Equity-free startup grants, vouchers, prizes, and funded programmes curated for founders who want capital or support without giving up ownership.
9 current opportunities
Funding guide
Non-dilutive funding can be useful before or alongside venture capital, especially when a startup needs validation, pilots, R&D, visibility, or runway without immediate dilution. This page surfaces open opportunities where the benefit is primarily grant, voucher, prize, funded support, or equity-free programme access.
Current opportunities
9 opportunities shown.
Women founders and co-founders whose registered company or organisation develops breakthrough innovations with positive impact for people or the planet, particularly in deep tech and STEM. Both the founder's legal residence and the company's establishment must be in an EU Member State or a Horizon Europe Associated Country.
EIC Women Innovators awards cash prizes of €100,000, €70,000 and €50,000. EIC Rising Innovators and EIT Women Leadership each award €50,000, €30,000 and €20,000. Winners gain European visibility as role models for women and girls; these are prizes, not an investment offer.
Apply as a natural person through the Funding & Tenders Portal by 1 Dec 2026 at 17:00 CET, choosing only one category. The company or organisation must have been registered or incorporated before 1 Jan 2025; self-employment is not accepted. Rising Innovators applicants must be under 35 at the start of the call year; check the category's detailed age rules before submitting. EIT Women Leadership requires a direct link to the EIT Community. Submit the application and an inspiring video of up to 90 seconds, and be ready to provide eligibility evidence and attend a jury hearing in Brussels, which may take place remotely. Previous EU or Euratom prize winners cannot receive a second prize for the same activities.
Incorporated startups and SMEs planning national or European patent applications, EU plant variety protection, or geographical indications for craft and industrial products. Portuguese SMEs can apply through EUIPO.
Partial reimbursement of eligible IP costs: 75% of national and European patent fees, with separate caps of €1,000 each, and 50% of European patent drafting and filing services, capped at €1,500. Plant variety applications and examination receive 75% reimbursement up to €1,500; craft and industrial geographical indications receive 50% support up to €2,000.
Apply to EUIPO by 4 Dec 2026, subject to available funding. Obtain the grant and voucher before activating it for eligible services and claiming reimbursement. Patent and plant variety vouchers must be activated within one month, extendable by one further month; geographical indication vouchers are valid for six months. INPI currently marks Voucher 1 (IP Scan/IP Scan Enforcement) and Voucher 2 (trademarks and designs) temporarily unavailable, so do not assume those costs are currently supported. Verify the selected voucher's live availability and detailed rules before incurring costs.
Innovative SMEs established for at least two years in an eligible European country that have a TRL 4-8 solution and want to validate its technical, commercial, legal, or socioeconomic feasibility in a market in Africa, the Americas, Asia, or Oceania.
A fixed €60,000 grant for a six-month market feasibility project with a local counterpart in the target country. The call funds up to 70% of eligible costs, with €42,000 pre-financing and €18,000 after an accepted final report.
Apply in English from 1 Oct until 1 Dec 2026 at 14:00 CET. The applicant must be a legally established SME in an EU Member State, Iceland, Israel, Norway, Switzerland, Türkiye, or the UK, established by 1 Dec 2024, and must not have received funding under an earlier Innowwide call. The project must be civil, last six months, include an independent local subcontractor in the non-European target country, and have at least €86,000 in eligible costs.
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.
Pilot-ready agrifood startups with a prospective corporate client and a clear proof-of-concept or small-scale pilot that can show a pathway toward commercial activity.
EIT Food can co-finance startup-corporate proof-of-concept work such as sample creation, field trials, functionality and property tests, or efficiency assessments, helping de-risk pilots that could lead to larger commercial collaboration.
Apply by the final cut-off on 30 Nov 2026. Projects must be proposed with a prospective corporate client, stay below €60,000 in project costs, and include a letter of intent, budget, and pilot scope tied to commercial success.
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.
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.
Founder guidance
Non-dilutive funding is money or funded support that does not require founders to sell equity. Grants, vouchers, prizes, and some funded accelerators are common examples.
Usually not for high-growth startups, but it can fund validation, pilots, R&D, regulatory work, or market access before a priced round or alongside investor capital.
Prizes are included when the practical founder benefit is cash, funded services, investor access, or meaningful visibility without an immediate equity exchange.
