Indeed Brigitte Baumann Gervais, in bioeconomy innovation our start-ups need a lot of state-of-the art hardware. The good news is that in Europe it's very easy to identify facilities where scaling is easier, more cost effective and faster than doing it on your own. You can find them all on Pilots4U by CoPilot and you can meet them live in Brussels on April 4th 2025 via the link in the first comment.
Brigitte Baumann Gervais our founder at efino had the pleasure of leading a workshop for Women TechEU hardware entrepreneurs.? Raising capital for hardware startups, especially those with CAPEX-heavy models, presents unique challenges. While software startups can often scale rapidly with minimal infrastructure, hardware companies must navigate complex manufacturing, supply chain, and infrastructure evolution — requiring an adapted approach to fundraising. At efino, we support entrepreneurs in their fundraising journey including hardware ones, We have identified 4 common success factors? to attract the right investors and build momentum: ? Leverage Pilot Facilities –? Strive to identify facilities where scaling is easier, more cost effective and potentially faster than doing it on your own. These facilities often also know investors and can organise connections. ? Generate early revenues and show future commercial interest even when you are still at the prototype and?pilot stages - This can help provide the market validation investors look for. ? Use Blended Financing – Investors like when hardware startups use a mix of non dilutive? and? dilutive sources of financing. Non-dilutive capital, such as government grants, helps de-risk early development and brings credibility due to the due diligence done by grant providers making startups more attractive to equity investors. ? Seek out Strategic?Investors – For capex intensive startups especially if they have less than 1Million EUR revenues a year,? securing venture capital (VC) financing is tough due to their setup. However, corporate venture investors and strategics may be a better target. In addition to providing funding they can also provide industrialisation expertise and market access. What strategies have worked for your hardware startup? Let’s discuss in the comments! ?? Stef Denayer, Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant, EBAN - European Business Angel Network