5% in EU Innovation Funding Yields a 4,300% ROI

Some observations from a report on 'Startups backed by the EU’s Framework Programmes', recently released by dealroom.co, dealflow.eu, and EU Startups:

While only 5% of the EU innovation funding (about €12B) goes directly to startups, these same startups have raised an additional €70B in private capital and created €520B in combined enterprise value, representing a 4,300% return on investment.

The EU Funding Programmes target physical tech and deep tech sectors at a much higher rate than European VCs, which focus mostly on software and SAAS.

Physical startups that are EU-backed have a higher graduation rate than non-EU backed ones, suggesting that EU funding helps to de-risk investments for private investors.

EU Funding Programmes have focused on strategically important sectors like space (28.3% of startups are EU-backed), semiconductors (27.5%), biotech (24.8%), deep tech (24.5%), and climate tech (22.3%).

Over 1,500 EU-backed startups originated from universities and research institutions with Swiss institutions like ETH Zurich and EPFL leading.

An interesting case study featured in the report is that of BioNTech which has received critical EU funding during high-risk years before achieving commercial success. This shows how public support can enable breakthrough innovation.