Women TechEU 2 EIC is an EU-funded initiative designed to support early-stage, women-led deep tech startups across Europe and eligible Horizon Europe Associated Countries. The program provides selected companies with €75,000 in non-dilutive funding and a comprehensive, personalized business development program. This initiative aims to foster growth and innovation by equipping women founders with the resources, mentorship, training, and connections needed to scale their ventures.
Program Benefits
• Financial Support: A grant of €75,000 in non-dilutive funding.
• Business Development: A personalized program that includes mentoring, coaching, training, networking, and investor and corporate matchmaking to support company growth.
Application Process
• Two-Stage Application: The process begins with an Eligibility Strand to verify that applicants meet all participation requirements. Successful applicants are then invited to submit a Full Proposal.
• Eligibility Notification: Results of the eligibility check are communicated no later than one week after the cut-off date applicable to the submitted application.
• Full Proposal Submission: If an Eligibility Letter is received more than 15 days before the next Full Proposal deadline, the applicant must submit by that deadline. If the letter is received 14 days or fewer before the deadline, the applicant may submit by the following Full Proposal deadline.
Key Dates and Deadlines
• Eligibility Strand Opening Date: 1 June 2026
• Eligibility Strand Cut-off Dates: Weekly cut-offs occur every Tuesday at 17:00 Brussels time.
• First Eligibility Cut-off: 30 June 2026 at 16:00 GMT+1
• Final Eligibility Cut-off: 13 July 2027 at 16:00 GMT+1
• Full Proposal Submission Deadline 5: 16 September 2026 at 16:00 GMT+1
• Full Proposal Submission Deadline 6: 14 January 2027 at 17:00 GMT+1
• Full Proposal Submission Deadline 7: 13 May 2027 at 16:00 GMT+1
• Full Proposal Submission Deadline 8: 12 August 2027 at 16:00 GMT+1
Eligibility Criteria
• Founder Status: The company must be founded or co-founded by a woman who will participate in the program. A woman may be considered a co-founder if she acquired shares within one year of the company’s official registration date.
• Women Leadership: The woman founder or co-founder must hold a top management position, such as CEO, CTO, CSO, or an equivalent role. Women must collectively hold at least 25% of the company’s shares.
• Company Location: The applicant company must be established in an EU Member State, an EU outermost region, or an eligible Horizon Europe Associated Country, including the United Kingdom.
• Company Stage: The legal entity must have been registered for at least six months and no more than five years on the relevant eligibility cut-off date.
• Prior Funding: Applicants must not have previously received funding for the same activities through another EU program, including previous Women TechEU initiatives or the EIC Accelerator.
• Definition of “Woman”: The term refers to a cisgender or transgender woman who is legally recognized as a woman under the applicable national legal framework and can provide accepted official documentation where required.
Deep Tech Focus
• Definition: Deep tech innovation involves solutions based on significant scientific, engineering, or technological advances and is intended to create substantial impact. It is distinct from startups that only use, integrate, or slightly modify existing standard technologies.
• Eligible Sectors: Applications are welcome from all deep tech fields, including advanced connectivity, navigation and digital technologies; advanced materials, manufacturing and recycling technologies; advanced sensing technologies; artificial intelligence; biotechnology; energy technologies; quantum technologies; robotics and autonomous systems; and space and propulsion technologies.
• Ineligible Examples: The program generally does not consider the following to be deep tech: e-learning platforms where the innovation is limited to content, e-commerce applications where the innovation is mainly in the business model, gaming applications using standard components, or online information portals where the innovation lies primarily in the published content.
• AI Innovations: For AI-based innovations, the maturity and development stage of the AI technology will be considered when determining eligibility. Projects limited to concept development, dataset collection, or initial algorithm development may be considered too early.
Prospective applicants are strongly encouraged to carefully review the complete Guidelines for Applicants before starting the process. Submitting the eligibility application well in advance of the relevant cut-off date is advised to ensure sufficient time to complete the Full Proposal stage.