Startup investment and growth support
Up to €2.5 million for startups raising early investment to develop and grow urban mobility solutions, including cleaner transport, smart charging and lower-emission logistics.
Esta oportunidad está disponible actualmente en inglés.
The call supports startups developing urban mobility products while raising an early investment round. It covers urban logistics, public and shared transport, mobility data, transport electrification and alternative fuels, and health and mobility. Climate-focused solutions can reduce transport emissions, congestion and reliance on private cars.
Support is a grant of up to €2.5 million per company for eligible project costs. The current call manual says a separate arrangement for EIT Urban Mobility to become a shareholder is voluntary, rather than an automatic condition of the grant. If you agree to an investment arrangement, the investment overview describes cash and services being exchanged for shares now or through a SAFE, an agreement giving the investor rights to future company shares.
Your contribution to project costs is discussed during negotiation; the cost rules provide for your own resources or project income. Eligible spending includes project staff, limited subcontracting, travel, goods and services, and the project’s share of equipment depreciation—the cost allocated to the period of use, rather than the full purchase price. Costs must be necessary, recorded and actually incurred by the funded company. In-kind contributions cannot be reported as eligible expenditure.
Eligibility
Apply as a startup established in an EU country or an eligible Horizon Europe associated country. Outside the EU, the relevant fully associated countries are Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Egypt, the Faroe Islands, Georgia, Iceland, Israel, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland, Tunisia, Türkiye, Ukraine and the United Kingdom. Canada, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea are associated only to a different part of Horizon Europe and are not included in this route.
You must meet all these conditions:
- Be raising a pre-seed, seed or Series A round: early investment to develop the business and begin scaling it. The round must genuinely raise new equity or equity-linked capital for the company, with room for EIT Urban Mobility to participate. A grants-only raise, a sale of existing shareholders’ shares alone, or an internal round closed to EIT Urban Mobility does not qualify.
- Have an urban mobility innovation and a prototype, pilot or minimum viable product—a first usable version of the product.
- Have a company value before the current investment round of no more than €50 million. Founders and executive team members together must hold more than 40% of the ultimate parent company’s equity before that round; if there is no parent, this test applies to the applicant company.
- Be outside EIT Urban Mobility’s existing equity portfolio. Signed investment or SAFE agreements can already make a company part of that portfolio even before the shares transfer; this also includes a pending SAFE whose agreed completion date has passed.
- After applying at two consecutive cut-offs, skip at least the next one before applying again.
EIT Urban Mobility normally joins a round alongside venture capital or other private investors. It normally does not act as lead investor—the investor taking the lead in the round—although exceptional cases are possible.
Plan a project lasting 2–36 months, justified by the work. All activities, including any approved extension, must finish by 31 December 2028. The applicant must be the legal entity receiving the grant and incurring its costs. Selected applicants may have to join EIT Urban Mobility’s community and pay a membership fee; conditions can be adapted case by case.
Each project may receive only one grant, and the same expenditure cannot be financed twice by the EU. Declare other funding received or requested for the same year, including funding for other projects and running costs. Insolvency, established tax or social-security breaches, serious misconduct, fraud, false information and interference with selection can lead to exclusion. Hungarian public-interest trusts established under Act IX of 2021 and entities maintained by them cannot receive new commitments under these rules.
How to apply
- Estado
- cierra 16 nov 2026
- Cierra
- Condiciones de la convocatoria
- Next 2026 cut-off: 16 November at 17:00 CET. The multi-cut-off call continues into 2027–2028; later cut-offs may be adjusted. This is an evaluation cut-off, not the end of the whole programme.
Register your company in the EU Funding & Tenders Portal to obtain its Participant Identification Code (PIC), then register in EIT Urban Mobility’s Programmes Portal and open the current call. Allow several days for registration; processing can take two working days. Submit the application and investor pitch deck in English, together with the deed of incorporation, which may remain in its original language. A signed investment term sheet is recommended if available, but is not compulsory.
Eligible applications undergo expert assessment, an online pitch and portfolio selection. The team may request company, financial, product, customer and ownership documents for due diligence—a detailed check before funding is agreed. Selection remains conditional on the final checks and signed funding terms.
After delivery, submit both the activity report and cost report through the portal within one month of the project’s end. Only costs incurred by the applying and awarded company can be reported.