Women TechEU: Open Call #3

For our Pledgers and the Talents following the EIT Deep Tech Talent Initiative we would like to draw your attention to the Women TechEU’s open call #3.

Women TechEU is a 2-year EU-funded project supporting women leading deep tech start-up companies from Europe, and will give out a total of €12M in non-diluting finance over 4 different competitive calls to 160 talented women entrepreneurs, paving the way for them to shine as leaders in deep tech innovation across Europe.

The goal for this open call #3 is to select up to 40 start-ups, and the total available budget is €3,000,000. However, the number of start-ups chosen may vary, and if there are not enough projects financed in this call to exhaust the available budget, the remainder will be allocated to open call #4.

Each successful application will receive €75k grants (non-diluting finance) and will have access to a business development programme, which includes mentoring, coaching and targeted training, over a period of 6 months.

Created as a targeted support programme for women founders and entrepreneurs leading deep tech start-ups in Europe, the Women TechEU project’s ambition is to directly contribute to interconnected, inclusive, and more efficient innovation ecosystems that draw on the existing strengths of European ecosystems to engage new, less well-represented stakeholders and less advanced innovation territories. Women TechEU will leverage its experience and the strengths of existing start-up accelerators, Universities and other multiplier organisations around Europe to foster greater long-term inclusivity of women in deep tech.

Applicants will undergo a rigorous, 2-step evaluation process before selected proposals are invited to sign a sub-grantee agreement and participate in the programme.

Women TechEU will implement selection criteria for participants that prioritise green, digital and social transitions in line with European objectives, and will support successful applicants in defining a social innovation strategy. The project will also target less advanced innovation territories (widening areas) to reduce territorial inequalities in access to innovation support.