The EIC Fund has finalised its first two equity investments under the EIC Step Scale Up scheme.
These first investments go to IQM Quantum Computers and Zadient Technologies, two pioneering European scale-ups that exemplify the ambition and excellence of the EIC portfolio.
IQM Quantum Computers: accelerating growth in quantum technology
IQM Quantum Computers, based in Finland, is driving the future of quantum computing, building the world’s most advanced superconducting quantum processors. With the EIC Fund investment, the company plans to scale from thousands to millions of qubits by 2030.
Jan Goetz, the co-founder and CEO, said: “The EIC has supported us financially and operationally; also, through their networks and by bringing us to great events around the world. Now we have even more ambitious goals to go forward and build the quantum advantage of this critical technology out of Europe.”
Zadient Technologies: pioneering innovation in silicon carbide semiconductors
Zadient Technologies, headquartered in France, focuses on developing an innovative process to produce silicon carbide semiconductors. The EIC support will allow Zadient to increase its production capacity and shift more rapidly into full-scale commercial operations.
Kagan Ceran, CEO and founder of Zadient Technologies, said: “The European Innovation Council and other investors support will help us in fulfilling our mission to become Europe’s sovereign supplier of critical silicon carbide materials for energy transition and defense.”
Background information
The EIC STEP Scale-up call has a budget of €300 million in 2025, continuing with the same budget in 2026. This initiative, which has attracted high demand, aims to provide larger investments in companies developing strategic technologies to bring them to the market and reduce strategic dependencies. The EIC STEP Scale-up will help address a market gap in deep tech scale-up funding in Europe, targeting digital technologies, clean and resource-efficient technologies including net-zero, and biotechnologies.
The EIC STEP Scale Up call remains continuously open on Funding and Tenders portal with evaluation sessions taking place every quarter. In 2026, proposals will be batched at following dates: 11.02.2026, 6.05.2026, 9.09.2026, 25.11.2026.
It is one of a range of calls being implemented across multiple EU programmes to support strategic technologies