Iceberg+ connects deep tech startups with investors across Europe through the DT2 Invest Launchpad
DeepTech for Digital Transformation (DT2) Invest Launchpad was an EU-wide initiative to link AI & Blockchain innovators with investors and foster a community for deep tech funding.
Regional Impact
The project targets three transition regions: Western Macedonia (Greece), Centru (Romania), and Southeastern Bulgaria. These areas face the dual challenge of economic restructuring and fossil fuel phase-out.
COALition strengthens local ecosystems, builds capacity, and helps secure funding, laying the foundation for sustainable growth and job creation in emerging sectors like renewables, hydrogen, and energy efficiency.
Market Context
Coal regions across Europe are under pressure to phase out fossil fuels while preserving economic stability.
Despite their challenges, they also present major opportunities — with estimates of up to 314,000 jobs created through clean energy investments by 2030.
EU policies like the Green Deal, Just Transition Fund, and Hydrogen Strategy support this shift, yet local coordination, strategic planning, and skills development remain key barriers.
Beneficiary
Primary beneficiaries include workers in coal-related industries, regional and local authorities, innovation ecosystem stakeholders, academic institutions, and SMEs in the energy and tech sectors.
Broader beneficiaries include residents of transition regions, future investors, and the extended EU innovation community focused on clean energy and climate neutrality.
Stakeholder Network
COALition is implemented by a diverse consortium of partners from Greece, Romania, and Bulgaria, including public institutions, universities, regional agencies, private companies, and NGOs.
Key members include CERTH (leader), Iceberg Plus, UMFST Târgu Mureș, Sofia University, Mureș County Council, Stara Zagora REDA, and many more.
The Challenge
There was a clear need to reduce the significant funding gap that hindered European deep tech start-ups in artificial intelligence and blockchain. Many promising innovators across Europe – especially in emerging ecosystems – struggled to secure growth capital and connect with investors, impeding their scale-up potential.
The European Commission launched the DT2 Invest (“DeepTech for Digital Transformation”) programme to tackle this issue by mapping the landscape and bringing key players together.
A core challenge was to bridge the divide between advanced tech hubs and less-connected regions, building a dynamic EU-wide investor community for AI and blockchain technologies.
By raising awareness and sharing knowledge about available funding opportunities, the initiative aimed to turn Europe’s research excellence into innovation leadership in these strategic domains.
Beneficiary
Deep tech start-ups and scale-ups in AI and Blockchain across Europe, particularly those in modest or emerging tech ecosystems, seeking access to investors, funding, and support to grow their innovations.
The European investor community, looking for high-potential digital technology ventures, benefited from improved visibility of quality start-ups and a curated deal flow pipeline.
Policy makers and ecosystem builders also gained insights from the project’s reports and tools, helping shape future support measures for digital innovation.
Delivered by
European Commission (DG CNECT) – Initiated and funded the DT2 Invest Launchpad as part of the EU’s Digital Transformation strategy, in collaboration with the European Investment Fund’s objectives to strengthen venture investment.
Consortium of bwcon GmbH (lead), France Digitale, Mind the Bridge, and Iceberg+ (Iceberg Consulting SRL) – Implemented the program as a joint tenderer team across multiple countries.
Iceberg+ played a key role as the consortium’s Eastern European innovation expert. Iceberg+ led the project’s comprehensive mapping of national AI/blockchain investment programs (Task 2), scouting data from 20 countries (including Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Greece, and Lithuania under Iceberg’s purview). It also leveraged its network to organize tailored stakeholder events, bringing together start-ups, investors, and intermediaries to transfer best practices from more developed Western ecosystems to emerging tech communities in Eastern Europe.
The Solution
Over two years, the DT2 Invest Launchpad carried out a series of coordinated activities across Europe’s tech ecosystems.
Awareness-raising workshops and market consultations were at the heart of the program: the consortium hosted eight investment workshops (largely virtual) that convened start-ups, venture capitalists, corporate investors, and public agencies to discuss opportunities in AI and blockchain.
These highly focused events enabled digital innovators to pitch ideas, receive feedback, and forge connections with potential backers in a pan-European setting.
Dozens of high-potential companies were evaluated against growth criteria, resulting in a select portfolio of the most promising deep tech ventures. This portfolio was officially unveiled at the DT2 Invest Final Event, a side-event at Slush 2021 in Helsinki, one of Europe’s premier start-up conferences.
There, the DT2 team organized exclusive pitching sessions for the portfolio start-ups, giving them exposure to a large audience of international investors and innovation leaders. The storytelling approach – from articulating the challenge, engaging stakeholders, to celebrating success stories – made the entire program feel like a collective journey to boost Europe’s tech ecosystem.
The Impact
By its conclusion, the initiative had significantly improved the visibility of emerging AI and blockchain innovators and strengthened links between regional ecosystems and the wider European investment arena.
By the end of 2021, DT2 Invest Launchpad had effectively created a blueprint for bridging innovation gaps: it demonstrated how targeted mapping, community engagement, and curated support can bolster an entire continent’s capacity to bring cutting-edge technologies to market. The storytelling narrative of the program – from identifying the challenge to celebrating the success of startups in the portfolio – showcases Iceberg+’s commitment to ecosystem building and its ability to operate at the intersection of local insight and international opportunity.
This case stands as a success story of how Iceberg+ and its partners helped the European tech community take a decisive step toward a more cohesive and well-funded deep tech startup environment.
The Timeline
July 2020 – December 2021
Implementation of DT2 Invest Launchpad activities (initial research, stakeholder engagement, and deliverables) leading up to the final portfolio showcase at Slush 2021
2022
Follow-up dissemination and use of project outputs continued into 2022.
The
Results
European countries’ AI/Blockchain ecosystems mapped, producing detailed country reports and a comparative analysis of strengths & gaps.
Investment workshops organized (in virtual format) to connect start-ups with investors and gather insights for the community.
Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) developed, providing open-access training on funding instruments for digital innovation stakeholders across Europe.
Curated portfolio of top AI and Blockchain start-ups in Europe created, featuring the most promising deep tech companies and showcased at an international event.
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