Are you a woman running a deep-tech startup that is still before its first real product? Women TechEU gives 40 startups per round a €75,000 grant, with no equity taken, plus six months of mentoring. The next full-proposal deadline is 14 January 2027. But you can't apply on that day alone: you must first pass a weekly eligibility check. Here's who qualifies, what changed this year and how to time your application.
What's new in this Women TechEU call
Women TechEU began in 2021 under the European Commission. This third edition (2026–2028) is run by a 15-organisation consortium led by Sploro, a Spanish SME, and is funded through the EU's European Innovation Council (EIC). It is cascade funding: the consortium hands out the EU money, so you won't find the call on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal. The budget is €12 million for 160 startups over four deadlines. Deadline 5 closed on 16 September 2026, which leaves three: 14 January, 1 April and 8 July 2027. What changed:
- A two-stage process. First a short eligibility form, checked every week. Only startups that pass are invited to write a full proposal.
- 40% of the money is reserved for widening areas: 16 of the 40 places per deadline go to startups from countries such as Poland, Portugal, Greece, Czechia, Romania, Türkiye or Ukraine.
- A higher minimum TRL. The range is now TRL 4 to 6. In the previous scheme, TRL 3 was also eligible.
- An automatic "red flags" filter. At most 350 proposals per deadline go to the evaluators.
The reason, in the words of Sploro's head of EU projects, Virginia Gómez, in the launch press release: "applications of all kinds" had pushed the success rate below 4%. This edition is designed to fix that.
Who can apply
The startup applies on its own; there are no partners. According to the eligibility guidelines, your company must meet all of these:
- Woman-led. A woman founder or co-founder (a woman who got her shares within a year of the company's registration) who now holds a top management role: CEO, CTO, CSO or equivalent.
- At least 25% owned by women. It's the total of all women shareholders that counts, not just one founder.
- Between six months and five years old on the eligibility cut-off you apply to. No exceptions, the FAQ stresses, not even by a few days.
- A private company and an autonomous SME under the EU SME definition. Foundations and associations can't apply.
- Less than €1 million raised in equity from outside investors.
- Deep tech at TRL 4 to 6, before a high-fidelity minimum viable product. Not sure about your level? See our guide to technology readiness levels.
- Based in an EU country (including the outermost regions) or a Horizon Europe associated country: Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Egypt, the Faroe Islands, Georgia, Iceland, Israel, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland, Tunisia, Türkiye, Ukraine or the United Kingdom.
Who is out: eLearning, eCommerce, standard gaming apps and content portals don't count as deep tech. AI startups still at concept, dataset collection or algorithm development stage are ineligible. Projects already funded by an earlier Women TechEU round or the EIC Accelerator are excluded, as are the consortium's own partners and staff.
How to time your application for 14 January
The eligibility form closes every Tuesday at 17:00 Brussels time, and you get your eligibility letter within about a week. Watch the rule that decides which deadline you're sent to. If your letter arrives more than 15 days before a full-proposal deadline, you must submit by that deadline. If it arrives 14 days or less before, you may wait for the next one.
So if you want to apply on 14 January, send the eligibility form in November or early December. That leaves time for the proposal over the holidays. If you can't be ready by mid-January, apply for eligibility in early January and aim for 1 April instead. One more detail: the call page lists 14 January at "17:00 CEST", but the guidelines and the FAQ say 17:00 CET. In January, Brussels is on CET, so the deadline is 17:00 Brussels time.
Results and start dates are the programme's estimates, from the full proposal guidelines. The final weekly eligibility cut-off is 15 June 2027.
What the €75,000 pays for, and how it's paid
You decide how to spend it. The Women TechEU FAQ says there are no restrictions on what counts as an eligible cost, and gives examples: business development, IP strategy, certification, market analysis, customer validation, and finding partners and investors. There is no detailed budget annex: the form asks for a simple breakdown of how you'll spend the €75,000, in at most 100 words. Because it's a lump sum, you're paid for reaching milestones, not for invoices:
If you meet less than 20% of your KPIs at Month 3, the second payment is held back until the end of the programme. Below 10%, you're disqualified. Alongside the money come six months of support: monthly sessions with a woman mentor, investor readiness training, an export readiness check, a life cycle assessment, and access to events and local chapters. After the Month 3 review, selected startups move to a "Paving the way" phase, which includes a fast track to the EIC Accelerator.
