Top funding opportunities for MedTech startups in the Netherlands and Europe

R&D Tax Incentive Netherlands

The “Wet Bevordering Speur- en Ontwikkelingswerk” (WBSO) This can be translated as: “regulation to support R&D work” which means a tax reduction on hours spent on R&D development work. Companies can apply for this tax discount up to 40% per hour which helps 20.000 entrepreneurial companies each year to achieve their goals. For more details on how to submit your project and how much discount you can get please visit the RVO website.

MIT R&D collaboration Fund

Another fund that RVO provides is the MIT R&D collaboration fund, which is split up into small collaborations (subsidy between €50K and €200K) and large collaborations (subsidy between €200K and €350K). For both small and large collaborations, the maximum subsidy is 35% of the total project costs. Costs amongst participants should be balanced out evenly. The project must involve hardware development (TRL4-6) and may also contain software development. Link to website.

Innovation Credit

The RVO also provides The Innovation Credit, a funding of €30 million for Technical and €30 million for Clinical development projects. Eligible technical projects can access up to €10 million per project, while clinical development projects can access up to €5 million. Both are financed to a maximum of 45% of the project, the rest must come from other resources. This fund does not have application rounds or deadlines. You can apply all year round and the fund offers a quick scan checklist that can be filled in to find out whether your project could be a good match. Link to website.

Health Holland PPP Allowance

This allowance is offered by Health Holland and makes a total of €78 million in grant money available per company, without any limits. Top Sector Life Sciences & Health (LSH) supports innovative research and development realized by public-private partnerships (PPPs) of the Dutch LSH sector. The Top Sector brings together stakeholders in a shared, consolidated innovation infrastructure. By means of PPP Allowance, the Top Sector provides a financial instrument to help consortia consisting of research organizations, knowledge institutes, companies, and health foundations to realize their innovative ideas. Visit the website for information on the next funding round.

Cottonwood Dutch Seed Fund

UniiQ – Convertible loan

The UniiQ fund as provided by InnovationQuarter, also called RVO Proof-of-Concept fund, can provide up to €350K investment for projects in the proof-of-concept phase (TRL3-5). The Zuid-Holland focussed fund is a collaboration fund owned by TU Delft, Erasmus MC, Leiden University and Innovation Quarter among others. In total the UniiQ fund contains €50 million which is applied to at least 140 projects per year. Link to website

Innovation Quarter Capital – South-Holland

The regional development fund of the Dutch province South Holland is €143 million in size, providing equity and loan instruments with a range of €250K to €5 million to Life Science, Deep Tech and High-tech ventures in the TRL 6-9 phase. This active investor provides quick scans to best support you in finding the right fund. Not only do they have their own EU powered instruments, but they also have a network of over 250 co-investors and extensive in-house knowledge of expansion and innovation, valuable for every venture located in the region. Link to website

Invest International – early-stage solutions to grow abroad

This impact investor supports Dutch business with finance solutions that want to do business in foreign markets. Solutions from pre-investment support, pre-finance, loans, equity, and feasibility funding. Besides other sectors, within health their focus is on transitions in interventions, patient care and reducing greenhouse gas emissions to ensure a well-functioning healthcare system. Link to website

 ZonMW – Medical Specialistic Care

This subsidy provider, contracted by mainly government, offers 65 different types of subsidies in different themes, like mental health, cardiology, diagnostics, primary care, drug repurposing, physical disabilities, maternity care, future proof, and value driven care. Each subsidy has its own deadline and maximum budgets. For example, the Diagnostics subsidy now focusses on post-COVID treatments, has a maximum of €6 million and runs over 30 months. Link to website

Invest NL – Private Funds

A private investment fund that only makes large investments (starting from €s) in projects that aim to make the Netherlands more sustainable and innovative. One of their six focus areas is: life sciences & health. Within the Health sector, their focus is on prevention of care, replacement of care and re-locating care to a home setting. Companies that have successfully applied for funding are Vitestro, Xeltis, Vicentra and ISA Pharmaceuticals. Link to website.

