How much equity does the EIC Fund take, and in what form?

Typically a minority stake — around 10%, up to 25% — through direct equity, convertible loans, bonds or SAFEs. Ticket size is €0.5-10 million under the standard EIC Accelerator, or €10-30 million under EIC STEP Scale Up for strategic-tech companies chasing larger rounds.

Do I have to accept EIC Fund equity to get an EIC Accelerator grant?

No. The EIC Accelerator offers grant-only, blended finance (grant + equity), and investment-only configurations, and the EIC Fund's manager assesses investment readiness independently — a blended-finance applicant can still end up grant-only if the Fund isn't ready to invest.

What is the EIC Fund?

The EIC Fund (European Innovation Council Fund) is the European Commission's venture capital arm, established in 2020 to make direct equity and quasi-equity investments in European deep-tech startups and scale-ups. It supplies the equity half of EIC Accelerator blended finance — investing €0.5-10 million alongside the Accelerator's grant of up to €2.5 million, or €10-30 million for strategic-tech companies under EIC STEP Scale Up — through its own due diligence, separate from the grant evaluation.

Three ways into EIC Accelerator support, only one involves the Fund

The EIC Accelerator offers three configurations: grant only (usable once per Horizon Europe implementation period, for companies that can scale without dilution), blended finance (grant plus EIC Fund equity or quasi-equity), and investment only (equity without a grant — since the 2026 EIC work programme this no longer requires a prior grant award). If your proposal is approved for blended finance, your file passes to the Fund, which assesses investment readiness on its own timeline; a company can still land grant-only if the Fund isn't ready to invest, and the actual investment can happen up to 12 months after the grant's end date. Grant-only beneficiaries from the earlier Horizon 2020 pilot can also apply for the investment component separately.

How the stake and the money work

Financed by the European Commission with investment advice from the European Investment Bank, the Fund invests like a real VC: minority equity stakes (typically around 10%, up to 25%) via direct equity, convertible loans, bonds, participation rights or SAFEs, with an external fund manager (the AIFM) deciding terms, follow-ons and divestments. It targets startups, early-stage SMEs and small mid-caps at TRL 5-9, expects co-investors to cover at least half of each round, and holds its position for 7-10 years (up to 15). With capitalisation over €4 billion, it has signed more than €1.4 billion in investment agreements across 300+ companies in 25 countries, and states that every €1 it commits pulls in at least €3.5 from other investors.

Why it matters for funding a space startup

Unlike non-dilutive funding, an EIC Fund cheque comes with a shareholder, so before opting into blended finance a founder should model dilution across the current round and likely follow-ons, and check whether the cap table can accommodate an EU public investor with blocking-minority rights in strategic areas. For hardware-heavy space companies past prototype stage (TRL 5 and up) inside the EIC Accelerator or Horizon Europe's EIC pillar, it is often the largest single equity ticket available before a private Series A.

Official source: EIC Fund; About the EIC Fund.

Written by Tymofiy Badikov, founder of VIRA.space (Virtual Innovation Research Assistant) — operated by Space Tech Gateway Sp. z o.o., Kraków Technology Park. VIRA tracks live European space funding calls and checks your eligibility free: see live tenders.