Revealing EIC Accelerator Statistics: Success and Funding Rates for Step 1
I have prepared three articles, including full visualizations on:
EIC Accelerator Step 1: 17,590 proposals submitted, with success rates and country, industry, and gender breakdowns for 2021–2026 (already published).
EIC Accelerator Step 2: 12,255 proposals with the same level of detail as for Step 1.
EIC Fund Investments: Information on all 772 selected EIC Accelerator winners and all EIC Fund investments.
I am aware that this is a massive information drop and, to be honest, I don't understand why the EIC hasn't published this sooner. It doesn't take very long to analyze the data with AI, and you can gain some very useful insights that even most consultants will find surprising.
The Drip: 3 Parts
Instead of publishing everything at once, I will release information gradually through this Newsletter and the Articles on Rasph, where all content will be published with charts and full details.
While I generally don't hold back any information and aim to publish everything, I will anonymize the names of companies selected by the EIC Fund. These will be represented by aliases instead of being named directly because, while grant request amounts are public on CORDIS, the equity requests, commitments, and payments are not.
I will still present all of the statistics, as well as explicit amounts for the most interesting cases on an individual basis. Regardless, the identities will be anonymized because they are not relevant when deriving insights.
EIC Accelerator Step 1: Evaluation Time & AI
The current evaluation time for Step 1 is 51 days, with the April 7 results released on May 28.
As you may have noticed, the duration has been increasing consistently.
I have also observed one curious detail: in two separate Step 1 evaluations, the final comment from the evaluator was identical across entirely separate projects. The comment related to the format of the proposal, but it was exactly the same, down to the commas. This suggests that the EIC is not only using AI to clean up the grammar of evaluators' comments but also employing fully AI-generated evaluations that add comments autonomously.
Clarification from the EIC would be welcome.
The Drip, Part 1 of 3: EIC Accelerator Step 1 Statistics
This is the first of a three-part series revealing EIC Accelerator statistics, and it covers all Step 1 proposals submitted since 2021.
The full article with the EIC Accelerator Step 1 results is now live on Rasph.
High-Level Statistics
Total short proposals submitted: 17,590
GO (passed): 8,364 (47.5%)
NO-GO (rejected): 9,226 (52.5%)
Countries represented: 83
Sectors covered: 15
Years in dataset: 2021–2026
Overall success rate: 47.5%
Key Takeaways
AI, Where Art Thou: The number of Step 1 submissions has declined since 2021. Didn't AI proposals lead to evaluators being flooded? We will have to wait for the final 2026 numbers to see how hard the EIC was hit by AI or if it was just a convenient excuse.
No Love for Kosovo: 40 applications and a 0% success rate. Compare that to Iceland's 43 applications and a 79% success rate.
Healthy Competition: Health proposals dominate the submission numbers, but ICT is a close second. The success rates show a stark contrast, likely due to the nature of health technologies that are often IP-heavy and require substantial seed investments, while (some) ICT can be vibe-coded on a weekend.
When in Romania: Romania is surprisingly strong with 333 proposals but, unfortunately, just a 20% success rate in Step 1. This seems to reflect a lack of grant-writing expertise rather than a lack of innovation, since Step 1 is relatively easy.
Dropping Success Rates: Of course, success rates have dropped from about 60% to below 22%, but this is due to the changed evaluation rules. A proposal used to receive a GO with a score of 2/4, whereas now a 3/4 is required. I was surprised at the drop since I did not notice a big difference in Step 1 success rates.
ChatEIC for the Win: Considering that success rates for Step 1 dropped to under 22%, passing it with a ChatEIC proposal's raw output is even more incredible than I thought. This shows you that passing Step 1 is more about good writing and knowing the rules, and less about the company or project.
Viva Italia: Surprisingly, Italy topped the list of Step 1 submissions! But as with so many things in life, less is often more, as seen in the success rate of only 26.9%. If you are an Italian startup, feel free to reach out, since Step 1 is not that hard.
