The new set of investment guidelines provides information to applicants and selected companies, as well as to potential co-investors, explaining in detail the investment process. It includes the strategy and conditions under which the EIC Fund will make investment and divestment decisions.
Compared to the previous version, the guidelines provide, among others:
-
an updated definition of a qualified investor
-
an updated description of possible investment scenarios
-
new clauses covering EIC Fund follow-on investments and exits.
The investment guidelines ensure that the EIC investments fulfil the objectives to support high potential start-ups and SMEs to accelerate their scale up and to catalyse additional investors. This text is applicable to companies selected under Horizon Europe.
Background information
The EIC Accelerator blended finance support offers a unique combination of grants up to €2.5 million and investments in equity or quasi-equity between €0.5 million and €15 million (or more in certain cases) through the EIC Fund.
The EIC Fund is an investment arm of the European Innovation Council. Since its creation in June 2020, the Fund has approved around 350 investments in deep-tech companies across Europe. The total approved investment amount for those companies is €2 billion.
In 2023, the EIC Fund supported over 100 investment rounds in deep tech companies, securing co-investments from 280 other investors worth €1.2 billion. In doing so, it is leveraging over 3.5 euro of additional investment for each euro of direct investment through the EIC Fund.