Slav Fokin
Founder of Grantalist
Slav Fokin is the founder of Grantalist, a searchable database of EU funding opportunities that tracks Horizon Europe calls, deadlines and budgets.
His articles draw on his own EU grant applications as a startup founder and cover what founders rarely hear upfront: the real cost of applying, how proposals are evaluated, and how to learn from a rejection.
He also leads Grantalist’s case studies, which use the European Commission’s CORDIS project records to show which companies won each Horizon Europe call, how much they received and what they are building.
- EU grants
- Horizon Europe
- EIC Accelerator
- Grant applications
- Startup funding
Articles by Slav Fokin
- Rejection Analysis: Interpreting Feedback and Improving Your Next ApplicationNovember 2, 2025
My first application to the Seeds of Bravery program was rejected. I remember opening the Evaluation Summary Report with a mix of dread and hope—dread because rejection stings no matter how much you tell yourself it's just part of the process, and hope because maybe, just maybe, the feedback would tell me exactly what…
- Impact vs. Innovation: Balancing Your Grant Application NarrativeNovember 2, 2025
I remember the moment my grant application strategy fundamentally shifted. I was on a call with an evaluator who'd agreed to give me feedback after my second rejection from an EIC Accelerator application. She said something that stopped me cold: "Your technology is genuinely innovative. That wasn't the problem. The pro…
- The Hidden Costs of Grant Applications: Time, Resources, and Opportunity CostsNovember 2, 2025
Nobody talks about the grants that didn't happen. You hear the success stories—the startup that landed a million-euro grant and launched their breakthrough product. What you don't hear about are the three months they spent on a failed application six months earlier, or the customer deal they lost because their CEO was…
- My First EU Grant Application: What I Wish I'd KnownNovember 2, 2025
Start early, choose the right call, write for evaluators (not yourself), prove impact with evidence, and treat the budget, risks, and work plan as core parts of your story—not afterthoughts. I applied for my first EU grant because our startup was building high-risk, high-impact technology that VCs considered “…
Case studies
Who won EIC Accelerator Open 2022? 155 companies funded
The European Commission funded 145 projects under the Horizon Europe topic HORIZON-EIC-2022-ACCELERATOROPEN-01, with €337.3M in total EU contribution. 155 private companies from 23 countries took part, and 153 of them are SMEs.
- 155 companies
- €337.3M EU funding
- 23 countries
Who won EIC Accelerator Open 2023? 141 companies funded
The European Commission funded 126 projects under the Horizon Europe topic HORIZON-EIC-2023-ACCELERATOROPEN-01, with €299.7M in total EU contribution. 141 private companies from 23 countries took part, and 140 of them are SMEs.
- 141 companies
- €299.7M EU funding
- 23 countries
Who won Women TechEU 2022? 129 companies funded
The European Commission funded 129 projects under the Horizon Europe topic HORIZON-EIE-2022-SCALEUP-02-02, with €9.7M in total EU contribution. 129 private companies from 26 countries took part, and 106 of them are SMEs.
- 129 companies
- €9.7M EU funding
- 26 countries
Who won Establish the grounds for a common European energy data space 2021? 82 companies funded
The European Commission funded 5 projects under the Horizon Europe topic HORIZON-CL5-2021-D3-01-01, with €38.6M in total EU contribution. 82 private companies from 19 countries took part, and 27 of them are SMEs.
- 82 companies
- €38.6M EU funding
- 19 countries
Who won Boosting innovation through better integration of fragmented health… 2025? 78 companies funded
The European Commission funded 5 projects under the Horizon Europe topic HORIZON-JU-IHI-2025-09-02-single-stage, with €117.2M in total EU contribution. 78 private companies from 23 countries took part, and 25 of them are SMEs.
- 78 companies
- €117.2M EU funding
- 23 countries
Who won System approach to achieve optimised Smart EV Charging and V2G… 2021? 75 companies funded
The European Commission funded 5 projects under the Horizon Europe topic HORIZON-CL5-2021-D5-01-03, with €46.4M in total EU contribution. 75 private companies from 18 countries took part, and 17 of them are SMEs.
- 75 companies
- €46.4M EU funding
- 18 countries
Who won Fast Track Innovation and Uptake U-space and Urban Air Mobility 2022? 72 companies funded
The European Commission funded 5 projects under the Horizon Europe topic HORIZON-SESAR-2022-DES-IR-01-WA4-1, with €32.6M in total EU contribution. 72 private companies from 21 countries took part, and 23 of them are SMEs.
- 72 companies
- €32.6M EU funding
- 21 countries
Who won Piloting emerging Smart IoT Platforms and decentralized intelligence 2024? 70 companies funded
The European Commission funded 2 projects under the Horizon Europe topic HORIZON-CL4-2024-DATA-01-03, with €45.6M in total EU contribution. 70 private companies from 20 countries took part, and 41 of them are SMEs.
- 70 companies
- €45.6M EU funding
- 20 countries
Who won Per- and Poly-fluoroalkyl substance exposure, emissions, and end of… 2025? 69 companies funded
The European Commission funded 1 project under the Horizon Europe topic HORIZON-JU-IHI-2025-10-03-two-stage, with €23.4M in total EU contribution. 69 private companies from 13 countries took part, and 7 of them are SMEs.
- 69 companies
- €23.4M EU funding
- 13 countries
Who won Intelligent & Integrated asset management 2022? 69 companies funded
The European Commission funded 1 project under the Horizon Europe topic HORIZON-ER-JU-2022-FA3-01, with €46.2M in total EU contribution. 69 private companies from 12 countries took part, and 4 of them are SMEs.
- 69 companies
- €46.2M EU funding
- 12 countries
Who won Factory-level and value chain approaches for remanufacturing 2023? 69 companies funded
The European Commission funded 7 projects under the Horizon Europe topic HORIZON-CL4-2023-TWIN-TRANSITION-01-04, with €41.9M in total EU contribution. 69 private companies from 19 countries took part, and 29 of them are SMEs.
- 69 companies
- €41.9M EU funding
- 19 countries
Who won R&D for the next generation of scientific instrumentation, tools and… 2022? 68 companies funded
The European Commission funded 14 projects under the Horizon Europe topic HORIZON-INFRA-2022-TECH-01-01, with €124.5M in total EU contribution. 68 private companies from 17 countries took part, and 40 of them are SMEs.
- 68 companies
- €124.5M EU funding
- 17 countries