BRUSSELS – 19 November 2025 – The European Commission has announced a new group of eight high-impact companies proposed to receive equity investments under the EIC Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP) Scale-Up call. Together, these ventures are recommended for a total of €171 million in EIC Fund investments, subject to standard due diligence. This third 2025 batch under the STEP Scale-Up scheme continues to close Europe’s deep-tech scale-up funding gap by supporting companies that are ready to execute large-scale financing rounds in the range of €50 to €150 million or more.

The EIC STEP Scale-Up scheme focuses on equity investments between €10 million and €30 million per company, with the aim of leveraging substantial private co-investment. By anchoring larger rounds, the EIC Fund helps European innovators secure the capital required to industrialise breakthrough technologies, strengthen strategic value chains, and reinforce Europe’s technological sovereignty.

Key Figures From the November 2025 Evaluation

The November 2025 results highlight both the strong demand for STEP Scale-Up support and the selectivity of the evaluation process:

• Total proposals submitted: 51
• Proposals invited to interview (evaluated by Jury): 36
• Companies selected for EIC Fund investment decisions: 8
• Additional STEP Seal recipients (not selected for funding in this round): 21
• Total STEP Seal recipients in this round (including funded companies): 29
• Overall estimated equity budget recommended: €171 million

From a success-rate perspective, the funnel for this round can be summarised as follows:

• Proposal-to-interview rate: 36 / 51 ≈ 70.6%
• Interview-to-selection rate (companies put forward for investment): 8 / 36 ≈ 22.2%
• Overall investment selection rate (from submission to recommendation): 8 / 51 ≈ 15.7%
• STEP Seal success rate (including funded and non-funded STEP Seal recipients): 29 / 51 ≈ 56.9%
• STEP Seal rate for excellent but non-funded companies: 21 / 51 ≈ 41.2%

Based on the total recommended equity volume of €171 million for eight companies, the average proposed EIC Fund ticket in this round is approximately €21.4 million per company, comfortably within the STEP Scale-Up target range of €10–30 million.

Profile of the Eight Selected Companies

The eight companies put forward for EIC Fund investment span several of Europe’s most critical technology areas, notably quantum computing, fusion energy, next-generation photovoltaics, space operations and advanced semiconductor manufacturing. All come from EU Member States and are positioned at the scale-up stage, where capital-intensive industrialisation and global expansion are the central challenges.

Aldoria (France) – Optimising and Securing Space Operations

Aldoria focuses on space situational awareness and traffic management, helping to optimise and secure space operations. As the number of satellites and orbital assets grows rapidly, reliable tracking, collision avoidance and debris monitoring become mission-critical. Aldoria’s technologies support safer operations in increasingly congested orbits, strengthening Europe’s space autonomy and resilience.

Focused Energy (Germany) – Advancing Laser-Driven Fusion

Focused Energy is developing laser-driven fusion solutions, targeting a long-term source of abundant, clean energy. Fusion has the potential to transform global energy systems by providing high-output, low-carbon baseload power. Through STEP Scale-Up support, Focused Energy aims to accelerate the path from experimental systems toward scalable fusion power concepts, reinforcing Europe’s position in next-generation energy technologies.

Leyden Laboratories (The Netherlands) – Protecting Against Respiratory Viruses

Leyden Laboratories works to free people from the threat of respiratory viruses. By focusing on broad-acting approaches that can address multiple pathogens, Leyden Labs contributes to Europe’s preparedness against seasonal epidemics and future pandemics. Scaling such biotech solutions requires substantial investment in R&D, clinical development and manufacturing capacity, precisely the type of scale-up challenge STEP is designed to address.

Marvel Fusion (Germany) – Building a Laser-Driven Fusion Power Plant

Marvel Fusion is building a laser-driven fusion power plant concept, complementing Europe’s portfolio of fusion approaches. Its ambition is to harness advanced laser technologies and novel target concepts to achieve stable, economically viable fusion. STEP Scale-Up support is expected to help Marvel Fusion scale experimental facilities, attract co-investors and progress toward demonstrator-level milestones.

Nexwafe (Germany) – Next Generation of Solar Wafers

Nexwafe is developing the next generation of solar wafers, addressing both efficiency and manufacturing resilience in photovoltaic supply chains. By innovating at the wafer level, Nexwafe helps Europe reduce dependencies in critical solar manufacturing steps, align with net-zero targets and improve the competitiveness of European PV manufacturers.

QphoX (The Netherlands) – Scalable, High-Performance Quantum Processors

QphoX is working on scalable, high-performance quantum processors, contributing to Europe’s efforts to build sovereign capabilities in quantum information processing. Achieving scale requires sophisticated integration of quantum devices, control electronics and cryogenic systems, all of which demand large, long-horizon capital investments, an ideal fit for the STEP Scale-Up investment logic.

Quandela (France) – Photonic Quantum Computers

Quandela develops photonic quantum computers, an architecture that leverages single-photon sources and integrated photonics. Photonic approaches can be highly attractive for scaling, interoperability with fibre networks, and energy efficiency. STEP support is intended to help Quandela expand from R&D and early prototypes toward robust, commercially viable systems and services.

Smart Photonics (The Netherlands) – Next-Generation Photonic Chips

Smart Photonics manufactures next-generation photonic chips, a foundational technology for data centres, telecommunications, sensing and quantum applications. By strengthening Europe’s photonic integrated circuit (PIC) manufacturing base, Smart Photonics directly contributes to the EU’s ambition to secure key segments of the semiconductor and photonics value chain.