Applications by Year
2021: 5,161 apps, 3,033 GO, 2,128 NO-GO, 58.8% success rate
2022: 2,778 apps, 1,761 GO, 1,017 NO-GO, 63.4% success rate
2023: 3,015 apps, 1,827 GO, 1,188 NO-GO, 60.6% success rate
2024: 2,637 apps, 879 GO, 1,758 NO-GO, 33.3% success rate
2025: 3,378 apps, 732 GO, 2,646 NO-GO, 21.7% success rate
2026 (partial): 621 apps, 132 GO, 489 NO-GO, 21.3% success rate
Top 25 Countries by Applications
Italy: 2,133 apps, 573 GO, 1,560 NO-GO, 26.9% success rate
United Kingdom: 1,766 apps, 698 GO, 1,068 NO-GO, 39.5% success rate
Germany: 1,653 apps, 899 GO, 754 NO-GO, 54.4% success rate
Spain: 1,160 apps, 667 GO, 493 NO-GO, 57.5% success rate
France: 1,114 apps, 750 GO, 364 NO-GO, 67.3% success rate
Israel: 1,091 apps, 743 GO, 348 NO-GO, 68.1% success rate
Netherlands: 919 apps, 537 GO, 382 NO-GO, 58.4% success rate
Poland: 778 apps, 296 GO, 482 NO-GO, 38.0% success rate
Sweden: 762 apps, 472 GO, 290 NO-GO, 61.9% success rate
Finland: 492 apps, 302 GO, 190 NO-GO, 61.4% success rate
Denmark: 453 apps, 265 GO, 188 NO-GO, 58.5% success rate
Switzerland: 394 apps, 212 GO, 182 NO-GO, 53.8% success rate
Ireland: 383 apps, 223 GO, 160 NO-GO, 58.2% success rate
Türkiye: 383 apps, 100 GO, 283 NO-GO, 26.1% success rate
Norway: 341 apps, 233 GO, 108 NO-GO, 68.3% success rate
Portugal: 338 apps, 131 GO, 207 NO-GO, 38.8% success rate
Romania: 333 apps, 66 GO, 267 NO-GO, 19.8% success rate
Belgium: 321 apps, 183 GO, 138 NO-GO, 57.0% success rate
Austria: 307 apps, 188 GO, 119 NO-GO, 61.2% success rate
Estonia: 236 apps, 90 GO, 146 NO-GO, 38.1% success rate
Hungary: 229 apps, 82 GO, 147 NO-GO, 35.8% success rate
Bulgaria: 223 apps, 66 GO, 157 NO-GO, 29.6% success rate
Slovakia: 179 apps, 67 GO, 112 NO-GO, 37.4% success rate
Greece: 172 apps, 69 GO, 103 NO-GO, 40.1% success rate
Ukraine: 139 apps, 22 GO, 117 NO-GO, 15.8% success rate
Geographic Diversity
Large countries (100+ apps): 29 countries, 16,767 applications
Medium countries (10–99 apps): 15 countries, 715 applications
Small countries (2–9 apps): 19 countries, 88 applications
Single-application countries: 20 countries, 20 applications
Best-Performing Countries
Iceland: 43 apps, 34 GO, 79.1% success rate
Norway: 341 apps, 233 GO, 68.3% success rate
Israel: 1,091 apps, 743 GO, 68.1% success rate
France: 1,114 apps, 750 GO, 67.3% success rate
Sweden: 762 apps, 472 GO, 61.9% success rate
Finland: 492 apps, 302 GO, 61.4% success rate
Austria: 307 apps, 188 GO, 61.2% success rate
Denmark: 453 apps, 265 GO, 58.5% success rate
Netherlands: 919 apps, 537 GO, 58.4% success rate
Ireland: 383 apps, 223 GO, 58.2% success rate
Worst-Performing Countries
Kosovo: 40 apps, 0 GO, 0.0% success rate
Bosnia and Herzegovina: 75 apps, 3 GO, 4.0% success rate
Serbia: 95 apps, 13 GO, 13.7% success rate
North Macedonia: 19 apps, 3 GO, 15.8% success rate
Ukraine: 139 apps, 22 GO, 15.8% success rate
Georgia: 25 apps, 4 GO, 16.0% success rate
United States of America: 50 apps, 8 GO, 16.0% success rate
Canada: 11 apps, 2 GO, 18.2% success rate
Romania: 333 apps, 66 GO, 19.8% success rate
Montenegro: 20 apps, 4 GO, 20.0% success rate
Countries with 0% Success Rate (29 total)
Kosovo: 40 applications
Albania: 8 applications
Colombia: 6 applications
Egypt: 6 applications
Moldova (Republic of): 6 applications
Brazil: 5 applications
Kenya: 4 applications
New Zealand: 4 applications
Ghana: 3 applications
Jordan: 3 applications
Morocco: 3 applications
San Marino: 3 applications
Australia: 2 applications
Russian Federation: 2 applications
Andorra: 1 application
Antigua and Barbuda: 1 application
Curaçao: 1 application
Dominican Republic: 1 application
Lebanon: 1 application
Liechtenstein: 1 application
(+9 more with small counts)
Sector Analysis
Health: 3,926 apps, 2,313 GO, 1,613 NO-GO, 58.9% success rate
ICT: 3,476 apps, 1,397 GO, 2,079 NO-GO, 40.2% success rate
Engineering and Technology: 1,868 apps, 1,006 GO, 862 NO-GO, 53.9% success rate
Energy: 1,266 apps, 654 GO, 612 NO-GO, 51.7% success rate
Transport and Mobility: 853 apps, 379 GO, 474 NO-GO, 44.4% success rate
Consumer Products and Services: 828 apps, 216 GO, 612 NO-GO, 26.1% success rate
Biotechnology: 827 apps, 487 GO, 340 NO-GO, 58.9% success rate
Earth and Environmental Sciences: 819 apps, 462 GO, 357 NO-GO, 56.4% success rate
Agriculture / Rural Dev / Fisheries: 687 apps, 339 GO, 348 NO-GO, 49.3% success rate
Construction and Civil Engineering: 568 apps, 220 GO, 348 NO-GO, 38.7% success rate
