The selected startups emerged from a highly competitive process in which 232 companies were interviewed by juries of investors and entrepreneurs. In total, more than 1,000 startups applied. The 75 selected companies will receive a total of €396.7 million in the form of grants and equity investments. The equity investments are made through the EIC Fund, which has now reached full operational status. In this way, Farminsect receives €2.5 million as a grant and a further €5 million in the next funding round, which the Munich startup is currently concluding.
Via Instagram, Farminsect announced:
“Farminsect is very proud to have been selected as one of the leading deeptech startups with groundbreaking innovation!”
Founded in 2019, the startup enables farmers to produce animal feed from insect larvae. To do this, the startup has developed automated breeding facilities that can be operated by farmers on their farms. They raise the young larvae continuously supplied by the startup themselves. The locally produced insect larvae are intended to completely replace soy and fish meal as animal feed. This aims to increase resource efficiency and value creation for farmers while reducing CO2 emissions.
Funding for European startups
Mariya Gabriel, EU Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, commented on the program:
“Recently, the Commission took an important step in restructuring the European Innovation Council Fund by appointing an external fund manager. The EIC Accelerator and the EIC Fund are now fully operational and offer the most promising European deeptech startups their unique combination of grants, investments and business acceleration services. The strong interest in the accelerator program confirms its relevance. I am also pleased by the high participation of companies with female executives, but I would like to see even more in the future.”
Startups can continue to apply with their ideas to the EIC Accelerator. They can submit their documents at any time, which should then be evaluated within approximately 4 weeks. Those who meet the EIC criteria will be asked to submit a full application by one of the regular deadlines. The next deadline is expected to be in January 2023, subject to approval of the EIC Work Programme 2023.
