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Deep technology startups create unique innovations for addressing today’s global problems. They use findings and intellectual property rights generated by research in developing new ways to produce materials, to cure diseases or to slow down climate change, for example. Deep tech startups have significant growth potential and they can revolutionise entire industries.

Deep tech startups tend to have a much longer and riskier commercialisation phase than other companies. Therefore, it is important to support the development of new success stories, especially in the critical early stages of the business. With the Deep Tech Accelerator funding, Business Finland wants to promote the use of research results in the startup business and, in particular, to accelerate the market entry of deep tech startups and speed up the launch of scalable international business.

Deep tech accelerator (DTA) funding call

Deep Tech Accelerator funding is targeted at startups less than five years old that have already launched their operations and have been founded to commercialise the latest research results and know-how. Research-based intellectual property rights and know-how are central to the value creation, market potential and competitiveness of funded companies. The companies are still in the product development stage, and their operations involve high technological and market-entry risks. The companies typically make significant R&D investments and have a product development project in progress. The companies often strive to make a large social impact and seek to address significant global problems.

The goal of the funding is to help deep tech startups to enter markets faster. To achieve this, the key requirements are to increase market and customer understanding and adapt the solution under development to these needs, to strengthen the team, to achieve marketability through measures related to the solution and the company (e.g. approvals, quality management system), the systematic use of intellectual property rights, and planning and procurement of financing.

DTA funding

The DTA funding package consists of three EUR 400,000 phases, the first two of which are grants and the third is a loan. Each phase is estimated to last between 12 and 18 months. Business Finland's funding contribution will cover 75% of the approved costs.

In this funding call, the company will apply for funding of EUR 400,000, i.e. only for the first phase, for which the cost estimate will be EUR 533,334. In the project plan of the application, the company must also present a preliminary description of the content and goals of the next phase to indicate that it is seriously planning the implementation of the entire project.

Together with Business Finland, the company will determine the goals for the funding phase on the basis of the business plan, and these will be recorded in the funding decision. Business Finland will assess the achievement of the goals at the end of the funding phase. The achievement of the goals is among the prerequisites for progressing to the next phase. In addition to achieving the goals, other prerequisites for progressing to the next phase include the company’s financial situation and potential for rapid international growth.

What can the funding be used for?

The goal of the funding is to help deep tech startups enter the market faster. The project must be a balanced combination of actions and support the company's strategy and business plan. The content must support the achievement of the goals set for the phase.

The funding can be used for the following purposes, for example:

• Contacting customers and verifying the suitability of the solution with customers, customer negotiations, acquisition of pilot projects, taking measures to obtain references
• Determining/finding the optimal application of the technology and validating the solution with customers
• Finding the right customer segment and business focus, developing the business, operational sales and marketing
• Strengthening the team with sales, marketing, and business experts, for example
• Ensuring the marketability of the solution
• Planning and acquisition of additional private financing

DTA funding is not intended for product development, and the company may have product development projects alongside it. A DTA project may include a small amount of development work that is necessary to achieve the goals of the DTA phase.

Evaluations of applications

In the funding call, we will grant funding to a maximum of 10-15 promising deep tech startups that meet the criteria. The funding applications will be evaluated on the basis of the following criteria:

Origin of the idea and the company
The company was founded to commercialise a business idea based on the latest scientific research, and it has strong intellectual property rights and/or other intellectual property based on this.

Intellectual property
The company is in control of the intellectual property rights and other intangible rights relevant to the business, and the company has sufficient freedom to operate in the international target markets. Possible agreement on the transfer of rights is valid and the company has the right to the results of its own further development work. The company has the ability to expand its intellectual property and acquire additional protection.

Business
Value creation, business potential and competitiveness are based on documented and state-of-the-art scientific research. The company's solution has significant international business potential and its competitiveness has been preliminarily demonstrated. The company has independent decision-making power over its business activities and is not a subsidiary.

Solution
The key research problems have mainly been solved and the functionality of the technology has been verified. The performance and competitiveness of the solution have been preliminarily demonstrated. The solution is not yet a ready-to-sell product or service, and its development through R&D projects is still in progress. The readiness level of the solution must be at a level where it is justified to start commercialisation measures and business development. No business has been carried out with the solution, except for paid pilot projects.