Country Participation in the November 2025 Round

All eight selected companies are headquartered in three EU Member States: France, Germany and The Netherlands. The distribution of funded companies in this call is as follows:

• Germany: 3 companies (Focused Energy, Marvel Fusion, Nexwafe) – 37.5% of selected companies
• The Netherlands: 3 companies (Leyden Laboratories, QphoX, Smart Photonics) – 37.5% of selected companies
• France: 2 companies (Aldoria, Quandela) – 25% of selected companies

This country distribution illustrates how the STEP Scale-Up call is concentrating significant equity investments in a small number of deep-tech hubs that already possess strong research, talent and investor ecosystems. At the same time, the presence of companies across different strategic domains, space, fusion, biotechnology, photovoltaics, quantum technologies and photonics, demonstrates the breadth of technologies being pushed toward industrial scale.

STEP Seal Recipients and the Extended Pipeline

Beyond the eight companies recommended for EIC Fund investment decisions, the Commission has identified an additional 21 companies that, while not selected for funding in this round due to budget limitations, have been recognised as excellent. Together with the eight selected companies, all 29 ventures will receive the STEP Seal.

The STEP Seal serves several core functions:

• Quality signal to investors: All Seal holders have passed a rigorous technical, commercial and strategic evaluation. This makes the Seal a strong indicator of quality for venture capital funds, corporates and institutional investors seeking validated deep-tech scale-up opportunities.
• Facilitating complementary funding: STEP Seal recipients are encouraged to leverage the recognition to secure additional or alternative financing, including from private investors and other EU-level instruments.
• Access to EIC Business Acceleration Services: Seal recipients gain entry to the EIC’s consortium of mentoring, matchmaking, training and networking opportunities, which can be pivotal in forming strategic partnerships and scaling globally.

In numeric terms, this means that more than half of all companies submitting proposals in this round (29 out of 51) end up with a concrete quality label and access to the EIC’s broader support ecosystem, even if only eight are currently put forward for direct equity investments.

How the November 2025 Round Fits Into the 2025 STEP Scale-Up Timeline

The November 2025 results build on earlier outcomes of the 2025 STEP Scale-Up call:

• First evaluation round (results published 3 April 2025): 34 proposals submitted; 22 companies interviewed; 7 companies recommended for investment decisions; 11 STEP Seal recipients in total (including the 7 investment candidates).
• Second evaluation round: 19 proposals submitted; 5 companies invited to interview; 4 companies recommended for investment decisions; all companies that passed the evaluation in that round received the STEP Seal.
• Third evaluation round (this article – 19 November 2025): 51 proposals submitted; 36 invited to interview; 8 recommended for investment; 29 STEP Seal recipients in total (8 funded candidates + 21 additional Seal-only companies).

Aggregating the available 2025 data across these three evaluation batches yields the following picture:

• Total proposals submitted (Rounds 1–3): 34 + 19 + 51 = 104
• Total companies recommended for EIC Fund investment decisions: 7 + 4 + 8 = 19
• Total STEP Seal recipients (including funded and non-funded companies): 11 + 4 + 29 = 44
• Overall investment selection rate (Rounds 1–3 combined): 19 / 104 ≈ 18.3%
• Overall STEP Seal rate (Rounds 1–3 combined): 44 / 104 ≈ 42.3%

These figures confirm that the STEP Scale-Up call operates with a highly selective investment funnel while still creating a broad pipeline of excellent, Seal-recognised companies that can fuel Europe’s deep-tech ecosystem beyond the EIC Fund’s direct equity capacity.

STEP Scale-Up Budget and 2026 Evaluation Calendar

The EIC STEP Scale-Up call is backed by a €300 million budget in 2025, continuing with the same budget in 2026. The initiative is explicitly designed to provide larger investment tickets in strategic technologies to bring them to the market and reduce Europe’s strategic dependencies.

The call remains continuously open on the Funding & Tenders Portal, with quarterly evaluation sessions. For 2026, proposals will be batched on the following dates:

• 11 February 2026
• 6 May 2026
• 9 September 2026
• 25 November 2026

This schedule gives companies and investors clear visibility on when applications will be assessed, allowing them to synchronise fundraising activities, industrial milestones and co-investor commitments with the EIC evaluation cycle.

Strategic Context: What STEP Scale-Up Targets

The STEP Scale-Up initiative is part of a broader European effort to support Strategic Technologies for Europe. It targets deep-tech scale-ups working in three core areas:

• Digital and deep-tech innovation: Including quantum computing, advanced semiconductors, AI hardware and enabling digital infrastructure.
• Clean and resource-efficient technologies (including net-zero): Such as fusion energy, advanced photovoltaics, battery technologies and other climate-focused innovations.
• Biotechnologies: Covering health-related applications, pandemic preparedness, and bio-based industrial processes that reduce resource dependencies.

By concentrating large equity investments in these areas, the EIC aims to strengthen critical value chains, reduce strategic dependencies and anchor high-growth companies in Europe. The November 2025 results, with strong representation from quantum technologies, fusion, space and advanced photovoltaics, illustrate the alignment of funded companies with these objectives.

Raw Data

• Results published: 19 November 2025
• Year: 2025
• Round: 3
• Proposal submissions: 51
• Companies evaluated at interview stage: 36
• Companies recommended for investment decisions: 8
• Additional STEP Seal recipients (non-funded in this round): 21
• Total STEP Seal recipients (including funded candidates): 29
• Overall equity budget recommended: €171 million
• Average recommended equity per company: ≈ €21.4 million
• Overall investment selection rate (this round): ≈ 15.7%
• STEP Seal rate (this round, including funded and non-funded): ≈ 56.9%

The Full List of STEP Scale-Up Winners