Deep tech, research-to-market, EIC-adjacent, and breakthrough innovation opportunities for startups building defensible technology in Europe.
16 current opportunities
Funding guide
This guide is for founders building high-risk, high-impact technology: AI, advanced computing, health, climate, hardware, industrial tech, robotics, biotech, or research-backed products.
Current opportunities
16 opportunities shown.
Portugal-based academic founders turning research, theses, R&D projects, or proofs of concept into a startup, especially students, researchers, or faculty connected to a national higher-education institution.
€30,000 non-repayable voucher per project, paid 100% in advance after approval, to fund early business creation and validation steps such as incubation, acceleration, company setup, events, marketing, pitch materials, proof of concept, pilots, IP protection, and regulatory or certification mapping.
For micro, small, and medium-sized companies, including startups. The company must be majority-owned by an individual who is currently, or was in the previous two calendar years, enrolled in a degree programme at a Portuguese higher-education institution or working as a researcher or teacher at one. Applications are submitted through Startup Portugal's official funding platform; ANI and Startup Portugal support the technical review, and FITEC decides within 30 working days after the notice closes.
Impact, sustainability, deep tech, proptech, space, food, energy, consumer-goods, or other mission-driven startups that want curated corporate, investor, and policymaker conversations around pilots, partnerships, and visibility in Europe.
The Impact Circle is an invite-only matchmaking event with reviewed participants, pre-scheduled 1:1 meetings before day one, startup pitching and finals visibility at the Love Tomorrow Summit, curated corporate and investor access, EIC and Dealflow.eu context, and a three-day programme around Boom, Brussels, and Tomorrowland.
Join the waitlist/apply through the registration page. Participation is curated and reviewed by Love Tomorrow and partners; selected applicants receive an exclusive ticket-purchase invitation. Event dates are 22-24 Jul 2026 in Boom and Brussels, Belgium, so best-fit teams should be ready to travel and use matchmaking conversations in July.
Early-stage startups and SMEs with health-focused digital solutions that want healthcare stakeholder exposure, pilot or validation opportunities, clinical feedback, and visibility in Portugal's health innovation ecosystem.
Selected teams showcase at the IHT Conference HealthTech Showroom, join guided tours with expert groups, connect with clinicians, healthcare decision-makers and potential partners, get direct feedback, unlock pilot, validation and funding conversations, and receive two free full-access conference tickets.
Applications close 7 Sep 2026. Applicants should be SMEs with health-focused digital solutions and meet the startup criteria stated in the guidelines: established less than five years ago and annual revenue below €1M. Selected teams are expected to confirm participation between 14-21 Sep 2026 and attend the showroom at IHT Conference on 27-28 Oct 2026.
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.
Apply through Web Summit's 2026 startup programme page with a business email address. Web Summit assesses applicants for high potential and programme fit. 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.
Agrifood startups and research teams with TRL 4-7 solutions that can address real company challenges in ingredients, greenhouse optimisation, pet-food drying, circular ecosystems, soil resilience, water treatment, or microalgae ingredients.
The programme connects solution providers with European agrifood SMEs and corporates to co-develop feasibility studies and pilot-ready solutions, giving startups direct customer validation, market credibility, and access to a pan-European agrifood network.
Applications close 30 Sep 2026. Applicants should review the listed company challenges, select the most relevant problem, and show a strong fit with agrifood needs, TRL 4-7 readiness, and ability to co-develop a pilot-ready or feasibility-study solution between Oct and Dec 2026.
Aspiring and early-stage founders in Portugal who want a lightweight in-person entry point into the local startup ecosystem, founder lessons, mentor discovery, and networking with founders, mentors, investors, and ecosystem builders.
Founder Institute Portugal’s in-person event combines founder insights from Joana Pinto and Nuno Fernandes, Founder Institute Portugal 2026 Demo Day pitches, and a networking session. The page highlights practical resources for launching and growing a startup, including local support organisations, mentor access, industry resources, and early-stage funding sources.
Register through the Founder Institute event page. The event is scheduled for 16 Jul 2026, 10:30-11:30 Europe/Lisbon, at Sítio Fintech House, Av. Duque de Loulé 12, Lisbon. The page describes an in-person networking event and includes a registration form.
Portuguese-registered deep-tech startups and scaleups with differentiated technology or protected IP, market validation, and a clear intent to enter the U.S. market.
UT Austin Portugal’s Startup2ScaleUp gives four selected companies 12 months of execution-focused U.S. market-entry support, including a dedicated U.S.-based Business Development Manager, lead generation for customers, partners, and investors, weekly touchpoints, monthly pipeline reporting, and access to the Texas/U.S. innovation ecosystem. The programme charges no participation fees and takes no equity.
Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis and close once four companies are selected. Applicants should be Portuguese-registered deep-tech companies beyond pure R&D, ready for commercialization, and able to commit founder time, speed, accountability, and active collaboration with UT Austin Portugal and the Global Innovation Lab.
