Start strong.
Scale smarter.
We back ambitious founders with a working proof of concept
and the ambition to scale. As both accelerator and fund,
we invest in your startup and coach you to the next round.
Open to founders across Europe
Every country has its own focus and call dates. Find yours and apply when the next call opens.
Country
Type of startups
open calls
12 to 18 months to build a stronger business
Built locally.
Connected across Europe.
By joining imec.istart through your local ecosystem, you tap into a European network of founders, investors, partners and experts. Our proven approach is rooted in countries and connected across borders.
What our founders say
imec.istart gave us much more than funding: it gave us the coaching, the network and the confidence to turn a product idea into a real company.
Stefanie Broes, Co-Founder at Moonbird
What makes imec.istart so valuable is the combination: you get well-grounded advice, but you can also ask the questions you’d never dare to ask another investor.
Frank Baele, COO & technology lead of NextSDS
We entered imec.istart as a pre-revenue idea and left a year later as a real company, with clients, a team, investors and a board. The credibility, the partner network and the hands-on coaching made that leap possible.
Maxime Snick, CEO & co-founder of Octave.energy
imec.istart grew alongside us. From fundraising in the early days to HR and internationalisation as we scaled. Few accelerators care as much about their alumni as they do about their current cohort.
Wietse van Ransbeeck, CEO & co-founder of Go Vocal
We joined imec.istart while still at university. They were the first to believe in us and bet on us, and they’ve since helped with investor introductions and opened up their network.
Wouter Janssen, CEO & co-founder of Tekst
The support of imec.istart has been crucial for our company. Imec.istart invested at a point where we needed seed money and supported us all the way to a successful go-to-market. Our journey would have been much more challenging without their involvement. Also after the imec.istart program, the entire team continues to contribute their wisdom and network.
Jeroen Dille, CEO & co-founder of DEO.care
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Meet the startups we back
Explore the companies we’ve invested in and helped grow.
Ready to start with us?
Take our readiness test to see if your startup fits, or go straight to your application.
