EU Startup Funding

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Non-dilutive funding: plan your EU grant stack and the cash gap

Non-dilutive funding pays for your project without taking a single share: EU grants, national and regional grants, development loans, R&D tax credits, vouchers and prizes. The rules come attached: each euro of cost can be funded once, State-aid ceilings limit the stack, and EU grants pay in instalments, so your balance dips before the final payment lands. The planner below shows, for one project, how much you fund without equity and how deep the cash gap gets.

Plan my stack

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Plan your non-dilutive funding stack

Set your project budget, switch on the grants, tax credits and loans you plan to use, and see how much of the project they cover, how much of your own cash you need and how deep the cash gap gets before the grant pays out.

Your project

The costs you plan to spend, evenly, month by month.

Funding mix

Cash position by month

Bars show money received minus money spent so far. Below zero is cash you must cover from own funds, revenue or a bridge until the next payment lands.

Checks

How the planner works

Costs are funded once. The EU grant covers its rate of the budget. The national grant applies its rate only to the costs the EU grant leaves open. The R&D tax credit applies only to wage costs no grant covers (wage share × costs left after both grants). The loan is a share of the budget, and own cash or revenue covers what is left.
Spending is even: budget ÷ months, every month of the project.
EU grant payments: pre-financing in month 1. At the end of each reporting period (while the project runs) an interim payment brings the total paid up to pre-financing plus the grant share of the costs spent so far, never above the payment ceiling (100% minus the share held back). The rest arrives with the final payment. Each interim and final payment lands the number of months after the period end that you enter.
National grant: the advance in month 1, the balance the chosen number of months after the project ends.
R&D tax credit: either every month as a wage tax reduction, or once per project year, the chosen number of months after that year ends.
Loan: the full amount in the month you enter. With the annuity option, equal monthly instalments start the month after the project ends; the chart shows the ones that fall inside its window.
Peak cash gap is the lowest point of the running total (receipts minus spending). De minimis is checked against €300,000 per Member State over any 3 years (Regulation (EU) 2023/2831). Presets use figures from official pages; everything else is an editable example.

How do you read the non-dilutive funding stack planner?

Enter the project, then switch on the layers you plan to apply for. The planner fills them EU grant first, because funders check each other in that order: the national agency asks what Brussels pays, the tax office asks what grants cover.

Here is what the default example gives for a €1,000,000 project over 24 months, run by a small company whose wage costs make up 60% of the budget:

Layer	Example input	Amount	Share	Cash arrives
EU grant	70% rate, 40% pre-financing, 12-month periods, 10% held back	€700,000	70%	€280,000 in month 1, €350,000 in month 15, €70,000 in month 27
National top-up (de minimis)	20% of the €300,000 left open, 50% advance	€60,000	6%	€30,000 in month 1, €30,000 in month 27
R&D tax credit	25% of €144,000 uncovered wage costs	€36,000	3.6%	€18,000 in month 18, €18,000 in month 30
Development loan	10% of the budget	€100,000	10%	Month 3
Own cash or revenue	Whatever is left	€104,000	10.4%	Spent along the way

Example inputs, not the terms of a specific call. Replace them with the figures in your call text and grant agreement.

89.6% of the project is funded without equity, and 79.6% never has to be repaid. Still, the cash position bottoms out at −€222,000 in month 24, more than twice the €104,000 of own cash the plan needs. The €118,000 difference is timing: both grant balances land three months after the project ends. A company that budgets only its co-funding runs dry right before the money arrives.

What counts as non-dilutive funding in Europe?

