6 million euros funding for deep tech startups to accelerate market entry
Business Finland has granted a total of 6 million euros in Deep Tech Accelerator funding to 15 startups utilizing research results. With this funding, companies can increase their customer understanding, adapt their solutions to customer needs, strengthen their teams, and seek additional investments to accelerate market entry.
Business Finland piloted the Deep Tech Accelerator (DTA) funding call as in Spring 2023. The 2023 funding included two phases: the first phase provided 400,000 euros in grants, and the second phase offered one million euros in loans. The experiences from the 2023 DTA call were utilized in the 2024 call, which was updated accordingly. The goal of this funding is to promote the utilization of research results in startup businesses and to guide and accelerate the market entry and international business initiation of deep tech startups.
The Deep Tech Accelerator funding is aimed at startups that are under five years old and have already started operations, established to commercialize the latest research results and expertise. Intellectual property rights and expertise based on research activities are central to the value creation, competitiveness, and market potential assessment of the target companies. These companies are still in the product development phase and face significant technology and market entry risks. They typically have high research and development investments and ongoing research and development projects. The company often aims for significant societal impact and seeks to solve major global problems.
The 2024 DTA funding consists of three phases of 400,000 euros each, with the first two phases being grants and the third a loan. Each phase is estimated to last 12-18 months. Business Finland's funding covers 75% of the total cost estimate.
Demand for deep tech funding
Deep tech funding generated as much interest as the first call in 2023 – over 80 companies inquired about their chances of receiving DTA funding. After coaching discussions, a quarter of the coached companies (22) submitted funding applications. The companies that received funding represent various industries such as health, energy, bioeconomy, food, and electronics, and are based on research conducted in several different research organizations. There are also companies that have generated their own research. Most of the companies are less than three years old.
In this call, funding was granted to companies such as Carbonaide Oy, based on VTT's research, which commercializes carbon dioxide utilization and storage technology to reduce the carbon footprint of concrete, and Perfat Technologies Oy, based on research from the University of Helsinki, which commercializes new types of healthy fats for food.
- The program enables the team to grow its commercial expertise at an early stage, which is usually a weakness for science-based companies. We have already seen significant progress in the first few weeks as our activities have been challenged from a commercial perspective. It is not enough for a company to have the technology of the century; the superiority of the technology must be converted into competitive advantages and concrete revenue streams. I believe that DTA funding will enable our company to grow and internationalize five times faster. Tapio Vehmas, CEO of Carbonaide Oy, expressed his appreciation for receiving the DTA funding.
- DTA funding significantly supports our commercial efforts. We can invest in testing product solutions together with our partners and customers. In addition, we will invest part of the funding in exploring the US market and developing our sales organization, says Jyrki Lee-Korhonen, CEO of Perfat Technologies Oy.
Below is a list of companies that received DTA funding in the 2024 call:
- PrecisionPhage Oy
- CeLLife Technologies Oy
- Vitalsigns Oy
- Carbonaide Oy
- Liquid Sun Oy
- Semiqon Technologies Oy
- Bionto Oy
- Aircohol Oy
- Thermal Channel Technologies Oy
- Perfat Technologies Oy
- Doublepoint Technologies Oy
- Kasvu Therapeutics Oy
- DeepScan Diagnostics Oy
- The Warming Surfaces Company Oy
- Vire health Oy
Business Finland has long been developing services to support startups emerging from research
Business Finland has a clear funding path for research-based startups. The path often starts with Research to Business funding aimed at research organizations, which explores commercialization options for research and develops the invention further. If the research team decides to establish a startup, they can apply for Research and Development (R&D) or Tempo funding from Business Finland and later also for DTA or Young and Innovative (NIY) funding. Business Finland has a specialized expert team for the challenges and needs of deep tech startups, which coach startups at different stages of the service path to find suitable services.
- The second DTA funding call achieved the same popularity as the pilot call. Since the need is evident, we have just decided to make the DTA funding service permanent to promote the market entry of early-stage deep tech startups. We have already started preparing for the 2025 funding call. The funding call will tentatively open on April 1 and close on August 17, 2025. From 2026 onwards, the aim is to organize two funding calls per year, says Jari Toivo, Business Finland's Director of Funding.