Food and Beverages: 386 apps, 177 GO, 209 NO-GO, 45.9% success rate
Education and Culture: 385 apps, 114 GO, 271 NO-GO, 29.6% success rate
Security: 234 apps, 107 GO, 127 NO-GO, 45.7% success rate
Space: 228 apps, 120 GO, 108 NO-GO, 52.6% success rate
Public Sector Innovation: 171 apps, 48 GO, 123 NO-GO, 28.1% success rate
Prepare Your Application
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These tips are not only useful for European startups, professional writers, consultants and Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SME) but are generally recommended when writing a business plan or investor documents.
Deadlines: Post-Horizon 2020, the EIC Accelerator accepts Step 1 submissions now while the deadlines for the full applications (Step 2) under Horizon Europe are listed below. The Step 1 applications must be submitted weeks in advance of Step 2. The next EIC Accelerator cut-off for Step 2 (full proposal) can be found here. After Brexit, UK companies can still apply to the EIC Accelerator under Horizon Europe albeit with non-dilutive grant applications only - thereby excluding equity-financing. Switzerland has resumed its participation in Horizon Europe and is now eligible for the EIC Accelerator.
EIC Accelerator Step 1 Deadline 2025
Contact: You can reach out to us via this contact form to work with a professional consultant.
AI Grant Writer: ChatEIC is a fully automated EIC Accelerator grant proposal writer: Get it here.
EIC Accelerator: EIC Accelerator delivers flexible funding options including blended finance (€2.5M grant + €0.5M-€10M equity), grant-only (up to €2.5M), or equity-only arrangements for scale-up and market deployment of breakthrough innovations. The initiative targets SMEs, start-ups, and small mid-caps with up to 499 employees. Technology areas include Biotech, Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, Energy, Quantum, Aerospace, Advanced Materials, and Semiconductors. Get Started
EIC Pathfinder: EIC Pathfinder delivers up to €3 million for Open calls and up to €4 million for Challenge-based calls to support early-stage research and development with proof-of-principle validation. The initiative requires research consortia with a minimum of 3 partners from 3 different countries, including universities, research organizations, and SMEs. Primary technology focus areas include Health/Medical, Quantum Technologies, AI, Environmental/Energy, and Advanced Materials. Get Started
EIC Transition: EIC Transition delivers up to €2.5 million in funding to overcome the 'valley of death' gap between laboratory research and market deployment, emphasizing technology maturation and validation. The initiative supports single legal entities or small consortia of 2-5 partners including SMEs, start-ups, spin-offs, and research organizations. Key technology domains include Health/Medical Technologies, Green/Environmental Innovation, Digital/Microelectronics, Quantum Technologies, and AI/Robotics. Get Started
EIC STEP Scale-Up: EIC STEP Scale-Up delivers significant equity investments of €10-30 million for established deep-tech companies prepared for hyper-growth and large-scale expansion. The initiative targets SMEs or small mid-caps with up to 499 employees who have obtained pre-commitment from qualified investors. Primary focus areas include Digital & Deep Tech (Semiconductors, AI, Quantum), Clean Technologies for Net-Zero objectives, and Biotechnologies. Get Started
EIC Pre-Accelerator: EIC Pre-Accelerator represents a pilot initiative delivering €300,000-€500,000 in funding for early-stage deep-tech development and preparation for the EIC Accelerator program. This program is exclusively accessible to single SMEs or small mid-caps from 'Widening countries' to foster regional innovation development. The initiative encompasses deep-tech innovations across physical, biological, and digital domains. Get Started
EIC Advanced Innovation Challenges: EIC Advanced Innovation Challenges represents a new pilot initiative delivering €300,000 (Stage 1) and up to €2.5 million (Stage 2) for breakthrough deep-tech innovations through ARPA-style staged funding mechanisms with integrated demand-side engagement. This initiative targets single entities or small consortia (2-3 partners) including SMEs, start-ups, and research organizations. Primary focus areas include Physical AI for autonomous robotics applications and New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) for animal-free biomedical testing, with TRL 4 entry requirements and demonstrated end-user commitment. Get Started
