Insider Brief

• EIC Scaling Club members have raised over €73 million since April 2024, with scaleups aiming to increase their value by 40% over the next two years.
• Axelera.ai raised €68 million for AI-enabling hardware, while .lumen raised €5 million for motion-enhanced glasses for the visually impaired, highlighting some of the largest funding deals.
• The next EIC Scaling Club event, set for October 21-22 in Athens, will announce a second cohort of scaleups and provide opportunities for networking, investor meetings, and business development.

PRESS RELEASE — EIC Scaling Club members have raised over 73M EUR in funding since the official launch of the programme in April, 2024, aimed at growing European deeptech startup value by 40%. The scaleups will be joined by the second cohort of club members, who will be announced at the Scale 100 Forum in Athens, Greece on October 21-22. Together they will make up approximately 120 scaleups within the EIC Scaling Club, who will be supported over a 2-year period to grow the companies’ value. The largest deals of the period include:

• Axelera.ai, who raised 68M EUR for enabling hardware for the AI-age through fabless semiconductors
• .lumen who raised 5M EUR for developing motion-enhanced glasses for the visually impaired that replicate the benefits of a guide dog

Many scaleups have already seen benefits from the EIC Scaling Club and its associated events, and additional funding rounds are on the horizon. For example, Quobly, the quantum computing startup that raised a 19M EUR seed round in 2023, has announced that they are currently raising a Series A round. Sweetch Technologies, who had previously secured 40M EUR in funding, are looking to raise between 150-200M EUR in the next three years. ThreatMark, who have raised 22M EUR so far, are raising a Series B round. .lumen, who announced a 5M EUR round during the past 6-month period, shared that attending the event led to a business development opportunity: “At the EIC Scaling Club launch event, we met a lot of people, and there was even one possible business opportunity that was born right at the event. Someone at the event said that 20% of the companies selected for the Club will become unicorns. I never founded the company for money, but I know where I want to be – I want to be amongst these 20%.” – Cornel Amariei, Founder and CEO of .lumen Meanwhile others have stated that the value of the EIC Scaling Club is from the networking and support network that it provides. XXII has stated “EIC is a big accelerator for us. We’re learning from mentors and other companies, even those in different sectors”, while Quobly‘s team emphasized that the mentoring provides immense strategic value for further growth: “To attract the level of funding we’re looking for, we need to level up the way we communicate about our company and our mission. The EIC Scaling Club has already been amazing in coaching us to get to that point.” – Andrea Busch, Chief of Staff and Head of Communications at Quobly The next EIC Scaling Club event will be held in Athens, Greece, on October 21-22. The second and final cohort of scaleups to join the Scaling Club will be announced at the venue. Participants will have the opportunity to network with peers, develop their pitching skills, meet with investors, liaise with European Commission representatives, and speak with media while attending the event. The event will be immediately followed by the SPIN4EIC Maritime Climate Action matchmaking event, where startups that can have an impact in the maritime climate ecosystem as welcome to pitch.