Team
The team has credible expertise in the development of research-based technology and business. The share of ownership of the full-time founding team and the structure of the company's ownership base must allow for additional investments in the company.

Risk level
A significant risk associated with the technical functionality of the solution and market entry.

Impact and targeted change
The company is aiming for significant and scalable international business. The growth targets are realistic in relation to the planned investments in development and market entry. The funding will have a significant impact on the implementation of the project and the achievement of the goals.

Total financing
The company must have self-financing during the period and the company's total financing in order for DTA period 1. The total funding must be secured, the money must be in the account at the latest 3 September 2025, and the company must not have any open financing terms in other projects. In addition, the company must have a carefully prepared financing plan and the prerequisites and willingness to raise investments in the company.

In addition, the following requirements apply to DTA funding:

• Your company must be a limited liability company registered in Finland and belong to the prepayment and employer registers.
• Your company must have been in operation for less than five years before the funding decision for the first phase is made. Business Finland can only accept the costs of the DTA project until the company is eight years old. If your company is part of a corporation, all companies in the corporation must be under five years old at the time of the funding decision and under eight years before the end of the funding. The age is calculated from the date of registration of the company's Business ID.
• The size of your company is small: less than 50 employees and annual net sales or balance sheet total is no more than EUR 10 million.
• At least 10 per cent of your company's total costs have been allocated to research and development in one of the previous three years (for the ended financial year). The company must have at least one full financial year behind it.
• Your company has not continued the business activities of another company, and the product has not previously been commercialized in another company.
• Your company has not been established through a merger. Exceptions include a situation in which the merged companies are less than 5 years old.
• Your company is not listed and it has not distributed profits. Distribution of profit refers to the payment of dividends or assets from an unrestricted equity reserve, or the purchase and redemption of the treasury shares.

The above requirements must be met. The funding granted by Business Finland is discretionary, and decision-making follows the normal evaluation and decision-making process. In addition to the financial situation and the content of the project, the assessment takes into account, for example, the company's resources to implement the project, the share of public funding from the company's previous years, and the implementation of previous projects and the utilisation of their results.

The projects to be funded must meet the basic requirements given in the call for proposals. Fulfilment of the criteria does not necessarily lead to the granting of funding, since other competing applications will be taken into account in the evaluation and, as a whole, the best are selected for funding based on the selection criteria.

Business Finland does not make conditional decisions in connection with the DTA call.

Application period

The application period will begin on 1 April 2025. Submit the application and its appendices via Business Finland’s online service by 17 August 2025 at 11:59 PM. Please read the application instructions carefully and take your time to prepare the application. Appendices to the application include a business plan, a project plan, an auditor’s report, a cash flow forecast, a list of intellectual property rights, a list of rights granted by a technology transfer agreement/a declaration of the rights granted by the agreement and a list of the most important research results or publications (up to five) important to company's business and a brief description of why they are important.  

Please note that we will evaluate the funding applications after the call has ended and make the funding decisions by the end of 2025.

• The prerequisite is that the company will not pass five (5) years since the company was entered in the Trade Register on 24 November 2025 at the earliest.
• The company must have self-financing for the DTA period 1 and the company's overall financing in order. The total funding must be secured, the money in the account by 3.9.2025 at the latest, and the company must not have any open financing terms in other projects.
• The auditor's report on the company's DTA eligibility must be submitted by 3.9.2025 at the latest

Before submitting your application

Discuss with Business Finland about your company’s suitability for DTA funding. Please contact the contact persons mentioned in the funding call information or your own BF contact person as soon as possible if you are interested in the funding.

Please also note that the advice for application will not be carried out in July 2025.

Please read also the application instructions carefully to be aware of how to fill in the different sections of the application.

Please refer to the funding terms and conditions. It describes what costs Business Finland can fund, how we will monitor the costs of your project, and how you must report on the progress of the project

We cannot grant your company funding if:

• Your company has not submitted financial statements to the Finnish Patent and Registration Office, or your company's financial statements have not been audited in accordance with the Auditing Act.
• Your company has not submitted an up-to-date statutory notification of beneficial owners to the trade register
• Your company has tax debts for which no payment plan has been agreed with the tax authorities.
• Your company has arrears, payment defaults or other outstanding financial obligations related to previous loans granted by Business Finland
• Your company has already been granted YIC/DTA or Growth Engine startup funding

Apply for funding via the online services