Funding, grants, accelerators, competitions, pilots, and visibility opportunities for AI startups, data products, automation tools, and AI-enabled SaaS teams.
16 current opportunities
Funding guide
AI founders often need a mix of funding, customer access, compute/data resources, technical validation, and investor visibility. This guide brings the AI-relevant opportunities together so you can focus on the best fit.
Current opportunities
16 opportunities shown.
Startups and SMEs in EU Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries with a game-changing, high-risk innovation that has completed TRL 5 and is ready for TRL 6-8 activities, strong scale-up ambition, and funding needs that private investors alone will not yet cover.
A grant component below €2.5 million for innovation activities, plus €1-€10 million in direct equity or quasi-equity for blended-finance applicants. Selected companies also receive coaching, mentoring, investor and partner access, and other EIC Business Acceleration Services.
Submit a short proposal at any time; these are batched on the first Tuesday of each month at 17:00 Brussels time. A GO is required before submitting a full proposal, with the final 2026 full-proposal batch on 4 Nov. Eligible applicants include single startups and SMEs, people or entities establishing one before the full proposal, and small mid-caps applying for investment only; third-country applicants must relocate to an eligible country before Step 2.
Early-stage startups with outstanding potential that want Web Summit visibility in Lisbon, investor and media exposure, startup activations, and a structured event preparation path with the startup success team.
Selected ALPHA startups receive three Web Summit tickets, a startup profile visible to attendees, investors, media, and partners, a one-day exhibition booth, a printed exhibition board, access to the Web Summit app, Startup Lounge, startup activations, and support from a dedicated startup success manager. Accepted startups can also apply for activations such as PITCH, Startup Showcase, 40 Words, Mentor Hours, masterclasses, roundtables, and investor-to-startup meetings. Startups selected through Build Up Labs' referral route receive 20% off automatically at checkout.
Apply through the Build Up Labs referral link with a business email address. Web Summit assesses applicants for high potential and programme fit; the 20% discount is applied only after selection, at checkout. PITCH is open to ALPHA and BETA startups exhibiting at Web Summit that have received less than €5M in funding to date and have not had a discernible change in business model in the last three years.
Startups with traction or fundraising momentum that fit Web Summit's BETA route and want concentrated access to investors, media, startup showcases, mentor sessions, and Web Summit's global founder network in Lisbon.
Accepted BETA startups can use Web Summit to build visibility with attendees, investors, international media, strategic partners, and potential customers. The startup programme highlights access to investor-to-startup meetings, Mentor Hours, Startup Showcase, 40 Words, startup masterclasses, PITCH eligibility, the Web Summit app, and startup success support to prepare for the event. Startups selected through Build Up Labs' referral route receive 20% off automatically at checkout.
Apply through the Build Up Labs referral link with a business email address. Web Summit reviews companies for high potential and fit; the 20% discount is applied only after selection, at checkout. BETA startups exhibiting at Web Summit may apply for PITCH if they have raised less than €5M to date and have not had a discernible business-model change in the last three years.
Investor-backed European founders and startups preparing to expand into North America and looking for structured market-entry support, ecosystem access, and guidance from Toronto Business Development Centre.
Market-entry programme support for founders expanding into North America, with a focus on helping European companies understand the market, build local connections, and prepare for commercial expansion.
Open call. Best fit for companies with investor backing and enough traction or readiness to justify North American market-entry work. Verify current cohort requirements and timing on the official TBDC Horizon page before applying.
Women-founded or women-co-founded early-stage deep tech startups in EU Member States or eligible Horizon Europe Pillar III Associated Countries, especially teams preparing to move from validated technology toward market readiness.
€75,000 equity-free grant funding plus personalised business development support, mentoring, training, expert guidance, matchmaking, networking, and help bridging toward other EIC funding and support schemes.
At least one woman founder or co-founder must hold a top management role such as CEO or CTO, and women founders must collectively hold at least 25% of company shares at submission. The company must be a commercial SME registered for at least six months and no more than five years, be before high-fidelity MVP stage (TRL4-TRL6), have raised less than €1M in equity, and must not have already benefitted from Women TechEU or EIC Accelerator. The eligibility strand has weekly Tuesday cut-offs at 17:00 Brussels time until 15 Jun 2027; the next near-term cut-off is 27 Oct 2026. Eligible applicants are then invited to a full proposal, with the next submission deadline on 14 Jan 2027 at 17:00 Brussels time.
