Welcome to our initial members, facts and figures on European Deep Tech, an interview with ICEYE's CEO, and more

Dear friend,?

We know, you're probably getting ready to unwind for the New Year break, and you deserve it!

But before 2023 morphs into 2024, we wanted to update you one last time on all things EIC, the EIC Scaling Club and the broader European deep tech ecosystem(s).

Kind regards,

The EIC Scaling Club team

News and insights from the EIC Scaling Club

We have been busy selecting the best deep tech companies, investors, corporate innovators and other industry stakeholder to join our exclusive community (check out some of our early members below).

We cannot wait to showcase the first cohort on 9 and 10 April in Brussels and Leuven at our kick-off event, the upcoming Ignition Forum event - more info about that is coming soon but you should already save the date!

Also to be marked in your calendar: the upcoming EIC Summit in Brussels on 18 and 19 March as part of the European Research & Innovation week.

A warm welcome to our early members

We're delighted that so many companies, investors and organisations have already placed their trust in us and joined the EIC Scaling Club! ??

By the end of 2023, we will have invited a cohort of the most promising Deep Tech companies from across Europe to join the EIC Scaling Club; all whom have been carefully nominated by a selection of a distinguished group of investors, corporations, agencies and clusters.

Members will later benefit exclusively from the Club’s network, mentorship programmes, investor matchmaking sessions and more. We are looking forward to welcoming many more of you as we gear up to build a curated, high-level community of deep tech innovators to reach the next level.

A small selection of early members:

Meanwhile, the big Web Summit and Slush conferences have come and gone, but we've highlighted two interesting reports that arrived at the events with a bang.

Encouraging insights to kick off 2024 with soon!

The first was Atomico's annual 'State of European Tech' report, which highlights the rapid rise of deep tech in Europe.

Another, from Dealroom and partners, zeroed in on the sector and found it to be the single most resilient in 2023 across Europe, with approximately $15 billion raised this year to date.

Insights on a truly global scale: An interview with ICEYE CEO Rafal Modrzewski

We interviewed?Rafal Modrzewski, co-founder and CEO of?ICEYE, a Finland-based micro-satellite manufacturer, at the recent OTB Ventures Summit in Poland. Founded in 2014 and?backed by the EIC along the way raising a total of $300 million+, ICEYE essentially provides persistent monitoring capabilities for any location on earth (even at night and when it's cloudy).

Have a listen to this interview?on our podcast page, or via the embedded audio player on our website.

Podcast interview: Insights from OTB Ventures on deep tech in the CEE region

We also caught up with Adam Niewinski, a partner at OTB Ventures, a Poland-based investment firm that backs deep tech startups and scale-ups from across Europe, particularly in the CEE region.

Check out our interview to learn more about OTB's investments thesis, the state of the CEE (and broader European) deep tech ecosystems from Adam's point from view, and much more.

You can also find the interview on the EIC Scaling Club podcast page.

Bpifrance executive Isabelle Bébéar on the EIC Scaling Club

We caught up with Isabelle Bébéar, Director, Head of International & European Affairs at Bpifrance, to discuss the benefits of joining the EIC Scaling Club, the value it adds for investors in the deep tech space in particular, and to talk about a case study (PASQAL) that shows the true potential of the community.

You can also find the interview on our YouTube channel.

News and insights from across the European deep tech industry

We've been keeping track on Europe's deep tech ecosystem(s). Here's an overview of the biggest news and milestones from leading companies, investors and organisations:

• Mistral AI, a Paris start-up founded seven months ago by researchers from Meta and Google, has raised €385 million.
• Sanofi offers up to $140 million in new collaboration with Aqemia.
• Cambridge-based semiconductor firm Pragmatic has announced the first close of its Series D funding round at ￡162 million.
• Gaming conglomerate Aonic has acquired UK-based publisher and developer of virtual reality games nDreams in a $110 million deal.
• Oxford Quantum Circuits (OQC), a quantum compute-as-a-service (QCaaS) company, announced that Japanese VC fund SBI Investment is leading its $100 million round.
• French manufacturing data software company Braincube secured €83 million of growth equity investment.
• Tacto, the German AI-based operating system for future-proof supply chains, announced it has raised €50 million.

News from the EIC

• The adopted European Innovation Council work programme 2024 opens funding opportunities worth over €1.2 billion for strategic technologies and scaling up companies.
• The European Commission has appointed ten new members who will take up their roles as EIC Board members.
• Three open positions are now available to join the EIC as Programme Manager in the areas of health, AI, energy systems and green tech.
• The European Innovation Council received 1083 full applications from start-ups and SMEs for the EIC Accelerator 8 November cut-off.
• Programme Managers of the European Innovation Council have introduced five strategic plans for the 2021 EIC Pathfinder Challenge portfolios.
• Share with the EIC your needs and barriers when it comes to public and private procurement. This will help EIC designing the SPIN4EIC Strategic Innovation Procurement Programme and shape its services.
• Lisbon and Link?ping are this year's European Capital of Innovation and Rising Innovative City, respectively.
• UK signs agreement to rejoin EU’s Horizon science program.

Must reads: our curated selection of stories

We've collected several interesting relevant market reports, data-driven insights, opinions and more from across the European deep tech community:

• EU pushes further for domestic production of green tech.
• What Europe should do to identify tomorrow's billion-dollar startups today
• Deep Tech Claims a 20% Share of Venture Capital, Surging Two-Fold in the Past Decade
• "Europe’s Deeptech Funding Hampered by Lack Of Understanding"
• 8 European high-impact startups to watch
• A new asset class for tech: Unleashing Europe's tech potential.
• Xavier Niel's Plot To Win AI For France.
• Europe’s digital decade: How the EU is regulating technology.
• Meet the 30 European deeptech startups picked for the Nato accelerator.

Worth a look! European deep tech startups are making waves

Here's a selection of recent funding stories from some of Europe's most promising early-stage deep tech startups:

• Dynamic lighting company RED Horticulture closed a $17 million Series A funding round.
• ProvenRun, a Parisian cybersecurity company specifically focusing on connected vehicles and smart devices, has secured €15 million in a Series A funding round.
• German quantum sensing company QuantumDiamonds raised €7 million in Seed funding led by IQ Capital and Earlybird.
• RespiQ, a Dutch healthtech company, was awarded a €4 million Pathfinder grant from the European Innovation Council.
• UP Catalyst, an Estonian pioneer in sustainable carbon material production, successfully closed a €4 million seed investment round.

That’s it for this month!

Do let us know how we can improve this newsletter in future editions.

Make sure to follow us on social media to stay updated on all things European deep tech as we get busy building a vibrant EIC Scaling Club.