Non-dilutive financing is any money that leaves your cap table as it is: nobody gets shares, options or a convertible claim. In Europe most of it comes from public bodies, in six forms:

EU grants. Horizon Europe, the EIC Accelerator, the EIC Pathfinder and other EU programmes. They pay a share of eligible costs; our EU funding programmes encyclopedia lists them.
National and regional grants. Agencies such as RVO in the Netherlands, Bpifrance, CDTI in Spain, FFG and aws in Austria and Enterprise Ireland pay grants under EU State-aid rules.
Development loans. Public loans for risky development work, such as the Dutch Innovatiekrediet. You repay them, and nobody takes equity.
R&D tax credits. A cut in wage tax or corporate tax for R&D work, such as the Dutch WBSO or the Irish R&D tax credit.
Vouchers and prizes. Small, fast amounts: Enterprise Ireland offers standard vouchers of €10,000 for SMEs that need outside know-how, and prize competitions reward a result instead of reimbursing costs.
Revenue-based financing. A private product: an investor advances cash and takes a share of monthly revenue until a capped amount is repaid. See our guide to revenue-based financing.

Equity-free funding still costs co-funding, reporting and waiting time; compare it with selling shares in equity dilution vs equity-free grants.

Which non-dilutive financing instruments exist, and how do they compare?

Figures come from the agencies' own pages, checked in October 2026. Rates and caps move with every call, so open the current call text before you budget.

Instrument	Type	What you get	Who qualifies	How the cash arrives
EIC Accelerator (EU)	EU grant, optional equity	Lump-sum grant below €2.5 million at 70% of eligible costs; €1 million to €10 million investment on top	Single startups and SMEs, TRL 6 to 8 work within 24 months	Per the grant agreement; you fund the other 30%
Horizon Europe collaborative calls (EU)	EU grant	Up to 100% of eligible costs for research actions, up to 70% for close-to-market actions run by companies	Consortia, as set in each call	Pre-financing, interim payments, final payment
Eurostars (Eureka, EU co-funded)	National grant	Dutch SMEs: 50%, max €500,000 for the Dutch share	At least 2 Eurostars countries, led by an SME doing R&D; 36 months max	From each country's national funder
CDTI Neotec (Spain)	National grant	Up to 70% of the business plan, max €250,000 (85% and €325,000 with a PhD hire)	Small tech companies under 3 years old	Advance of up to 60% (max €150,000) after the final award
aws Preseed Deep Tech (Austria)	National grant	80% of eligible costs, max €267,000 (90% and €300,000 with the gender bonus)	Before founding or up to 6 months after registration	Non-repayable grant
Bourse French Tech (France)	National grant	Up to 50% of eligible costs (up to 70% by company category), max €30,000	SMEs under the EU definition; 24 months max	Two tranches: at signature and after the final report
Enterprise Ireland voucher	Voucher	€10,000 standard voucher; co-funded vouchers up to €20,000	SMEs that need outside know-how	Paid as a voucher
WBSO (Netherlands)	R&D tax credit	36% of the first €391,020 of the R&D base (50% for starters), 16% above it, in 2026	Employers and self-employed people	Through the wage tax or income tax return
Irish R&D tax credit	R&D tax credit	30% for accounting periods from 1 January 2024	Companies with qualifying R&D	Paid out in three annual instalments
Innovatiekrediet (Netherlands)	Development loan	Up to 45% of project costs (small), 35% (medium), 50% for SMEs that collaborate; max €10 million	Projects with real technical or clinical risk	Credit with a repayment schedule set at the end

Sources: EIC, Cyprus Funding Programmes Portal (EIC Accelerator 2026 call), Regulation (EU) 2021/695, RVO, CDTI, aws, Bpifrance, Enterprise Ireland, Revenue (Irish tax office). Checked 26 October 2026.

Read our EIC Accelerator guide for cut-off dates and WBSO and the RVO programmes for the Dutch schemes. Our guides to grant funding types, tax credits and vouchers and EU and national loans and guarantees cover each format in depth.

How do EU grants pay out: pre-financing, interim and final payments?