Portuguese startups, SMEs, and eligible national entities needing advanced compute resources.; best for AI, simulation, scientific-computing, and compute-heavy startups.
CPU / GPU hours and storage on advanced computing infrastructure.
Eligible Portuguese entities with pre-commercial innovation projects.
Startups and SMEs supported by EIC, EIT, KICs, MSCA or related European innovation programmes that can host a 3-6 month innovation internship; also relevant for researchers, graduates and EIT talents looking for startup exposure.
Access to specialised research and innovation talent without financial burden for hosting companies, AI-assisted matchmaking with company needs, and practical knowledge-transfer between research and startup execution.
Hosting company eligibility is programme-specific: EIC Accelerator, Seal of Excellence, EIC Transition, EIT/KIC-supported startups and SMEs, MSCA companies, or startups/scaleups connected to EIT alumni/KIC activities. The official programme says applications are open and InnoNext has been extended until 31 Jul 2027, with new innovation internships activated until May 2027. Talents must also fit the listed EIC/EIT/MSCA/ERC/Horizon/EIT eligibility categories.
startups in Construction & Real Estate; with solutions involving Cloud Computing, Digital Twins, AI / Machine Learning. Challenge owner: Grupo MCA.
Significantly reduces BIM design and modelling time, improves consistency between technical solutions and digital models, increases engineering and design productivity, optimizes cost and performance and supports scaling projects across geographies.
AI solutions that structure modular-construction catalogues, interpret project requirements, account for geography such as climate, regulation and local availability, recommend optimized solution combinations, generate BIM or parametric Revit components and support IFC interoperability. Deadline: Response deadline 2026-11-16; Pitch deadline 2026-11-26.
startups in Construction & Real Estate; with solutions involving SaaS, AI / Machine Learning, Data & Analytics. Challenge owner: Grupo MCA.
Reduces bid-preparation time, increases tender success rate, improves operational efficiency, reduces errors, makes better use of internal knowledge and history and increases the ability to scale participation in international tenders.
AI solutions that integrate with existing systems, analyse external tender platforms, filter tenders based on the company profile, compare tender requirements with internal data, identify gaps and automate pre-filling of bid documentation. Deadline: Response deadline 2026-11-16; Pitch deadline 2026-11-26.
startups in Health, Manufacturing & Industry, Construction & Real Estate; with solutions involving SaaS, Cloud Computing, Data & Analytics, APIs / Integrations, ERP / Enterprise Systems. Challenge owner: TMG Automotive.
Reduces spare-part search and identification time, lowers material-selection errors, increases maintenance-team autonomy, reduces machine downtime and improves out-of-hours operational efficiency.
AI and computer-vision solutions that identify parts from images, connect each part to the internal/SAP code, show stock and location data, work for non-specialist users, integrate with existing systems and keep improving through learning loops. Submit a response by 16 Nov 2026. Response deadline 2026-11-16.
startups in Manufacturing & Industry; with solutions involving AI / Machine Learning, Data & Analytics, Data Infrastructure / Data Engineering, Internet of Things (IoT), APIs / Integrations, Robotics / Automation, Industry 4.0, Hardware / Embedded Systems. Challenge owner: AAC Têxteis.
Improves production traceability and data reliability, reduces manual control processes and identifies technologies with industrial application potential.
Solutions that improve monitoring, traceability and operational control on the factory floor, reduce manual records, increase operational-data visibility, adapt to industrial environments and use relevant technologies such as computer vision, MES, RFID or IoT. Submit a response by 16 Nov 2026. Response deadline 2026-11-16.
startups in Health; with solutions involving SaaS, AI / Machine Learning, Data & Analytics. Challenge owner: Clínica Santa Madalena.
Reduces no-show rates, increases clinical schedule occupancy, improves absence prediction, enables faster reassignment of available slots, reduces operational disruption and improves the patient scheduling and confirmation experience.
