Smart Mobility' group, as it is one of the 10 market sector opportunities we've identified as crucial for European deep tech entrepreneurs and investors to target for positive impact.

You can watch the interview here, or on YouTube.

Making space more sustainable: A chat with ClearSpace co-founder and CEO Luc Piguet

In recent times, the issue of space traffic has become a priority for the European Space Agency because of the threat posed by the increasing amount of debris orbiting the Earth. This is the problem being addressed by ClearSpace, a Switzerland-based deep tech company that's on a mission to make space - and particularly Earth's orbit - vastly more sustainable.

At the recent OTB Ventures Summit in Warsaw, we caught up with Luc Piguet, co-founder and CEO of ClearSpace, to describe in more detail the nature of the challenge, and what it takes to remove junk from space, and its ambitious plans for the future.

Have a listen here or on the EIC Scaling Club podcast page.

News and insights from across the

European deep tech industry

We've been keeping track on Europe's deep tech ecosystem(s).

Here's an overview of the biggest news and milestones

from leading companies, investors and organisations:

• Northvolt raises $5 billion to enable expansion of first circular gigafactory in the western world.
• Electra raises €304M in record-breaking equity fundraising for its EV charging network
• Octopus Energy Generation has invested £200 million in Deep Green, a London-based tech company, to expand their innovative data centre heat reuse technology in the UK.
• EIT InnoEnergy and Demeter launch €500m battery raw materials fund to boost European strategic autonomy.
• Backed by Open AI, Norwegian startup 1X raised $100 million in funding to bring humanoid robots into your living space.
• Nokia to make €360M microelectronics and communications technology investment in Germany.
• Software AG sold webMethods and StreamSets – its Super Integration-Platform-as-a-Service (iPaaS) business – to IBM for €2.13 billion.
• Partech Ventures launched a €360 million fund for European tech startups.

 News from the EIC

• The European Commission has adopted the 2024 work programme of the European Innovation Council.
• The new EIC Board has held its first plenary meeting.
• EIC welcomes Federica Zanca as new Programme Manager covering the field of medical imaging and AI in healthcare.
• Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform: Council agrees its partial negotiating mandate.
• EIC Women Leadership Programme: Open call for Mentors.
• The network of partners 'Seeds of Bravery' selected to implement a €20 million EIC action supporting Ukraine’s innovation community, launched their first call for Ukrainian startups.
• Call for Investors – Join the EIC ePitching on Cardiovascular and Respiratory Diseases.
• Launch of the Green Transition Business Matching Platform - join the meeting sessions in February and March!
• The EU invests €50 million to help startups scale up alternative proteins.
• Partner call: Promote your Green Transition solutions on the EU-Japan Green Transition Business Matching Platform.

For your calendar

Must reads: our curated selection of stories

We've collected several interesting relevant market reports, data-driven insights, opinions and more from across the European deep tech community:

• The imperative for growth capital for biotech and deep tech in Europe.
• The top 10 European AI companies of 2023.
• What’s in store for Europe’s climate tech ecosystem in 2024.
• "Why we need to make hardware less hard".
• The UK is home to nearly 3,500 active deep tech companies.
• Skype legacy and beyond: Taavi Rõivas on deep tech's future in Baltics.
• EuroHPC JU Seeks Hosts for New Quantum Computers, Boosting European Tech Infrastructure.
• French quantum sector calls for more EU funding.
• Safeguarding tomorrow: Navigating the crossroads of global AI safety.
• Unveiling Europe’s unsung heroes and heroines shaping the Metaverse future.
• Why the demand for deep-tech skills in professional services is growing.
• "Why can't European tech firms compete with their US counterparts?"
• TNW Podcast: European VC special with Kinga Stanislawska (EWiVC) and Sten Tamkivi (Plural).
• The first ever report on the state of the national deep tech ecosystem from the Royal Academy of Engineering shows that UK deep tech is dominated by men, with just 7.5% of UK deep tech companies founded by all-female teams.

Worth a look!

 European deep tech startups are making waves

Here's a selection of recent funding stories from some of

Europe's most promising early-stage deep tech startups:

• German-Dutch startup Zander Laboratories secured €30 million in funding from Germany’s Cyber Security Agency to transform the interaction between humans and machines.
• Helsinki-based startup Cactos secures over €26M for BESS investment.
• Munich-based EVUM Motors scores €20M to provide robust, all-electric vehicles across Europe.
• Reykjavik-based DTE raises €16 million to optimize and streamline metal industry operations.
• Vienna-based HYDROGRID bags €7.7M to help hydropower plants digitise and run effectively.
• Barcelona-based Delfos Energy's real-time virtual engineer software attracts €6.3M investment.
• Lithuanian medtech startup Sentante secured €6M for its teleoperated robotics.

That’s it for this month!

Do let us know how we can improve this newsletter in future editions.

Make sure to follow us on social media to stay updated on all things European deep tech as we get busy building a vibrant EIC Scaling Club.

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