The third and final Open Horizons Open Call is offering up to €55,000 in equity-free funding and the opportunity to collaborate directly with leading corporates. It runs from 2 March to 19 May 17:00 CEST. To help applicants avoid common mistakes seen in previous calls, we’ve prepared this simple and practical guide to eligibility criteria.
If you are a women-led startup working in digital or deep-tech, read carefully before applying.
Carefully reviewing your eligibility and alignment before submission significantly increases your chances of progressing.
This is the final Open Horizons call — don’t miss the opportunity to scale your innovation through corporate collaboration.
Who Can Apply?
Open Horizons supports early-stage, women-led digital and deep-tech startups established in Europe or Horizon Europe Associated country.
To be eligible, your startup must meet all of the criteria below and apply exclusively via online Sploro platform.
Before applying, go through the Guideline for applicants and all Open call #3 related documents available in RESOURCES section of the website.
1. You Must Be Based in an Eligible Country
Your company must be legally established in:
- An EU Member State
or
- A Horizon Europe Associated Country
-
Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Faroe Islands, Georgia, Iceland, Israel, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland, Tunisia, Türkiye, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.
2. You Must Qualify as an SME
Your startup must meet the EU definition of a Small or Medium Enterprise (SME):
- Fewer than 250 employees
- Annual turnover not exceeding €50 million
or
- Annual balance sheet total not exceeding €43 million
- The company must be autonomous (not controlled by a large enterprise)
3. You Must Be an Early-Stage Startup
This is one of the most frequently misunderstood criteria.
Your legal registration in one of the eligible countries must be valid at the time of application.
At the time of submission:
- Your company must be registered for at least 6 months
- Your company must be registered for no more than 6 years
If your startup is younger than 6 months or older than 6 years, it is not eligible. NO exceptions are admissible even if you are not meeting the criteria by one day.
4. You Must Have Raised €1 Million or Less in Equity
Only equity investments exchanged for shares count toward this limit.
What counts as equity?
- Common or preferred shares → counted
- SAFE (if not yet converted) → not counted
- Convertible notes (if not converted) → not counted
- Grants → not counted
- Loans or venture debt → not counted
If your company has raised more than €1 million in equity at the time of submission, you are not eligible.
5. Your Startup Must Be Digital or Deep-Tech
Your solution must clearly fall into one of the following categories:
Deep-Tech Startups
Developing breakthrough technologies based on scientific advances, such as:
- Artificial Intelligence
- Advanced computing
- Robotics
- Advanced materials
- Clean technologies
- Industrial biotechnology
Using off-the-shelf technology without technological innovation does not qualify as deep-tech.
Digital Startups
Leveraging digital technologies as the core of the business model, such as:
- SaaS platforms
- FinTech
- EdTech
- Digital health
- Enterprise software
- Marketplaces
You must select one category in your application.
6. Your Application Must Address a Published Industry Challenge
To apply, you must select one of the corporate/industry challenges published for Open Call #3 and describe how your solution responds to it.
Your proposal should clearly explain:
- Which challenge you are applying to
- What you will develop or validate during the programme
- How your solution contributes meaningfully to the challenge goals
A complete “full-stack” delivery is not required, but your contribution must be concrete and relevant to the selected challenge.
Applications that do not clearly align with one of the published challenges will not progress.
All challenges are described in Guidelines for applicants.
7. Your Startup Must Be Women-Led
Open Horizons supports women in all their diversity.
To qualify:
- The company must be founded or co-founded by a woman
- That woman must currently hold a top management role (CEO, CTO, CSO or equivalent)
- Women must own at least 25% of the company’s shares
All three conditions are mandatory.
8. Additional Conditions
Your startup must:
- Not be bankrupt or in bankruptcy proceedings
- Not have convictions related to fraud or financial misconduct
- Not subcontract core technical work (outsourcing above 15% of the project budget is not allowed)
- Not receive double funding for the same activities
- Failure to meet any of these criteria will result in automatic rejection during the eligibility check.
What Happens After Eligibility?
Passing eligibility does not automatically mean your application moves forward.
After the initial eligibility check, Open Horizons applies an automatic red flags screening to ensure strong alignment with the programme’s objectives.
The following indicators are assessed:
- Does the startup demonstrate the capacity to survive beyond grant funding?
- Is there a strong orientation toward growth and scaling?
- Is the company genuinely interested in attracting investment?
- Is the startup truly digital/deep-tech-focused rather than service-based?
- Only applications that pass this screening move to the full evaluation stage comprising corporate alignment check and external evaluator assessment.
This step helps ensure that selected startups are aligned with the programme’s ambition: corporate collaboration, scalability, and investment readiness.
Common Reasons for Rejection in Previous Calls
Based on previous Open Horizons cohorts, the most common issues were:
- Equity exceeding €1M
- Woman founder not holding a management position
- Women owning less than 25% of shares
- Company older than 6 years or younger than 6 months, even by one day
- Incomplete application documents
- Application not aligned with a specific corporate challenge
- Application not passing the automatic red flags screening
- Startup focused mainly on consultancy/services rather than scalable innovation
Carefully reviewing your eligibility before submission can save significant time and effort.
Ready to Apply?
If your startup meets all the eligibility requirements, you are encouraged to apply and select the corporate challenge that best matches your solution.
If you have any question, please approach Open Call support channel: oh@sploro.eu.
What Do Selected Startups Receive?
- Up to €55,000 equity-free funding
- Direct collaboration with corporate partners
- Structured support during a 6-month programme
- Access to investors and scaling opportunities
Key Dates
Open Call #3 opens on 2 March 2026 and closes on 19 May 2026 at 17:00 CEST (Brussels time)
Late submissions cannot be accepted.