Please note that the statistics for the 9 October EIC Accelerator cut-off (formerly SME Instrument Phase 2) have been released. These statistics are of great importance as, for the first time, it was possible to apply for the equity option.

A total of 1,852 applications were received, requesting over € 5.2 billion in funding.

Almost 500 companies opted for blended finance (grant plus equity), requesting a total of € 2.8 billion: on average, equity accounted for two-thirds of the amount requested per application.

The grant-only option was requested by approximately 1,350 companies for a total of € 2.4 billion; however, it should be noted that over two-thirds of this category of applicants indicated their willingness to receive a counter-offer in terms of financial support (from grant-only to grant plus equity).

The countries that submitted the highest number of applications are Spain (228), Italy (173), Israel (164), Germany (142) and France (134): these countries are also those that most frequently requested blended finance (Italy 34 times).

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