EIT Culture & Creativity, Europe’s largest innovation network for the cultural and creative industries, supported by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union, has opens a new funding call offering up to €8.6 million in funding and tailored acceleration support to creative tech startups and scale-ups across Europe.

Through two programmes, Shape Acceleration and Scale Post-Acceleration, the call targets startups and scale-ups developing innovative solutions in architecture, audiovisual media and fashion, helping them strengthen product-market fit, attract investment and scale internationally.

In addition to the current call, EIT Culture & Creativity plans additional calls in 2027 to include gaming and cultural heritage ventures.

Shape offers up to €100,000 to pre-seed and seed-stage ventures with early market traction and international ambitions, helping them build investment readiness. Scale offers up to €200,000 – or up to €500,000 for ventures registered in an EIT Regional Innovation Scheme (RIS) country – to seed ventures with proven market and investment traction, accelerating their path to their next funding round.

The financial support is combined with structured acceleration and post-acceleration programmes, including opportunities to connect with EIT Culture & Creativity’s pan-European network of investors and industry partners, and pitch at a Demo Day for additional financial support. Beyond financial support, the programmes focus on helping founders achieve the milestones that matter most for growth: stronger market validation, scalable business models, customer acquisition, fundraising readiness and international expansion.

Europe’s cultural and creative sectors and industries (CCSI) already contribute 5.3 per cent of EU GDP and 8.7 million jobs, yet much of its growth and investment potential remains untapped even as the global creative economy heads toward nearly 10 per cent of global GDP by 2030. This call aims to strengthen the pipeline of ventures capable of attracting private capital and compete globally.

“Europe’s cultural and creative industries have never lacked for talent or ideas, but the business support, investor relationships and funding that take a promising venture from product to scale have been harder to come by,” said Anette Schaefer, CEO of EIT Culture & Creativity. “Shape and Scale are designed to close that gap.”

Other posts by :

1. Arianespace trims ambitions for rocket update
2. Forecast: $5tn annual SpaceX revenues
3. Human AI; Access, Influence
4. Who else was eyeing Globalstar?
5. Analyst: Unrealistic expectations at SpaceX
6. Rocket Lab: “We will out-innovate SpaceX”
7. S&P ranks Arqiva’s debt as BBB+
8. AST SpaceMobile to make D2C progress this winter
9. EchoStar to put Hughes Network into bankruptcy

Categories: Articles, Business, Funding

Tags: europe, funding