About

Women TechEU is one of the EU’s leading innovation instruments that focuses on supporting early-stage, women-led deep tech startups.

Our vision is a more innovative, competitive and sustainable Europe, achieved by unlocking the potential of the truly best-in-class of Europe’s women trailblazers whose companies are addressing critical societal challenges. The programme directly addresses the systematic gender and geographical funding barriers for women in deep tech that are currently limiting Europe’s innovation capacity.

The Programme

Continuing on the work of two prior iterations of the programme, Women TechEU (2026-2028) will run a continuous open call for proposals with 4 cut-off dates for evaluations. Following a rigorous evaluation process, a total of 160 beneficiaries will be selected.

> The Application Process

The application process consists of two phases, designed to optimise clarity and speed for startups, who are no longer required to fill in a full proposal only to find out they are not eligible.

(1) The Eligibility Check: Potential applicants are invited to fill in a simplified questionnaire-style form that will quickly identify whether they are eligible to apply for the Women TechEU Programme. Applicants can complete their eligibility check at any point before a cut-off date.  

Within a week, applicants will receive either a letter of non-eligibility, or an invitation to submit their Full Proposal for the next cut-off date. The maximum number of resubmissions for the Eligibility check phase is three times.

(2) The Full Proposal: Only those applicants who are deemed eligible in the first phase can submit a Full Proposal. There will be 4 cut-off dates throughout the project, and at each cut-off, after a comprehensive evaluation, 40 beneficiaries will be selected. The 20 runner-ups of each call will be given a Badge of Honour for further visibility and access

> Addressing Geographical Barriers

Women TechEU (2026-2028) will broaden its reach in those countries needing a bigger boost to their research and innovation capacity, in line with the principles of Horizon Europe’s Widening Sub-Programme. Women-led companies based in the so-called Widening countries face additional challenges such as limited scientific infrastructure, weaker investor and business networks, talent retention issues, or systemic barriers at regional or national levels. Additional support is required to counteract these structural barriers.

Women TechEU will therefore reserve 40% of each cut-off budget for applicants based in Widening countries.

> The Women TechEU Grant & Services

Each beneficiary will receive a €75k grant (non-dilutive finance) as well as a holistic support programme that includes mentorship, training, expert guidance, networking, and matchmaking opportunities. This programme has been designed and tailored to the needs of women-led startups, honed through continuous rounds of feedback from previous beneficiaries.

Additionally, beneficiaries will gain visibility and business opportunities through participation in 10 editions of high-impact European events.

The aim of the programme of services is to empower women in deep tech, whilst strengthening their access to investors and corporates. The most promising startups will also gain direct access to WP4 strategic services to grow and scale-up by tapping into EIC funding and support schemes.

The Winners

Women TechEU (2026-2028) sharpens its focus on the programme’s beneficiaries (including winners from all previous cohorts) who will be supported through the official Women TechEU Alumni community.

The Women TechEU scheme aims to go much beyond a simple 6-month programme, and for this reason we foster a community that continues to support and unlock opportunities for its beneficiaries and extended network for the long-term. In the words of previous beneficiaries themselves, the community unlocked by being part of the wider alumni network is what truly made a permanent difference to them in their personal and professional lives.  

The programme will focus on investing in the alumni community through structured events and the strengthening of local chapters. These communities will serve as trusted peer spaces where the Women TechEU alumni can exchange knowledge, mentor each other, and build collective capacity.

To learn more about all the Women TechEU (2024-2026) winners, and those who obtained a Badge of Honour, visit our DataHub. As for the 2021 and 2023 winners, these can be viewed here.

The Consortium

The scheme continues the sterling work initiated by the European Commission (2021-2022) and the first Women TechEU project consortium (2024-2026). The Women TechEU 2 EIC (2026-2028) project is currently being run by a consortium of 15 partners from 11 EU countries, with a further 14 organisations from 13 countries Associated to the consortium, including non-EU countries such as the United States, Iceland, Norway, and the UK. The European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency remains its granting authority.

Several experienced partners that were involved in previous iterations of the Women TechEU scheme (either as evaluators, mentors or project partners) continue to implement the programme, bringing invaluable know-how, expertise and continuity that will ensure an even smoother and beneficial experience for the beneficiaries of Women TechEU.

The consortium partners cover all the areas across the entire innovation support value chain needed to reach over 30,000 women entrepreneurs in deep tech from all over Europe, as well as provide beneficiaries with deep access to regional ecosystems across Europe and beyond.

