EIC announces €70B valuation of deep tech portfolio

The European Innovation Council (EIC) announced that the total portfolio value of EIC  supported companies has surged to nearly €70 billion at the end of 2023, marking a substantial €20 billion increase in just a year.

The EIC presented yesterday the Impact Report 2023, a document collecting the results of the 10 billion euros Horizon Europe’s programme in driving innovation and fostering the growth of deep tech enterprises investments.

In 2023, the EIC Fund made over 100 strategic investments totaling €1.2 billion in deep tech companies, leveraging over €3.5 from the private sector for each euro invested, the document reads.

“The European Innovation Council (EIC) has emerged as a game-changer in supporting deep tech innovation in Europe. This Impact Report shows how the EIC supports the growth of high potential startups while at the same time building a European community of deep tech investors. This is crucial to ensuring the future of our companies and strengthening EU leadership in critical technologies,” said Iliana Ivanova, Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth.

According to the report, of the over 2000 companies supported by the EIC and its predecessor program under Horizon 2020, 1600 demonstrated significant growth metrics in the first two years post-receipt of EIC support by increasing employment by 35 percent and operating revenue by 68 percent.

Moreover, the entire cohort of EIC portfolio companies has successfully raised over €12 billion in follow-on investments, such as those from venture capital, corporates, and national promotional banks.

Michiel Scheffer, President of the European Innovation Council, said on Monday during the technical briefing of the Impact Report 2023: “The original intent of the EIC was to do two things: to enable funding for closing the gap between research innovation, and that is very well up and running, and the second challenge was to deal with the gap between innovation and industrialization. And that is also closing.”