Insights
White Papers
Ecosystem Radararticle
EnduroSat and Check Point Care join the EIC Scaling Club
The European Innovation Council added 72 companies to the EIC Scaling Club on 21 October 2024, including Bulgaria's EnduroSat and Check Point Care. For French Tech Sofia, the selection highlights Bulgaria's growing deep-tech visibility and its connection to European and French innovation partners such as Bpifrance and Hello Tomorrow.
Two Bulgarian companies entered one of Europe’s most visible deep-tech growth programmes in October 2024. EnduroSat and Check Point Care were selected for the new EIC Scaling Club cohort announced at the Scale 100 Forum in Athens, placing both companies inside a network designed to help ambitious science and technology businesses grow across Europe.
For French Tech Sofia, the signal reaches well beyond a cohort update. It highlights the growing maturity of Bulgaria’s deep-tech pipeline and connects that momentum to a European support structure delivered with partners including Bpifrance and Hello Tomorrow. In practical terms, it brings Bulgarian companies closer to the investors, operators and institutions shaping the next stage of Europe’s innovation economy.
- Table of Content
- What changed at the Scale 100 Forum in Athens
- EnduroSat and Check Point Care in the 2024 cohort
- How the EIC Scaling Club supports European deep tech
- Why the Trusted Investor Network matters alongside the cohort
- What founders, investors and ecosystem builders can take from this
- What this signals for Sofia and Bulgaria
What changed at the Scale 100 Forum in Athens
On 21 October 2024, the European Innovation Council and the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency announced 72 new companies for the EIC Scaling Club. The announcement was made during the Scale 100 Forum in Athens, a gathering built around the question every deep-tech ecosystem faces: how promising companies move from technical strength to large-scale growth.
At the time of the announcement, the EIC Scaling Club brought together more than 120 deep-tech companies and set a clear ambition to help 20% of its members reach unicorn status over time. That framing matters because it places the programme in the scale-up phase of the European innovation journey, where market access, investor readiness and international connections become decisive.
- Programme: EIC Scaling Club
- Announcement date: 21 October 2024
- Location: Athens
- Bulgarian companies selected: EnduroSat and Check Point Care
- Related launch: EIC Trusted Investor Network
EnduroSat and Check Point Care in the 2024 cohort
For Bulgaria, the selection of EnduroSat and Check Point Care is a meaningful marker. Entry into a European programme like this brings together three forms of value: visibility, access and peer context. Visibility matters because deep-tech companies grow faster when credibility travels across borders. Access matters because scale-up progress often depends on timely introductions to investors, corporates and specialist advisers. Peer context matters because companies sharpen their strategy when they are surrounded by others solving equally complex technical and commercial challenges.
EnduroSat already carries strong relevance for the Bulgarian tech ecosystem through its international deep-tech profile. Check Point Care adds a second Bulgarian presence in the same cohort, giving the country broader representation in a programme focused on companies with both technical substance and growth ambition.
When two Bulgarian companies enter a European scaling network at the same time, the signal points to ecosystem depth.
How the EIC Scaling Club supports European deep tech
The EIC Scaling Club sits inside the wider European Innovation Council ecosystem and focuses on companies that already show traction and a credible path to expansion. Its value comes from concentration: curated connections, scaling expertise, market access opportunities and a structured environment for growth-stage decision-making.
The programme’s delivery model also matters. The EIC Scaling Club is run with partners including Bpifrance and Hello Tomorrow, which gives the story a clear France-Bulgaria relevance for French Tech Sofia’s audience. It shows how a Bulgarian company can move through a European pathway that also connects with French institutions and networks active in innovation finance, entrepreneurship support and deep-tech community building.
Why the Trusted Investor Network matters alongside the cohort
The Athens announcement also included the launch of the EIC Trusted Investor Network. That addition gives the event extra weight because deep-tech growth is built through a combination of product development, capital access and investor understanding. A network designed around trusted investors can help promising companies meet backers who are prepared for longer horizons and technically demanding businesses.
Seen together, the new cohort and the investor network point to a more connected European scaling model. One part identifies and convenes promising companies. Another strengthens access to the investment community around them. For founders in Sofia and across Bulgaria, that combination is worth following closely.
What founders, investors and ecosystem builders can take from this
- Founders: European programmes continue to reward companies that combine technical depth with a credible scale-up path.
- Investors: Bulgaria is producing companies that fit European deep-tech pipelines and attract attention in pan-European support structures.
- Operators and institutions: Cross-border partnerships are becoming part of the operating system for scale-up support.
- Ecosystem partners: EIC-linked programmes create useful touchpoints between Bulgaria, France and the broader European market.
What this signals for Sofia and Bulgaria
Sofia’s technology scene has spent years building credibility across software, product development and research-driven entrepreneurship. Deep-tech scaling raises that trajectory further by asking companies to translate complex technology into long-cycle commercial growth. The presence of EnduroSat and Check Point Care in the EIC Scaling Club shows that Bulgarian companies are increasingly visible in that European conversation.
For French Tech Sofia, this is the kind of development worth tracking over time. It connects a Bulgarian growth story with European institutions and French ecosystem partners in a way that feels concrete and useful. It also creates a strong reference point for future collaboration between founders, investors, public actors and innovation organisations working across Bulgaria, France and the wider EU.
This article was published on October 23, 2024 and last updated on May 03, 2026.
Contributors
Sources
[1] EU launches ‘Trusted Investor Network’ (siliconcanals.com)[2] 72 new companies join the EIC Scaling Club, which aims to turn 20% of its members into unicorns (tech.eu)[3] 72 new companies join the EIC Scaling Club which aims to turn 20% of its members into unicorns (eic.ec.europa.eu)[4] Two Bulgarian companies joined an exclusive club of the European Innovation Council (www.economic.bg)
Related entities
They are mentioned in this article:
Check Point Care
Addressing preventable deaths globally by bringing extensive clinical data in a decision support tool, for early deterioration detection and prevention, with no time or location restriction.
EnduroSat
EnduroSat is on a mission to transform the complex satellite industry into a streamlined data service, enabling instant access and transactions with space data from hundreds of sensors in orbit.