The project is led by Sploro, who bring leading expertise in coordination and open call management expertise. Sploro is joined in the Core Team by AwakenHub (running incubation, investment, scaling and networking programmes for women founders), and AcrossLimits (communications, business development and ecosystem-building experts).

The consortium is invaluably strengthened by the access to EU-wide networks, specialised knowledge, infrastructure, and landmark events provided through the contributions of partners like Climate KIC, EIT Health, AFAEMME, Finance Innovation, DARE, INNOVX, PODIM, DTS, Plk21, KTM, SERN, and EU-Startups.

Our 14 Associated Partners bring active angel investment networks and venture capital actors closer to the project and to the beneficiaries (BAND, WA4STEAM, Nordic Ignite, Danube Angels, WIN, Bulgarian Angels Club, Lifted Ventures, Prospera, Movens, EstBAN, Blossom Ventures), as well as giving them access to large corporate innovation partners who deploy capital and run pilots (Orange, Vodafone, MIGROS).

History of Women TechEU

> 2021-2023

Women TechEU was first launched as a pilot scheme managed directly by EISMEA in 2021, under Horizon Europe’s European Innovation Ecosystems work programme. From its inception, Women TechEU has always sought to support deep-tech start-ups led by women and help them to grow into tomorrow’s deep tech champions. Under the Women TechEU pilot call, 50 promising deep-tech start-ups from the EU Member States and Associated Countries have received targeted funding and first-class coaching and mentoring.  

After its successful pilot, in 2022, the Commission launched a second WomenTechEU call, with an increased budget of 10 million euro. Another 134 deep-tech companies, founded by women, were provided with financial support and mentoring services as a result.

As of 2023, the Women TechEU scheme and related calls were externalised to a consortium who ran Women TechEU as an EU-funded FSTP project. The first edition of Women TechEU as an EU-funded project ran from 29 January 2024 to 31 May 2026, and it had a total budget of €15,000,000. Of this project budget, €12,000,000 was given directly to 160 beneficiaries over the course of four open calls, in the form of €75,000 non-dilutative grants and a tailored support service programme, including 1:1 coaching and mentoring.

> 2024-2026

Women TechEU (2024-2026) was led by EIT Manufacturing, strengthened with the participation of other KICs from EIT – Health, Food and Climate, leveraging the power of their network and landmark events. Along EIT Manufacturing’s leadership, the Core Team was further supplemented by Sploro’s expertise in cascade funding programmes, AcrossLimits’ communications and entrepreneurship experience, and AwakenHub’s specialisation as a community and investment access hub for women founders. The consortium was further complemented by a number of major networks of investors and women entrepreneurs – EBAN, AFAEMME, WA4STEAM and Finance Innovation.

Thanks to the tireless efforts of the Women TechEU (2024-2026) consortium, the first externalised edition of Women TechEU was a resounding success. The programme received 3,792 applications, with applications received from 43 eligible countries which 28 of them were widening. Startups from the first three cohorts alone collectively raised over €53.8 million in private funding, advanced their products, refined their go-to-market strategies, and strengthened cross-border networks, demonstrating how Women TechEU is building interconnected, inclusive, and globally competitive innovation ecosystems while putting women at the forefront of deep tech in Europe.

Women TechEU 2 EIC (2026-2028) owes its strong start to the tireless efforts of over 400 individuals who have contributed to the scheme’s implementation since its pilot launch in 2021. It commits to continuing and honouring the strong legacy that has been built by so many people who have dedicated their time and efforts to the advancement of European women in deep tech, and aims to continue reaching even higher to continue supporting and empowering women, until we reach true gender equality in deep tech.

Archived information pertinent to the four calls of Women TechEU (2024-2026) can be found here, and information on the European Commission’s first editions of Women TechEU can be found on the EISMEA website.

> Present (2026-2028)

Driven by experience, with 70% of the 2024-2026 consortium returning, Women TechEU 2 EIC presents the logical continuation and expansion of the Women TechEU scheme.

The aim of Women TechEU 2 EIC (2026-2028) enhances the existing robust foundation with increased focus around 3 critical pillars: greater support to Widening countries, stronger investor and market linkages, and expanded high-value services tailored to deep tech scaling, including a stronger alignment with other EIC funding and support schemes.

The evolution of Women TechEU as a scheme is charted below: