ACCELERATE THE MARKET ENTRY OF DEEP TECH STARTUP

Business Finland evaluates funding applications based on the following criteria:

Origin of the idea and the company
The company was founded to commercialise a business idea based on the latest scientific research, and it has strong intellectual property rights and/or other intellectual property based on this.

Intellectual property 
The company is in control of the intellectual property rights and other intangible rights relevant to the business, and the company has sufficient freedom to operate in the international target markets. Possible agreement on the transfer of rights is valid and the company has the right to the results of its own further development work. The company has the ability to expand its intellectual property and acquire additional protection.

Business 
Value creation, business potential and competitiveness are based on documented and state-of-the-art scientific research. The company's solution has significant international business potential and its competitiveness has been preliminarily demonstrated. The company has independent decision-making power over its business activities and is not a subsidiary. 

Solution
The key research problems have mainly been solved and the functionality of the technology has been verified. The performance and competitiveness of the solution have been preliminarily demonstrated. The solution is not yet a ready-to-sell product or service, and its development through R&D projects is still in progress. The readiness level of the solution must be at a level where it is justified to start commercialisation measures and business development. No business has been carried out with the solution, except for paid pilot projects. 

Team
The team has credible expertise in the development of research-based technology and business. The share of ownership of the full-time founding team and the structure of the company's ownership base must allow for additional investments in the company.

Risk level
A significant risk associated with the technical functionality of the solution and market entry.

Impact and targeted change
The company is aiming for significant and scalable international business. The growth targets are realistic in relation to the planned investments in development and market entry. The funding will have a significant impact on the implementation of the project and the achievement of the goals.

Total financing
The company must have sufficient self-financing in order for the duration of the DTA phase to cover the project costs and all other operations outside the project. The total funding must be secured, the money must be in the account, and the company must not have any open financing terms in other projects. The deadline for securing the total funding is given in the call for applications. In addition, the company must have a carefully prepared financing plan and the prerequisites and willingness to raise investments in the company.

In addition, the following requirements apply to DTA funding

• • Your company must be a limited liability company registered in Finland and belong to the prepayment and employer registers.
  • Your company must have been in operation for less than five years before the funding decision for the first phase is made. Business Finland can only accept the costs of the DTA project until the company is eight years old. If your company is part of a corporation, all companies in the corporation must be under five years old at the time of the funding decision and under eight years before the end of the funding. The age is calculated from the date of registration of the company's Business ID.
  • The size of your company is small: less than 50 employees and annual net sales or balance sheet total is no more than EUR 10 million.
  • At least 10 per cent of your company's total costs have been allocated to research and development in one of the previous three years (for the ended financial year). The company must have at least one full financial year behind it.
  • Your company has not continued the business activities of another company, and the product has not previously been commercialized in another company.
  • Your company has not been established through a merger. Exceptions include a situation in which the merged companies are less than 5 years old.
  • Your company is not listed and it has not distributed profits. Distribution of profit refers to the payment of dividends or assets from an unrestricted equity reserve, or the purchase and redemption of the treasury shares.

The above requirements must be met. The funding granted by Business Finland is discretionary, and decision-making follows the normal evaluation and decision-making process. In addition to the financial situation and the content of the project, the assessment takes into account, for example, the company's resources to implement the project, the share of public funding from the company's previous years, and the implementation of previous projects and the utilisation of their results.

The projects to be funded must meet the basic requirements given in the call for proposals. Fulfilment of the criteria does not necessarily lead to the granting of funding, since other competing applications will be taken into account in the evaluation and, as a whole, the best are selected for funding based on the selection criteria.

Business Finland does not make conditional decisions in connection with the DTA call.

The goal of the funding is to help deep tech startups enter the market faster. The project must be a balanced whole and support the company's strategy and business plan. The content must support the achievement of the goals set for the phase.

DTA funding is divided into three phases. The progress of the company is evaluated at the end of each phase. In the phases, funding can be used, for example, for the following purposes:

• Contacting customers and verifying the suitability of the solution with customers, customer negotiations, acquisition of pilot projects, taking measures to obtain references
• Determining/finding the optimal application of the technology and validating the solution with customers
• Finding the right customer segment and business focus, developing the business, operational sales and marketing
• Strengthening the team with e.g. sales, marketing and business experts
• Ensuring the marketability of the solution
• Planning and acquisition of additional private financing

DTA funding is not intended for product development, and the company may have product development projects alongside it. A DTA project may include a small amount of development work that is necessary to achieve the goals of the DTA phase.

Phase evaluation

• The achievement of the project goals will be evaluated at the end of each DTA funding phase. Achieving the goals is one of the prerequisites for proceeding to the next phase. The goals will be defined together with the company based on its business plan, and they will be registered in the funding decision.

In addition to achieving the goals, the company's financial situation and conditions for rapid growth affect the future funding opportunities.

Ensure that you have adequate funds for self-financing

• Business Finland's funding covers up to 75% of the approved project costs.
• The grant for phases is paid retrospectively on the basis of interim and period reports, so your company must also have other funding to finance its activities.
• In case of loan of DTA Phase 3, an advance of 30% of the loan is available. Other loan installments will be paid on the basis of interim reports and the final report.
• In addition, the company must have a credible financing plan to finance market entry and rapid growth.
• The company must have sufficient self-financing in order for the duration of the DTA phase to cover the project costs and all other operations in the company. The total funding must be secured, the money must be in the account, and the company must not have any open financing terms in other projects. The deadline for securing the total funding is given in the call for applications.
  • The total funding must cover all the company's financing needs during the project, including the self-financing share of the DTA project, the self-financing shares of any other projects, the financing of the company's other operations and sufficient working capital. In DTA, the total funding must always be secured for the current DTA funding phase before the decision is made, and there must be a plan for the total financing for the entire duration of the project.
• Tarkista DTA-rahoituksen omarahoituksen varmistumisen aikaraja hakuilmoituksesta.

Get the following financial matters in order

We cannot grant your company funding if

• our company has not submitted financial statements to the Finnish Patent and Registration Office, or your company's financial statements have not been audited in accordance with the Auditing Act.
• Your company has not submitted an up-to-date statutory notification of beneficial owners to the trade register
• Your company has tax debts for which no payment plan has been agreed with the tax authorities.
• Your company has arrears, payment defaults or other outstanding financial obligations related to previous loans granted by Business Finland
• Your company has already been granted YIC/DTA or Growth Engine startup funding

Read more about the funding terms and conditions

The Funding Terms and Conditions describe the costs for which Business Finland can provide funding, how we monitor your project costs, and how you should report on the progress of your project.

Funding terms and conditions

Please, read also the instructions for the Deep Tech Accelerator projects implementation and reporting

DTA project's implementation and reporting

EBefore submitting your application

Please, read carefully the DTA funding application instructions.

DTA funding is granted on the basis of funding applications. If your company is interested in funding and you are considering applying, discuss with Business Finland your company's suitability for DTA funding. When the call is open, please contact the contact persons mentioned in the call for applications or your account manager as soon as possible.

If the call for application is not yet topical for your company, you can contact your account manager or our customer service.

Contact us

Send your application and its attachments via our online service. You can also keep track of the processing of your application in the online service.

Please note the changes related to applying for funding. As of 18.3.2025, the application template for the selected funding service can only be created by a responsible person of the company registered in the Trade Register who has the right to represent the company alone, or a person who has been granted a Suomi.fi authorization. Go to the Suomi.fi e-Authorizations page, where you can give or request authorization for "Applying for corporate financing". Read more

The Deep Tech Accelerator (DTA) funding application is made on the Young Innovative Company (YIC) application template. See the call for applications for more information.

2025 DTA funding call

Your company must have been in operation for less than 5 years before the funding decision for the first phase is made. Deadlines for applications and age limit are given in the DTA call for applications. Submit the DTA application and its appendices well in advance before the announced application deadline.

Go to the online service

Define objectives for the DTA phase

In the application form, you will be asked to define 2–5 concrete and measurable goals for the phase you are applying for. The goals must be based on the company's business plan and related to the concrete results of the project and the development of your company's business and market launch.

The goals of the DTA phase are recorded in the funding decision, and Business Finland monitors their achievement. Achieving the goals will have a significant impact on the progress of DTA funding and other funding from Business Finland. The goals are discussed together with Business Finland during the processing of the funding application.

Examples of project goals:

• Contacting customers, acquiring pilot customers and launching pilots, paid projects and experiments, etc.
• Concrete cooperation with the necessary partners, cooperation agreements and related negotiations
• Increasing market understanding, selecting customer segments, updated business plan
• Strengthening the team with international business experts, business developers and salespeople
• Intellectual property surveys and registrations
• Identifying, scheduling, and triggering the necessary approvals
• Developing the company's operating processes and quality system to enable market entry
• Acquisition of venture capital investments or other additional external financing

Submit the attachments according to the DTA call for applications and the instructions for filling in the application.

The attachments are:

1. An auditor's report on the company's compliance with the conditions for granting Deep Tech Accelerator (DTA) funding. An auditor’s report on the company’s eligibility for NIY and DTA funding (.docx)
2. Information about your company’s finances
3. Business plan
4. Project plan
5. Company IP Status Form and Technology Transfer Agreements
6. A list of the most important research results or publications (up to five) important to company's business and a brief description of why they are important

In order to make the financing decision, we may also request additional information from your company if necessary.