Nextgen Ventures – ICT in Healthcare

With this fund, Nextgen Ventures is supporting start-ups who want to innovate on ICT within the Healthcare sector and/or Medical Devices. Example themes are use of new (minimally invasive) technology, new medicine and materials and access to data. Minimum or maximum available budget is not specified but can be discussed in consultation with Nextgen Ventures. Link to website

INKEF Investment Fund

INKEF is an early-stage, hands-on investor with the goal to help build companies, not valuations. They believe that true value and sustainable returns can only be created with a long-term strategic vision. This fund invests in two sectors: Healthcare and Technology. Within Healthcare the main focus is on Therapeutics, Digital Health, and Medical Devices. INKEF mostly invests in Seed stage or Series A rounds, but for exceptional companies they may consider stepping in earlier or later. Link to website

NLC – Health Impact Fund

This fund with a target size of €100M provides potential investments of up to €9 million per project. Investments by the Fund must comply with at least one of the following criteria: Happy Patients (improve quality of patient life), Happy Workforce (increase satisfaction and safety for healthcare professionals, reduce work pressure and burden), Happy Society (reduce costs of healthcare, the required workforce needed and the burden on caregivers and patients) or Happy Planet (decrease the environmental footprint of the healthcare system). Does your project fit one of the above criteria, is your invention new and is there enough market potential which you can prove by providing a good business model? Then a collaboration with NLC might be possible. Please check their website for the latest updates and details fill out the form to see if your project could be a match.

Thuja Capital – Personal VC

This personal early-stage venture capital firm invests in product focused companies that aim to have true impact for patients and doctors alike, as demonstrated in clinical studies to enable a health claim. Most of their ventures are active in the field of therapeutics, medical devices, and digital health. Located in the heart of the Netherlands they operate mostly in the Benelux but are serving Europe. Not only do they invest, but they also take an active role in helping companies to become successful, by leveraging an extensive network and bringing their own experience to the table. Link to website

Innovation Industries – Deep Tech Fund

Located in Amsterdam, Innovation Industries manage €850 million in assets. Their team has science and industry experience and provide a hands-on approach to help build companies that change society. One of their focus areas is MedTech, more specifically, robotic devices, preventative and monitoring tools, diagnostic systems, medical equipment, and other solutions contributing to optimizing personalized care pathways. To be considered and selected for investment your tech must be enabling deep tech that unlocks future innovations, be well protected by unique and defendable IP, and address a large market with growth potential. Innovative initiatives spun out of Dutch Universities and research are especially eligible for pre-seed tickets of €250K to €2 million. Learn more about their Techstart program on their website.

Gilde Healthcare – Venture&Growth Fund

Gilde Healthcare is a specialized healthcare investor managing over €2.6 billion across two fund strategies: Venture&Growth and Private Equity. They invest in proven businesses that enable better care at a lower cost. The Venture&Growth fund supports fast growing companies across Europe and North America. A level up is their Private Equity fund, participating in healthcare or service providers and suppliers of medical products. Find out more on their website.

Forbion – Life Science VC

This leading venture capital firm manages €3 billion across nine funds and works closely with scientists, entrepreneurs and academic institutions to bridge research and development. With their expertise in drug development and company building they follow the UN principles for responsible investments, to ensure a positive impact on the health and wellbeing of patients. Their Life Sciences interest lies with cardiovascular, the nervous system, digestive & renal, respiratory, ophthalmic, oncology, autoimmune & inflammation, and rare diseases. If you are developing a new molecule or therapy reach out to them through their website.

This is just a glance on the funds and investors available in the Netherlands. Please also consider Family foundations like Noaber tackling wicked societal problems, Curie Capital that have a risk appetite for high-impact life sciences companies in EU, or Healthy.Capital who invest in digital health solutions that lead the digital revolution.

Horizon Europe

Horizon Europe is the EU’s key funding program for research and innovation. It tackles climate change, helps to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and boosts the EU’s competitiveness and growth. The program facilitates collaboration and strengthens the impact of research and innovation in developing, supporting, and implementing EU policies while tackling global challenges. The current investment period runs from 2021 until 2027 and contains €93.5 billion investment budget. Check out the website for more information and to discover if you can still apply.

EIC Pathfinder

European Innovation Council’s Pathfinder Open is a €142 million funding programme under Horizon Europe, aiming to build on new, cutting-edge directions in science and technology. It provides support for the earliest stages (TRL 1-4) of scientific, technological or deep-tech research and development. You can apply if you are a research team, or a consortium of a minimum of three different independent legal entities established in different countries. The maximum funding available per open project is €3 million. Furthermore, they can provide coaching, mentoring, and networking. Deadline: May 21st, 2025.

Next to the Pathfinder Open Call, which is open to any research area, there is a separate €120 million funding programme for technologies that concern the four specific Pathfinder Challenges:

1. Biotech for Climate Resilient Crops and PlantBased Biomanufacturing
2. Generative-AI based Agents to Revolutionize Medical Diagnosis and Treatment of Cancer
3. Towards autonomous robot collectives delivering collaborative tasks in dynamic unstructured construction environments
4. Waste-to-value devices – circular production of renewable fuels, chemicals and materials

For specific challenges, other rules may apply. The maximum funding per project is €4 million. Deadline: October 25th, 2025. For more information and conditions please visit the website.

