AETHERION Worldwide is the fundraising and landing practice of AETHERION Capital.
Tax credits, loans and EU programmes that fund a company without taking shares: WBSO, the innovation box, regional funds and the EIC.
Europe has a lot of money that does not cost you any of your company. Most of it comes as a tax credit, a loan on soft terms, or a European programme. Nearly all of it asks for a company in Europe first.
These guides explain each source in plain terms: who can use it, what it is worth, and when to apply. Where a scheme treats a foreign-owned company differently, the guide says so. Why this money usually comes before the round is explained in Equity-free money first.
Most of it is not a grant. The Dutch state supports young companies with a tax credit for research work, a lower tax rate on profit from innovation, a risk-bearing loan for development projects, regional investment companies, and European programmes. Almost all of them ask for a company established in the Netherlands first.
Read itWBSO is the Dutch tax credit for research and development: it lowers the payroll tax a company pays for its R&D staff. According to RVO's 2026 rates, the reduction is 36% of the first EUR 391,020 of R&D costs, or 50% for a starter, and 16% of everything above that. The company applies before the work starts.
Read itYes. WBSO does not look at who owns the company. It looks at who employs the people doing the research. A company established in the Netherlands that pays Dutch payroll tax for its research staff can apply, even when the parent company sits in Seoul, Tokyo or Singapore. The research itself has to take place inside the European Union.
Read itAccording to RVO, a company applies online through its application portal, always before the R&D work starts. It can apply until the last day of any month, for a period that starts on the first day of the next month and runs to 31 December. It needs eHerkenning level 3 to log in, and a clear technical description of each project.
Read itA Dutch company with a Chamber of Commerce number, registered as an employer, with the research staff on its own payroll, a business login at the right level, and a technical description of each project. RVO only takes applications for work that has not started yet, so the paperwork has to be in place first.
Read itThe innovation box is a part of Dutch corporate income tax where profit from your own innovation is taxed at a lower rate. According to the Dutch tax office, the effective rate on that profit is 9%. The way in for a smaller company is an R&D declaration from RVO, the same document a WBSO application produces.
Read itThe Innovation Credit is a loan from RVO, not a grant. It pays part of the cost of developing a new product, process or service, and the business portal calls it risk-bearing: you repay it if the development succeeds. The company has to be established in the Netherlands, and the project has to be large enough.
Read itThe one that covers the province where your Dutch company actually sits. The Netherlands has nine regional development companies, known as ROMs, each with its own area. They invest rather than give subsidies, they usually take a minority stake, and they expect your company to be present in their region.
Read itYes, but not as a company registered in Korea, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan or the United States. According to the EIC Work Programme 2026, a company from a non-associated country can send the short proposal from abroad, but it must prove it is established in an EU member state or an associated country when it submits the full proposal.
Read itAccording to the EIC Work Programme 2026, the cut-offs for full proposals are 7 January, 4 March, 6 May, 8 July, 2 September and 4 November 2026. Short proposals can be sent at any time. The EIC does not publish a success rate; calculated from its own figures for the October 2025 cut-off, 6.6% of full proposals were funded.
Read itMost Dutch equity-free funding has no single deadline. WBSO can be applied for up to the last day of any month, and the Innovation Credit is handled in the order applications arrive. The European route is the one with fixed dates: according to the EIC Work Programme, the EIC Accelerator takes full proposals at six cut-offs.
Read itEquity-free funding is money that does not cost you shares in your company. In the Netherlands it usually means a tax credit, a lower tax rate, or a loan from a public body. The provider does not become an owner and has no say in how the company is run.
Read itThey look for the round first. Dutch public money is tied to payroll, profit and a company that already exists, so it rewards decisions taken in the first weeks of a landing. Founders who read about it after the round has closed find that most of the year they could have claimed has already passed.
Read itTen lines about your company is enough for us to tell you what the route looks like.
Want the whole picture first? See the Route