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Story 26 January 2022
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EIC BAS Wrap-ups - Investors Programme: A success story of 2021

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Oriana Baptista

As we moved into 2022, the current mood involves recognising market potential and great confidence in finding investments that best match our funded-SMEs needs. On that note, as we look back at the EIC’s Investors Programme throughout 2021, we intend to showcase its valuable initiatives that were promoted by the European Innovation Council and helped transform companies for the better in various strategic topics of interest. 

  

It comes as no surprise that during the past year the EIC continued adapting itself to reinforce its high standard levels while setting the tone for the achievements and successes that occurred. Having hosted 10 Investor matchmaking events with more than 100 EIC beneficiaries joining, including more than 250 business partners, the EIC Investors Programme can only be deemed as a success. In this light, as we look ahead to 2022, here’s our review of the key factors that made 2021 a great one. 

  

 

  

Investment ideas and market trends that made a difference 

  

Following the EIC’s activities throughout 2021 meant keeping in touch with what was happening in the world of investors. As a way of growing businesses without sacrificing their core values, important events took place to give EIC-funded SMEs the right opportunities. By doing so, growing sustainably, and staying ahead of the innovation curve was possible. For that to happen, topics such as Agritech, Climate Change, Robotics & SaaS, or Health were covered during these initiatives. In addition, the overall satisfaction rate after the events was close to 85%. 

  

Other relevant factors to reinforce the importance of the EIC Investors Programme involved having more than 120 business contacts and reaching 200 plus one-to-one meetings between companies and investors. With the advantage of having companies with great quality being part of these initiatives, it’s worth mentioning the investors that attended the most events and engaged more with our services. Those being: Caixa Capital Risc, Amadeus Capital Partners, btov Partners, Robert Bosch Venture Capital, Armilar Venture Partners, and Borskifund – but of course, the dozens of other investors joining were also highly appreciated! For all these reasons, that’s why joining these events was the obvious choice to make. 

  

Outlining the fundamental facts to help businesses’ next moves 

  

Was supporting and tapping into new opportunities for sustainable growth during the past year part of the EIC’s motto? Yes, you got that right. Hence why the opinions of EIC beneficiaries about what we do are so important to us.  

  

Take Olga Dubey (co-Founder and CEO at AgroSustain), who attended the EIC ePitching on Agriculture matchmaking event, and closed a deal close to €500.000. Apart from seeing this initiative as a valuable opportunity, when she was asked about the importance of this EIC Business Acceleration Services initiative, she immediately pointed out that: “Number one is credibility, and number two is having access to a very extensive network of institutional and corporate investors for SMEs. The EIC gives small companies the chance of having access to these services, which can potentially facilitate market access by attracting new clients and investors – and it’s great to have this type of support”. 

  

About the deal itself, she referred that: “It was part of AgroSustain’s Series A round that permitted us to boost commercial traction for our first product and for setting production facilities. Having strategic investors was great support and gave us added value too. Therefore, this deal was very important for us, and we were happy to succeed on this matter”. As mentioned previously, the investment deal amount was close to €500.000. 

  

She also found the involvement of the EIC BAS to be a positive thing given “it provided additional exposure to AgroSustain and provided extra credibility to our offering due to the competitive selection process”. 

  

Other positive things Olga Dubey mentioned about the EIC, and the programme were: “Number one is credibility, and number two is having access to a very extensive network. The EIC gives small companies the chance of having access to these services, and when you begin your journey and know it can take quite some time to achieve success it’s great to have this type of support”. 

  

Harnessing Europe’s advantages to create deep tech leaders 

  

This brings us to highlight, and mention, the relevance of some of the conclusions from the panel discussions held at the ICT (Information and Communication Technology) and Health event back in March 2021. Given the EIC always thrives to make another push to help grow and support innovators to build the global leaders of the future in Europe, in the ICT and Health domains – and others – it’s noticeable that there’s an excellent pipeline of start-ups. On top of that, Europeans also produce excellent research which brings impressive benefits for society. 

  

However, the panellists present at the event underlined the existing scaling up issue, given at some point entrepreneurs leave to the US, and even though Europe possesses excellent research and creates many start-ups, that doesn’t translate enough into global leaders. Is there a need to shift towards a more entrepreneurial mentality? The answer is yes. 

  

Hence why the EIC works non-stop to promote the successes of entrepreneurs in our EIC Community. The EIC Summit and its EIC Investor Day that took place during the event on 24-25 November 2021 was also another great example of such efforts. The two days filled with inspiring speakers, workshops, awards ceremonies (e.g.: EU Prize for Women Innovators 2021), and great projects proved that when it comes to innovation and supporting businesses, the EIC is the right choice. 

  

  

What’s next? Our focus is clear 

  

For 2022, the European Innovation Council has a clear direction and focus to develop activities that will meet the business needs and push them forward. Our advice? If you’re someone who’s looking for new opportunities for achieving excellence and sustainable growth, then make sure to check our events calendar regularly.

DISCLAIMER: This information is provided in the interest of knowledge sharing and should not be interpreted as the official view of the European Commission, or any other organisation.

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