Eureka Network: The Eureka Network delivers various international collaborative R&D initiatives such as Network Projects, Clusters, Eurostars, Globalstars, and Innowwide, providing funding from €50K to €6.75M per project based on the specific initiative. This network emphasizes market-driven innovation and deep-tech advancement across multiple technology sectors including ICT/Digital, Industrial/Manufacturing, Bio/Medical Technologies, Energy/Environment, Quantum, AI, and Circular Economy. Eligible participants include SMEs, large enterprises, research organizations, universities, and startups, with Eurostars particularly focused on R&D-performing SMEs. Get Started
Eurostars: Eurostars represents a joint EU-Eureka initiative delivering €50K-€500K for international R&D collaboration specifically led by SMEs. The program adopts a bottom-up approach, accepting projects from all technology fields without predefined thematic restrictions. R&D-performing SMEs must lead the consortium and demonstrate significant R&D activities. Get Started
Innovation Partnership: Innovation Partnership enables collaborative innovation between public and private sectors with typical funding of €1-5 million per project. The initiative supports cross-sectoral strategic technologies through public-private partnerships and consortia. Projects concentrate on addressing societal challenges through collaborative innovation approaches. Get Started
Innovation Fund: The EU Innovation Fund delivers substantial funding of €7.5 million to €300 million for large-scale demonstration of innovative low-carbon technologies. The initiative targets clean energy, carbon capture, renewable energy, and energy storage technologies to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy. Eligible participants include large companies, consortia, and public entities capable of implementing large-scale demonstration projects. Get Started
Innovate UK: Innovate UK delivers various programs with funding ranging from £25K to £10M depending on the specific initiative, supporting business-led innovation, collaborative R&D, and knowledge transfer. The organization funds projects across all sectors with particular emphasis on emerging technologies and supports UK-based businesses, research organizations, and universities. Programs are designed to drive economic growth through innovation and technology commercialization. Get Started
Industrial Partnership: Industrial Partnership delivers €2-10 million in funding for industrial research and innovation partnerships focusing on manufacturing, industrial technologies, and digital transformation. The initiative supports industrial consortia and research organizations in developing collaborative solutions for industrial challenges. Projects aim to strengthen European industrial competitiveness through strategic partnerships. Get Started
LIFE Programme: The LIFE Programme delivers €1-10 million in funding for environmental protection, climate action, and nature conservation projects across the European Union. The initiative supports environmental technologies, climate adaptation strategies, and biodiversity conservation initiatives. Eligible participants include public authorities, private companies, NGOs, and research institutions working on environmental and climate challenges. Get Started
Neotec: Neotec represents a Spanish initiative delivering €250K-€1M in funding for technology-based business creation and development, supporting the growth of innovative Spanish SMEs and start-ups. The program covers all technology sectors and aims to strengthen Spain's technology ecosystem. Funding is specifically targeted at Spanish technology-based SMEs and start-ups to enhance their competitiveness and market presence. Get Started
Thematic Priorities: EU Thematic Priorities encompass various programs aligned with EU strategic priorities including green transition, digital transformation, health, and security initiatives. Funding amounts vary based on the specific program and call requirements, with projects designed to address key European challenges. Applicant eligibility varies by specific program and call, with different requirements for different thematic areas. Get Started
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