Solutions with proven ability to reduce no-shows in clinical settings, using data or predictive models to anticipate absence risk, support real-time operations, manage schedules dynamically, improve patient experience, scale across a multi-clinic network and run a real-world pilot. Deadline: Response deadline 2026-11-16; Pitch deadline 2026-11-26.
startups in Construction & Real Estate; with solutions involving AI / Machine Learning, Data & Analytics. Challenge owner: Grupo ACA.
Improves predictability of construction timelines and costs, identifies planning deviations earlier, supports site teams with data-driven decision tools and increases efficiency while reducing operational risk in complex projects.
Pilot-ready solutions for real operations that integrate and analyse multiple project-data sources, use predictive models to support construction planning and control and can scale across different project types. Deadline: Response deadline 2026-11-16; Pitch deadline 2026-11-26.
startups in Construction & Real Estate; with solutions involving Cloud Computing, Digital Twins, AI / Machine Learning, Data & Analytics, Internet of Things (IoT), APIs / Integrations, Robotics / Automation, Industry 4.0, Hardware / Embedded Systems, Sustainability / Climate Tech, Mobility / Smart Cities. Challenge owner: MEXT.
The expected benefit is to identify water-related solutions that support more efficient, resilient and circular water management across infrastructure and operations. Selected solutions should improve visibility over water use, reduce avoidable losses, enable reuse opportunities and support better resource planning, generating sustainability and operational value for more resource-efficient, future-ready infrastructure.
We are looking for startups with scalable, practical and measurable solutions applicable to infrastructure, construction, urban services or industrial operations. Solutions should improve water monitoring, efficiency, reuse or loss reduction, and ideally be tested in relevant environments or ready for pilot implementation. Relevant technologies may include IoT sensors, AI tools, leak detection, decentralized treatment, wastewater or greywater reuse and rainwater management. Deadline: Response deadline 2026-11-16; Pitch deadline 2026-11-26.
startups in Construction & Real Estate; with solutions involving AI / Machine Learning, Data & Analytics, Internet of Things (IoT). Challenge owner: Grupo ACA.
Improves real-time visibility over construction progress, supports safety monitoring, automatically identifies potential non-conformities, reduces manual site-inspection effort and gives operations teams more frequent, structured information.
Pilot-ready solutions for real operational contexts, especially those that provide continuous or frequent site monitoring, use automatic image or video analysis and integrate information into dashboards or management platforms. Deadline: Response deadline 2026-11-16; Pitch deadline 2026-11-26.
startups in Construction & Real Estate; with solutions involving Cloud Computing, Digital Twins, AI / Machine Learning, Data & Analytics, Internet of Things (IoT), APIs / Integrations, Robotics / Automation, Industry 4.0, Hardware / Embedded Systems, Supply Chain Tech, Sustainability / Climate Tech, Energy Tech. Challenge owner: MEXT.
The expected benefit is to identify waste-to-energy solutions that support circular, resilient and low-carbon infrastructure and operations. Selected solutions should reduce landfill or low-value treatment, valorize waste into useful energy outputs, lower emissions and environmental impact, improve energy resilience and resource efficiency, create circular business models around waste and energy, and support sustainability and decarbonization goals.
We are looking for startups with scalable, practical and measurable waste-to-energy solutions for urban, municipal, industrial, construction or infrastructure contexts. Solutions may include biogas, biomethane, heat or electricity from organic waste, sludge, biomass or residues; waste-to-hydrogen; gasification, pyrolysis, anaerobic digestion, RDF or alternative fuels; modular units; AI, IoT or digital monitoring; and should be tested or ready for pilot implementation. Deadline: Response deadline 2026-11-16; Pitch deadline 2026-11-26.
Founder guidance
No. Some provide grants or prizes, while others offer pilots, enterprise access, exposure, technical support, or investor visibility. The benefit field explains the practical value.
Only when the opportunity is explicitly relevant to AI, data, automation, machine learning, or AI-enabled workflows. Generic SaaS opportunities stay on the full Founder Opportunities page unless the AI fit is clear.
Check data requirements, technical maturity, target sector, demo readiness, customer proof, responsible AI requirements, and whether the programme expects a working product or accepts earlier prototypes.