How to apply
- Fill in the eligibility form on the Sploro platform. You'll need your shareholder (cap) table, with the gender of each shareholder. You can resubmit it up to three times.
- Wait for your eligibility letter. It includes the link to the full-proposal form.
- Pick an EIC Accelerator challenge that fits your project, or the Open Challenge.
- Write the full proposal in English: short answers (mostly 100 words each), the woman founder's and team's CVs and an investor pitch deck, both as PDFs.
- Record a three-minute video featuring the lead applicant. A smartphone recording is fine, but not a slide show. Share it as a YouTube or Zoom link that stays public for eight weeks after the deadline, or your proposal is ineligible. Our tips on grant pitch presentations apply here too.
- Submit at least two days early. The call page warns about high traffic on deadline day. You can make at most three full-proposal attempts across all deadlines.
How proposals are scored
First comes the automatic red-flag check. It looks at whether you are a "grant survivor" living mainly on grants, whether you aim for growth, whether you want investors and whether your IP is defensible. Startups with the fewest red flags go through: about 140 from widening areas and 210 from elsewhere, 350 in total per deadline. Two remote experts, one technical and one business, then score Excellence, Impact and Implementation from 0 to 5, using the EIC Accelerator criteria. You need at least 3 on each criterion and 10 overall. There is no interview.
Scores are normalised, and the widening and non-widening lists are ranked separately. Ties are broken by Impact, then Excellence, then Implementation, then the number of women in the team. Another 20 applicants per deadline get a "Badge of Honour", which brings an invitation to the local chapters and the alumni network.
How competitive is it?
Very. In the previous scheme, each call funded 40 startups, while applications rose from 827 to 1,107. In Call 4, the 40 winners came from 20 countries, including 8 from widening countries. The new eligibility stage and the 350-proposal cap should mean fewer, better-targeted proposals per deadline. No figures for deadline 5 have been published yet. Since 2021, Women TechEU has supported 344 women-led companies over six cohorts.
Women TechEU is one of several schemes for women founders. If your startup is in a widening country, also look at EmpoWomen. For a €100,000 prize, see the European Prize for Women Innovators in our last 5 EIC deadlines of 2026 (deadline 1 December 2026). To ask questions live, join the Women TechEU infodays on 10 November 2026 at 16:00 CET and 12 January 2027 at 10:00 CET.
Never miss a deadline
All three Women TechEU deadlines, plus dozens of other EU and national calls, are in our grant deadlines calendar.
FAQ: Women TechEU 2027 deadlines
When is the next Women TechEU deadline?
Full proposals are due on 14 January 2027 at 17:00 CET (Brussels time). Later deadlines are 1 April and 8 July 2027, both at 17:00 CEST.
How much does Women TechEU give?
€75,000 per startup as an equity-free lump sum, paid in three parts (€37,500, €30,000 and €7,500), plus a six-month mentoring and coaching programme.
Can a startup apply to Women TechEU alone?
Yes. It's for single companies; no consortium is needed. But you must pass the weekly eligibility check before you can submit a full proposal.
Is Women TechEU only for EU countries?
No. Startups in the 27 EU countries and in Horizon Europe associated countries such as the UK, Switzerland, Norway, Israel, Türkiye and Ukraine can apply. 40% of the budget is reserved for widening areas.
What TRL do I need for Women TechEU?
Between TRL 4 and TRL 6, before a high-fidelity minimum viable product. TRL 3 is no longer eligible.
When will results for the 14 January deadline come out?
Around 12 March 2027, according to the guidelines, with the programme starting around 12 April 2027.
