FUNDING
Fund your innovation
without giving up equity.
EU grants, Horizon Europe, national and regional instruments: structured, applied, and delivered.
Non-dilutive funding is one of the most powerful and underused tools available to innovative companies. From Horizon Europe to EIC, from national innovation agencies to regional development funds. The European funding landscape is rich, complex, and navigable if you know where to look.
I work with startups, SMEs, and research organisations to identify the right instruments, build competitive applications, and manage reporting cycles. As an EU evaluator myself, I understand what strong proposals look like from the inside.
Funding Landscape Mapping
Identify the right EU and national instruments for your stage, sector, and geography. No noise, only the calls that fit.
Proposal Development
End-to-end writing, budgeting, and consortium management. From kick-off to submission.
Evaluator Perspective
Application review and scoring simulation based on real EU evaluation criteria. Know how your proposal reads before it's submitted.
INSTRUMENTS I WORK WITH
02 / Fit
Who this is for
800+
entrepreneurs mentored
across Europe, Africa & LatAm
8+
years active
as evaluator since 2018
€3M
in funding supported
across programmes
Free Guide
Map the capital available
for your innovation.
Download the Ipernovation guide to non-dilutive funding: EU grants, national instruments, and ERDF, structured by stage, sector, and readiness level.
From the blog
How to write a Horizon Europe proposal: an evaluator’s view
14 min read · EU Funding
EU funding for startups in 2026: grants and non-dilutive capital that actually work
12 min read · EU Funding
EIC Accelerator: the complete guide (written by an evaluator)
10 min read · EU Funding
Why most EU funding applications fail (and how to fix yours)
9 min read · EU Funding
EU AI Act for startups: what founders actually need to know
14 min read · AI & EU Regulation
Horizon Europe for SMEs: how to participate without being a university
11 min read · EU Funding
Also available
01 / You are here
EU Funding
Horizon Europe, EIC, national instruments. Non-dilutive capital that keeps your equity intact, written by someone who sits on the evaluation panel.
Current page02 / Often paired with this
Venture Building
EU grants and venture building work best together. Grants de-risk the build phase, but only if the business model is sound from day one. Many clients start here, then apply for funding once the concept is validated.
Explore Venture Building →Most EU-funded ventures also need a structured 0-to-1 build methodology. The two services are designed to work in sequence or in parallel, depending on your stage.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What is non-dilutive funding, and how is it different from VC investment?
Non-dilutive funding, meaning EU grants, national R&D subsidies and innovation vouchers, gives you capital without giving up equity. You keep 100% of ownership and control. The trade-off is real: reporting obligations, eligible-cost rules, and disbursement that is slower than a VC wire. For a company with a technical roadmap it usually beats selling equity to fund work you were going to do anyway.
Why do EU funding applications get rejected?
Across 3,700+ companies and proposals assessed as a certified EU evaluator, the section that sinks most applications is impact, not technology. Teams describe what they have built and assume the significance is obvious. Evaluators score against published criteria, so an unquantified market, a vague exploitation plan, or no evidence that anyone will pay reads as a gap rather than as modesty. The technical excellence is usually fine. The case for why it matters is what is missing.
What is Horizon Europe and who can apply?
Horizon Europe is the EU's main research and innovation programme, with a 95.5 billion euro budget for 2021 to 2027. Any legal entity established in an EU member state or associated country can apply: companies of any size, universities, research institutions and public bodies. Most calls require a consortium of at least three partners from three different countries, which is why partner search often matters more than the writing.
What is the difference between Horizon Europe and the EIC Accelerator?
Horizon Europe is the broad programme, mostly collaborative projects run by consortia of three or more partners. The EIC Accelerator is a specific instrument inside it, built for single SMEs and startups with a breakthrough innovation: grants up to 2.5 million euro, with an optional equity component on top. If you have partners and a research agenda, look at Horizon Europe. If you are one company with a product to scale, look at the Accelerator.
How much non-dilutive funding can a startup realistically raise?
It depends far more on stage than on ambition. Innovation vouchers and regional grants run from tens of thousands to a few hundred thousand euro and can be won in weeks. Horizon Europe consortium shares typically land between 300,000 and 1.5 million euro per partner. The EIC Accelerator grant goes up to 2.5 million euro but funds only about 5 to 6% of applicants. Stacking smaller instruments is usually faster than betting a year on one large one.
Do I need a consultant to apply, and how do I tell whether one is any good?
You do not need one, and plenty of funded proposals are written in-house. What a consultant buys you is scoring perspective and time. If you use one, ask which programmes they have actually evaluated for, not just applied to, and ask them to name a proposal they advised against submitting. Anyone who says every idea is fundable is selling. Fee structures that depend partly on the outcome align incentives better than day rates do.