Ambitious startups from any industry, including international and UC-affiliated teams, that want a Berkeley-based accelerator with investor access, advisors, business development support, and U.S. ecosystem exposure.
Berkeley SkyDeck selects roughly 20-25 accelerator cohort teams every six months for a 6-month acceleration process and a $210,000 investment from the Berkeley SkyDeck Fund. Cohort teams receive a lead advisor, workspace, mandatory programming, access to 900+ advisors, workshops and events, $750K+ in-kind resources, business development support, and Demo Day exposure to 900+ investors.
Batch 23 applications open 20 Jul 2026 and close 21 Aug 2026. Interviews run 8 Sep-5 Oct 2026, orientation is 2 Nov 2026, and the cohort runs 2 Nov 2026-15 Apr 2027. Startups from all industries and countries are eligible, with UC-affiliated and international startups continuing to be a priority.
European SMEs, startups, and research organisations building defence or dual-use technologies, especially teams with AI, cyber, quantum, energy, surveillance, digital, hardware, advanced materials, or other deep tech that can be adapted to defence applications.
The EDF 2026 work programme allocates about €1B to collaborative defence R&D, including dedicated EUDIS non-thematic SME calls. SME-led research actions can fund projects up to €4M and SME development actions up to €6M, with business coaching support to help move R&D results toward defence products and market entry.
Applications close 29 Sep 2026 at 17:00 Brussels time via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal. EDF projects generally require cross-border consortia from EU Member States or Norway; the SME research call requires an SME coordinator, at least TRL 4, disruptive defence impact, and limits research organisations to 40% of the requested grant budget.
Women’s health, femtech, digital health, medtech, diagnostics, therapeutics, sport-health, and research-to-industry startups with a strong innovation that would benefit from investor, multinational, and women’s health leader visibility.
WHW Innovation Showcase gives selected founders a chance to pitch during Women’s Health Week Europe in London, with visibility to investors, multinationals, partners, and women’s health leaders. Laura’s partner note says 16 startups will pitch to 700+ investors and partners, and cites BoobyBiome as a past alum that closed a £2.5M Seed round in the year after pitching.
Applications are open until Friday 28 Aug 2026 through the W Platform Europe Pitch form. Applicants should be ready to present a groundbreaking women’s health or sport-health innovation to investors, multinationals, and sector leaders at the 7-8 Oct 2026 London event.
Portuguese founders, startups, companies, research centres, universities, associations, cooperatives, NGOs, public bodies, and other teams with innovative products, services, organisational methods, or marketing approaches for agriculture, agri-food, forestry, rural development, local value chains, or climate adaptation.
The 13th edition awards €35,000 in total prizes: €10,000 for each of the three main categories, plus promotional video support for winning projects, and a €5,000 Prémio Revelação for an early-stage project with high development and scalability potential.
Applications are open until 9 Aug 2026 through the official form. Each promoter may submit one original project in one category: Investigação e Inovação, Desenvolvimento Local, or Impacto Climático e Adaptação. Projects must be directly or indirectly related to the agricultural, agri-food, or forestry sectors. An optional 1-2 minute Portuguese video pitch and supporting files can strengthen the application.
Medical device, in vitro diagnostic, and digital health startups, professionals, organizations, and stakeholders who need practical regulatory strategy, health technology assessment, reimbursement, or European market-access guidance.
Structured 13-week training programme with practical tools and strategic guidance for regulatory compliance and market access in Europe. Previous editions have supported 100+ participants from 50 companies, including companies that later attracted more than €4M in investment.
Applications are open until 14 Aug 2026 and places are limited. Participants should be working on or supporting medical device, IVD, digital health, regulatory affairs, technology assessment, or market-access strategies in Europe.
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.
Woman founder or co-founder in a top management role such as CEO or CTO, with at least 25% of company shares at submission. 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 13 Jul 2027; the next near-term cut-off is 14 Jul 2026.
Early-stage startups building AI, digital twin, geospatial, and data-driven solutions for the built and natural environment.; best for AI startups seeking pilots in construction, infra, energy, mapping, or asset operations.
Up to $200,000 seed funding, technical mentorship, ecosystem access, and partner credibility.
Early-stage; developer-first; best fit for teams building for construction, infrastructure, AEC, or spatial workflows.
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. Talents must also fit the listed EIC/EIT/MSCA/ERC/Horizon/EIT eligibility categories. Verify eligibility on the official platform before applying.
Founder guidance
We treat an opportunity as deep tech when it targets research-backed, technically defensible, hardware, health, industrial, climate, AI, or breakthrough innovation teams rather than generic startup growth support.
No. EIC Accelerator is a strong search anchor, but this page also includes EIC-adjacent and deep tech programmes that can help founders prepare for larger European funding routes.
Check technology readiness level, legal entity requirements, previous funding limits, IP ownership, time commitment, and whether the programme expects market-ready innovation or earlier research-to-market work.