EIC Transition

EIC’s Transition funding programme of €98 million is designed for projects with a TRL level of 3-4, and aims to provide support to advance an innovative idea toward commercialization. Single applicants (SMEs, spin-offs, start-ups, research organizations, universities or consortia of max. 5 partners) can apply. Maximum funding is €2.5 million per open project. Deadline: September 17th, 2025. For more info, check the website.

EIC Accelerator

Also under Horizon Europe, The EIC Accelerator aims to scale up the innovative and game changing proposition of spinouts, start-ups and SMEs to create new markets or disrupt existing ones in Europe and beyond. The Accelerator provides non-dilutive grant funding up to €2.5M, aimed at high risk R&D projects (TRL 6-8), supporting breakthrough innovations to reach a commercial scale. The total EIC Accelerator Open budget is €384 million.

The Accelerator Open Call is open to any research area. Next to that, five specific Accelerator Challenges are implemented with a separate budget of €250 million:

1. Acceleration of advanced materials development and upscaling along the value chain
2. Biotechnology driven low emission food production systems
3. GenAI4EU: Creating European Champions in Generative AI
4. Innovative in-space servicing, operations, spacebased robotics and technologies for resilient EU space infrastructure
5. Breakthrough innovations for future mobility

Deadlines for both Accelerator Open Call and Challenges is 12 March 2025. For more information and conditions visit the website.

IEC STEP Scale Up

The investment component of the Accelerator Open Call (previous section) is up to €10 million. For higher amounts, startups, SMEs, small mid-cap, and investors on behalf of eligible companies can apply for the STEP scaleup scheme: offering an investment component up to €30 million, with a special focus on digital and deep tech, clean technology and biotechnology. First come, first served. Link to website.

EUREKA Eurostars

Eurostars is part of the European Partnership on Innovative SMEs. The partnership is co-funded by the European Union through Horizon Europe. Eurostars is a funding instrument that supports innovative SMEs and project partners (large companies, universities, research organizations and other types of organizations) by funding international collaborative R&D and innovation projects. To have a successful Eurostars application you must: Define your project idea, collaborate internationally, share expertise, and develop products, processes or services that can be easily commercialized. Link to website

EUREKA Innowwide

Innowwide is funded by the European Union as part of the European Partnership on Innovative SMEs. If you are an innovative SME, you can apply to Innowwide for a grant of €60K to assess the viability of your research or commercial ambitions in international markets. Please check their website to explore whether this fund could be suitable for your project.

MedTechPartners value centre

The Health~Holland Value Centre is a collaboration of the Top Sector Life Sciences & Health, Lifescience@Work, and the MedtechPartners foundation. They bring together knowledge, expertise and companies, including IDE Group, from the Life Sciences & Health sector. Together, they build a strong consortium surrounding companies to increase the chance of successful business growth. The value voucher is a great example that offers pitchers and alumni a 50% discount over external advice on a maximum of €8K. Find out more here and learn about the vouchers IDE Group offers.

Graduate Entrepreneurs

“Empowering founders through funding and support” is the motto of Graduate Entrepreneurs. From the earliest start of your journey to late growth, they invest in and provide support to founders from the universities of Delft & Rotterdam. Our Rotterdam neighbour’s (Also located in the Groot Handelsgebouw) aim is to help you accelerate through their early-stage fund and their unique expansive network. Graduate invests from €75K to €2 million at the pre-seed, Seed and Series A stage in ambitious founders who have studied at the universities of Delft or Rotterdam. Application for this fund is open all year round. Link to website.

Erasmus Enterprise Start-up vouchers

The Erasmus Enterprise Startup Voucher provides funding and coaching to entrepreneurial students and academics who want to kick-start their own company and cover initial costs for developing innovative ideas, such as building a prototype. It provides general funding for developing innovative ideas into business propositions. To apply for this voucher, you need to be a student at the Erasmus University or a graduated Erasmus University student (maximum 5 years ago). Link to website.

Thematical Technology Transfer

The collaboration between the four technical universities in the Netherlands and research organization TNO brings early-stage ideas to life. Via their funding options, they enable researchers to elevate research ideas, validate and launch them into spinoffs. In this collaboration set-up the aim is to accelerate and improve the launch of startups.

The TTT program consists of two pillars, research planning to spin off a company and recently founded spinoffs. In these specific programs, financially supported by a voucher, the researcher or spin off are guided and supported on their proposition, roadmap, business case and more. Specifically, for pillar two, the support is provided by Innovation Industries, who can offer their knowledge, experience, network and convertible loans to help you become investor ready. Link to website.