A Horizon Europe grant pays in stages. The Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG), Austria's national contact point for Horizon Europe, describes five steps:

Pre-financing. Paid within 30 days of the grant agreement entering into force, or 10 days before the start date. It matches the funding needs of one reporting period.
Mutual Insurance Mechanism. 5% to 8% of the maximum EU contribution (your Data Sheet gives the exact figure) is kept back from pre-financing and paid into a shared insurance fund. It comes back with the final payment if the fund stays untouched.
Interim payments. After each reporting period you report your costs, and the Commission pays within 90 days of receiving the report.
Payment ceiling. FFG puts the payment ceiling at up to 90% of the maximum EU contribution, so the last slice waits for the final report.
Final payment. Within 90 days of receiving the final report.

The EIC Accelerator pays its grant as a lump sum (see cost reimbursement vs lump sum grants). Your grant agreement sets when each instalment lands, so type those dates into the planner instead of the defaults.

What do instalments do to your bank balance?

Spending is steady, receipts come in steps. You burn through the advance before the first interim payment, then finish the project on your own money before the final one. In the default example the two dips reach −€173,000 in month 14 and −€222,000 in month 24.

National grants follow the same logic with their own numbers. CDTI can advance up to 60% of a Neotec grant after the final award, and Bpifrance pays a Bourse French Tech in two tranches, the second after your end-of-programme report.

Can you stack non-dilutive funding? The cumulation rules

Yes, within three sets of rules.

Rule 1: the EU budget never pays the same cost twice

The EU Financial Regulation (Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509, Article 194) leaves no room: "In no circumstances shall the same costs be financed twice by the budget." Each action gets one EU grant per beneficiary, and you must declare parallel applications for the same action.

Rule 2: State-aid ceilings cap national top-ups

National grants are State aid, so they follow the General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER, Regulation (EU) No 651/2014). Under Article 25, R&D aid reaches 50% of eligible costs for industrial research and 25% for experimental development, plus 20 points for small companies or 10 for medium-sized ones, and plus 15 points for effective collaboration, with 80% as the top. Article 8(2) adds the stacking rule: when you combine centrally managed EU money with State aid, total public funding for the same eligible costs must not exceed the most favourable EU funding rate.

Rule 3: de minimis aid has its own ceiling

Plenty of small national grants and vouchers run as de minimis aid. Regulation (EU) 2023/2831 caps it at €300,000 per Member State per single undertaking over any period of 3 years. The aid counts from the day you get the legal right to it, whatever the payment date, and since 1 January 2026 Member States record de minimis aid in a central register.

The planner applies tax credits only to wage costs no grant covers, a cautious reading; check your national tax rules and State aid rules and grant compliance.

One combination works in your favour. A Horizon Europe proposal that passes every threshold but misses out on budget can receive a Seal of Excellence, and the Horizon Europe Regulation (Article 15) lets ERDF, ESF+ and EAFRD programmes fund such projects.

What does each type of equity-free funding ask from you?

Most of the paperwork checks four things: technology, company size, partners and your own contribution.

Technology readiness (TRL)

EU programmes sort projects by Technology Readiness Level on a scale from 1 to 9. The EIC Accelerator funds TRL 6 to 8 work and expects technology already tested and validated at TRL 5 or higher. Our TRL guide for grants maps each level to programmes.

SME status

Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC draws the lines. A micro company has fewer than 10 staff and turnover or balance sheet up to €2 million. A small company has fewer than 50 staff and up to €10 million. A medium-sized company has fewer than 250 staff with turnover up to €50 million or a balance sheet up to €43 million. Partner and linked companies count too. Details: SME definition in EU funding.

Consortium

The EIC Accelerator takes single companies; Eurostars needs at least 2 Eurostars countries. Read our Eurostars guide.

Co-funding and company age

EIC Accelerator: the 30% of grant-funded work the EU does not pay comes from your own resources.
Innovatiekrediet: RVO wants your own share backed by signed term sheets or contracts, with a buffer for setbacks and delays.
CDTI Neotec: under 3 years old, at least €20,000 share capital, no profits distributed.
aws Preseed Deep Tech: up to 6 months after registration.
Bourse French Tech: no cost incurred before the application date counts.

How do you plan the cash gap of non-dilutive funding?

