HAMAG-BICRO Acceleration Programme Grants (Croatia)

HAMAG-BICRO (Croatian Agency for SMEs, Innovations and Investments) was formed in 2014 from the merger of HAMAG INVEST and BICRO. As a government agency, it administers EU and national financial instruments, including funds from Croatia's National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NPOO), and runs a national Acceleration Programme delivered through 9 partner accelerator organisations that provide pre-acceleration and acceleration support to early-stage innovative companies.
In December 2024, HAMAG-BICRO staged what organisers describe as Croatia's largest-ever innovation-project competition, held across three cities — Zagreb, Osijek and Zadar — and judged by an international jury. The top-ranked entrants among Acceleration Programme participants — 51 newly established companies up to five years old — received grant contracts worth up to EUR 25,000 each, totalling nearly EUR 3 million, disbursed in July 2025 under the 'Strengthening Acceleration Activities' measure, out of roughly 120 companies in the wider Acceleration Programme.
This is a single grant cycle rather than a long-run track record: the EUR 3 million and 51-company figures cover only the December 2024-July 2025 round, and none of the available sources report survival rates, follow-on funding or job creation for the companies funded. The scheme's financing also comes from a time-bound EU Recovery and Resilience Facility allocation, so its continuation beyond that funding period is not established.

Read the full analysis: https://hamagbicro.hr/gotovo-3-milijuna-eura-bespovratnih-sredstava-za-inovativna-poduzeca-kroz-program-akceleracije/