Matching investors and EU funded innovations

Project Information

INVEST

Grant agreement ID: 101058526

DOI

10.3030/101058526

Project closed

EC signature date 1 June 2022

Start date 1 April 2022

End date 31 May 2025

Funded under

• Digital, Industry and Space

Total cost

€ 3 998 440,00

EU contribution

€ 3 998 440,00

Coordinated by

DEALFLOW.EU
Belgium

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - INVEST (Matching investors and EU funded innovations)

Reporting period: 2022-04-01 to 2023-11-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The INVEST proposal was created to close the gap between investors and research projects from both sides. On the one hand, by placing investors/partners in contact with research projects that have the highest commercialisation and market potential and on the other hand, to coach projects on raising capital, identifying and refining their business models, and developing sound go-to-market strategies. Such an approach is meant to ensure scalability while simultaneously addressing the large diversity between the projects and the needs. This is achieved by following a data driven selection process for the high potential projects, followed by tailor-made support. Providing suitable support is needed as ownership structures, backgrounds, market focuses, and challenges vary greatly between projects.

In order to achieve these aims, this Consortium has brought together market leaders in their respective domains to provide the best resources when it comes to:

1) Business acceleration services and partnership development expert,
2) Intelligenceand TechScouting platform and,
3) Technology scouting and technology due diligence platform.

The overall objectives of the project are:
a) For Innovators and Innovations, seeking for, screening, selecting, and guiding the most promising projects to their chosen go-to-market path and supporting them to reach investment maturity and market introduction readiness.
b) For investors, solving the information disparity by expanding the innovation radar with both third-party data and curation, which enables investors to discover, assess and get in touch with truly innovative projects. Such a solution lowers the risk premium, as well as the administrative cost for assessment, thereby attracting new investors and increasing access to finance for truly innovative businesses.

The main objective of the project can be summarized as increasing the number of commercialised technologies originating from EU funded research projects.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Since the beginning of the project, the consortium managed to implement and improve the whole infrastructure behind the project. During the first 10 months of the project, major difficulties have been encountered in being able to reach IR innovators: due to GDPR, it is not possible to receive a list of contacts from the Innovation Radar. Nevertheless, the partners implemented a set of actions to onboard EU-funded innovators, steadily increasing number of start-ups receiving tailor-made support.

The main activities performed were:
- Improve the existing Dealflow.eu platform for INVEST’s purposes.
- Enrich IR company profiles and enhance search capabilities for investors.
- Implement a built-in Tech Due Diligence (Tech DD) functionality for automated ranking​​
- Provide tailored venture-building support to IR beneficiaries.
- Prepare supported projects to present themselves to relevant investors.
- Develop an investor long list and plan for outreach.
- Carry out a Tech DD process for selected companies.
- Organize and coordinate annual e-pitching events.
- Host multicorporate matchmaking events.
- Support commercialisation by connecting companies to investors, corporates, and partners.
- Define and carry out dissemination and public awareness actions.
- Promote the project and its outcomes among target groups.
- Disseminate best practices and useful information.
- Coordinate and manage project implementation and monitor activities.

Deliverables achieved since the beginning of the project (updated Dec 2023):
- New data to be loaded on the Dealflow.eu platform
- Example profile of an enriched IR company combining Linknovate, Dealroom and IR data
- Report on the first longlist of up to 700 selected IR beneficiaries
- Documentation on support areas and support plan
- Report on the typical search process for a CxO
- Report on the state of the learning resources
- Tech DD feedback report
- A sample Tech DD report as it was created for one of the IR companies following the first IR prize event
- Report on the process of the first successful partner introduction
- List of the investors which will participate in the first IR event
- Digital booklet
- Project dissemination and deployment plan
- Media Toolkit
- Exploitation & Sustainability plan
- Management Plan
- Risk & Mitigation plan
- Project roles and responsibilities
- End of year 1 report

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Through the Dealflow.eu consortium, we've instituted venture building services aimed at assisting companies in enhancing their go-to-market strategies, traction, and, most importantly, attracting investors.

The impact derived from tailoring solutions and support activities for each supported start-up is noticeably more substantial than that arising from merely providing information and webinar access. By actively aiding start-ups in recruiting additional talent, acquiring customers, instructing them in pitching ideas to investors, and facilitating access to investors, we enable them to scale up.

The long-term expected outcomes of the project include:

1. Increasing the number of digital technology-based spin-offs, start-ups, and scale-ups or successfully transferring technology from EU-funded projects.

Dealflow’s Consortium, actions, and objectives revolve around the mission to bridge the gap between investors and innovators. These actions encompass both A) preparing, coaching, and introducing innovators to investors, and B) assisting investors in discovering and connecting with innovators. These efforts aim to result in a higher number of successfully commercialized EU-funded research projects.

2. Facilitating innovative ICT-based companies or technologies to attain investment maturity and market introduction readiness, and/or securing initial public procurement contracts across the EU.

Supporting companies or technologies in achieving investment maturity and market introduction readiness is a crucial aspect of the process required to realize Impact 1. Consequently, it has been one of the core activities of the Consortium. The Consortium partners bring extensive experience to the table in transforming ideas into businesses and have been offering research projects support related to reaching investor readiness.

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