Co-funding is the visible cost; the cash gap is the hidden one. Plan it in five steps:

Copy the payment schedule from the call or the grant agreement: pre-financing share, reporting periods, payment deadlines and the share held back.
Spread the budget over the months you will spend it, salaries first, since wage costs carry both the grant and the tax credit.
Run the planner and write down the peak gap and its month.
Cover the gap with money that arrives earlier: revenue, an advance on the national grant, a development loan timed before the dip, or a tax credit that lowers wage tax every month instead of once a year.
Add a buffer for late reports and payment delays. RVO asks Innovatiekrediet applicants for exactly that: a buffer for setbacks and delays.

Then test the plan. Switch the tax credit in the planner from yearly to monthly and the peak gap in the default example shrinks from €222,000 to €204,000, because the whole €36,000 now arrives during the project. Track hours from day one as well: the grant's personnel costs and the tax credit both rest on timesheets.

Which non-dilutive funding mistakes cost companies money?

Budgeting the co-funding and forgetting the timing. In the default example the peak gap is more than twice the co-funding.
Charging the same salary twice. Two EU grants on the same person-months break Article 194 of the Financial Regulation, and a national top-up on those months must stay within the cumulation ceiling.
Losing count of de minimis aid. Every de minimis grant from the last 3 years in that Member State counts toward the €300,000, de minimis vouchers included.
Starting work before the application. Bourse French Tech accepts no costs incurred before the application date.
Treating a loan as a grant. Innovatiekrediet comes with a repayment schedule. Put the repayments in your plan for the years after the project.
Budgeting with last year's rates. Rates, caps and brackets move between calls. Copy them from the current call text.
Writing before checking eligibility. Company age, SME status and TRL are pass-or-fail checks that no writing can fix. Our list of common grant application mistakes covers the rest.

Where do you find open non-dilutive funding calls for your company?

Start with the stack, then fill each layer with a live call. Our free Funding Finder asks six questions and returns a ranked shortlist: find the open calls that match your company, then follow the links to the official call pages.

Once you have a call, our AI grant application writer turns your project notes into a structured draft that follows the funder's sections. The step-by-step grant application guide helps you plan the submission around it.

For a shorter introduction, read our non-dilutive funding guide on the Yellow Grant blog. For programme lists, see the top 10 EU grants for equity-free funding and the best EU grants for startups in 2026.

Non-dilutive funding FAQ

What is non-dilutive funding?

Money for your company that costs no shares: grants, development loans, R&D tax credits, vouchers, prizes and revenue-based financing. Your ownership stays the same after the money arrives.

Is non-dilutive funding free money?

Grants and tax credits are never repaid, but they bring co-funding, reporting and payment delays. In the planner's default example 79.6% of the project is never repaid, and the company still has to bridge a €222,000 cash gap.

What is the difference between non-dilutive financing and equity-free funding?

Both terms describe money that takes no shares. People say non-dilutive financing when loans and revenue-based financing are in the mix, and equity-free funding mostly for grants.

Can I combine an EU grant with a national grant?

Yes, on different costs or within the cumulation rules. The EU budget never pays the same cost twice, and under GBER Article 8(2) total public funding on the same eligible costs stays at or below the most favourable EU funding rate. De minimis aid has its own ceiling of €300,000 over 3 years.

When does an EU grant pay out?

Pre-financing at the start, interim payments within 90 days of each periodic report, and the final payment within 90 days of the final report.

What is the de minimis ceiling in 2026?

€300,000 per single undertaking per Member State over any period of 3 years, under Regulation (EU) 2023/2831. The aid counts from the day you get the legal right to it, whatever the payment date.

Do R&D tax credits count as non-dilutive funding?

Yes. In 2026 the Dutch WBSO gives 36% of the first €391,020 of the R&D base (50% for starters) through the wage tax return, and the Irish R&D tax credit is 30%, paid out in three annual instalments.

How do I find non-dilutive funding calls that fit my company?

Use the free Funding Finder: six questions, a ranked shortlist of open EU and national calls, and links to the official call pages.