EIT Reports €579M Investment in Startups
The EIT Regional Innovation Scheme's 2025 annual report shows its supported ventures drew sharply higher external funding.
Updated on Nov. 5, 2026 in Startups
EIT has released its EIT Regional Innovation Scheme Annual Activity Report 2025, which shows ventures supported by the scheme attracted €579 million in external investment in 2025. That figure rose 147% from 2024 and came alongside the creation or support of 910 startups and scaleups.
Why it matters
The results indicate growing capital flowing into early-stage ventures in regions the scheme targets, and they add data points to a decade-long effort to build innovation capacity across Europe. Reported figures come from the scheme's own accounting and have not been independently verified in the extraction.
Between 2014 and 2025, the scheme reports attracting €3.81 billion in external investment and supporting 7,410 ventures. The 2025 totals are self-reported, and the extraction does not break them down by country or sector.
The players
European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT)
The EIT is an EU body that funds innovation networks and runs the EIT Regional Innovation Scheme, which publishes this report.
The details
The annual report also cites 71,445 participants in EIT education programmes in 2025 and 1,680 partners contributing to regional innovation ecosystems. Around 400,000 people were upskilled across the scheme between 2014 and 2025, and six new EIT Community Hubs opened in 2025, bringing in 112 new partners.
Timeline
2014: EIT Regional Innovation Scheme launched.
2024: Baseline year for the 147% rise in external investment.
2025: Reporting year covered by the annual activity report, which opened six new Hubs.
Market Landscape
The EIT Regional Innovation Scheme, running since 2014, is the reference point for this update, which adds a 2025 year to its cumulative count of 7,410 supported ventures. The reported jump in 2025 investment marks a departure from earlier years, though the extraction does not give the yearly baseline needed to quantify that shift.
For founders in RIS-eligible regions, the reported growth in external investment suggests more funding options may be available to early-stage ventures. The extraction does not say whether these conditions apply to ventures outside the scheme's eligible countries.
The takeaway
Regional innovation programs can show measurable investment results, but self-reported totals are best read alongside independent data before drawing firm conclusions about ecosystem growth.
Further reading
Explore more coverage in Startups for context on how early-stage ventures raise capital.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Science Business.
