Welcome to this week’s Reactor Newsletter, where we bring you the most exciting developments from the worlds of deeptech and climate tech. Here’s your weekly dose of innovation and progress:
1️⃣ EIT Funding Opportunities for Sustainable Innovation
2️⃣ Y Combinator Success Tips: Boost Your Odds
3️⃣ VC Funding Surge: $3B Raised in December
4️⃣ Forbes' Top 25: Tomorrow's AI Unicorns
5️⃣ EIT Food Incubator: Equity-Free Support for Startups
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1️⃣ Funding Opportunities from EIT Urban Mobility
🚀 A wave of funding opportunities is here—don’t miss out on these deadlines:
Catalyse NEB 2025: Apply by 3 February for €20,000 and business support.
Details: Catalyse NEB 2025EIC Women Leadership Programme: Apply by 9 February for guidance on leadership and entrepreneurial skills for women-led startups.
Details: Women Leadership ProgrammeRAPTOR Open Call: Apply by 12 February for up to €40,000 and a chance to pilot your solution in city mobility challenges.
Details: RAPTOR Open CallInvestment Readiness Programme for Impact (IRP4IMPACT): Apply by 28 February to boost fundraising capabilities with resources, coaching, and networking.
Details: Investment Readiness ProgrammeScaling Startups Programme Open Call: Apply by 28 February to provide VC expertise and help mobility startups scale globally.
Details: Scaling Startups Programme
For a full overview, visit the EIT Urban Mobility LinkedIn page: EIT Urban Mobility
2️⃣ EIT Food Seedbed Incubator: Equity-Free Funding for Agrifood Innovators
Do you have a novel tech-based innovation that could transform the food system? The EIT Food Seedbed Incubator offers a 6-month program to validate and launch scalable Agrifood Tech ventures.
Why join?
Up to €10,000 in equity-free funding.
Access to 100+ industry leaders and agrifood specialists.
Entrepreneurial training and 1:1 coaching.
Lifetime membership in the EIT Food community.
Applications close on 21 February.
Details: Seedbed Incubator Programme
3️⃣ Y Combinator: Demystifying the Path to Acceptance
Getting into Y Combinator (YC) isn’t as impossible as it seems. While the acceptance rate is only 1.5%, dedication and preparation can make all the difference.
Key takeaways from Saad Bencherif’s journey with Presti AI:
Be self-sufficient: Build and sell your product yourself.
Fully commit: YC prioritizes founders 100% dedicated to their startups.
Clarity matters: Use simple, concise language in your application.
Reapply often: Multiple attempts increase your chances.
Ready to apply? YC now has four batches per year, so you can start anytime.
Details: Read Saad Bencherif’s article
4️⃣ $3B in Fresh VC Funds Announced in December 2024
Happy New Year—and happy new funds! December saw 29 new VC funds collectively raising $3.03 billion:
Swish Ventures (Israel): $60M for early-stage cybersecurity and AI.
Fly Ventures (Germany): $84M for deeptech and technical founders.
Atlas Venture (USA): $450M for biotech.
Heartcore Capital (Denmark): $178M for early-stage European tech founders.
Trucks VC (USA): $70M for green transportation and climate tech.
For a full list of new funds, check out Julius Kraetschmer’s post: VC Fund Tracker
5️⃣ Forbes' Top 25 Startups Likely to Hit $1B
Forbes has revealed its Top 25 Startups of 2024 likely to achieve unicorn status. Over the past decade, this list has predicted 100+ unicorns, including DoorDash, Figma, and Rippling.
Notable startups from this year’s list include:
Clay: AI-driven CRM automation ($62M raised).
HeyGen: AI for video creation and dubbing ($74M raised).
LangChain: Building LLM-powered apps ($35M raised).
Pinecone: Vector database for AI applications ($138M raised).
AI continues to dominate the unicorn pipeline.
Details: Forbes' Top 25 Startups of 2024
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Let’s continue driving innovation and sustainability together.
Keep innovating,
Jérôme
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