Three startups from the Nuqleus portfolio: TINFE, BioDetect Solutions and Green Energy Pal, have received the Seal of Excellence certificate through the Synergies programme with a total value of €1.35 million, recognising the quality and potential of their innovation projects at the European level.
The Seal of Excellence is awarded to high-quality projects that meet the demanding evaluation criteria of Horizon Europe but are not funded due to limited available budgets. This is where the DIGIT Project comes in, providing additional funding for Croatian projects that received the Seal of Excellence under the European Research Council Proof of Concept (ERC PoC), Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowships (MSCA PF) and European Innovation Council Pre-Accelerator – Widening (EIC Pre-Accelerator) calls.
The DIGIT.2.2.01 call aims to bridge the funding gap between projects recognised for excellence at the European level and their further development. In doing so, it supports research, development and innovation initiatives contributing to Croatia’s digital, green and innovation goals.
The call is funded through the DIGIT Project and is managed by the Ministry of Science, Education and Youth. A total of more than €6.3 million in grant funding is available under the call.
Through this mechanism, TINFE, BioDetect Solutions and Green Energy Pal have been able to build on the European recognition of their projects and continue developing their technologies with concrete funding.
TINFE: From scientific idea to a funded development roadmap
TINFE received the Seal of Excellence as part of the highly competitive EIC Pre-Accelerator, followed by funding through the DIGIT programme.
For the team, this is another step in a journey that started with turning a scientific idea into a company. As Davor Šakić from TINFE explains, Nuqleus helped the team make that transition, moving beyond the question of whether the technology works to asking who needs it, how it creates value and how to build a business around it.
“Two years ago, Nuqleus helped shape TINFE from a scientific idea into a company, pushing us to think beyond whether the technology works and start asking who needs it, how we create value, and how we build a business around it. That foundation has translated into tangible progress: in 2026, TINFE received the Seal of Excellence for the EIC Pre-Accelerator, followed by funding through the DIGIT project, giving us the resources and confidence to accelerate development and market validation.”
With a total project value of approximately €500.000, of which €350.000 is grant funding received through the DIGIT project, the funding enables TINFE to continue product development, validate the technology with customers, build pilots and prepare for international growth. The five-person team now has a two-year financial runway, allowing them to focus on product development and market validation.
“In many ways, this is the company that Nuqleus challenged us to imagine two years ago; only now it is no longer a plan on a slide, but a team, a funded roadmap, and a business being built.”
BioDetect Solutions: One step closer to a clinically validated prototype
BioDetect Solutions received the Pre-EIC Seal of Excellence for VirusHunter (VH) – One Test for Any Virus, which subsequently received funding through the DIGIT programme.
The VirusHunter technology aims to enable virus detection through a single test. The new funding will allow the team to move the technology from the proof-of-concept stage towards a clinically validated prototype.
As Dragomira Majhen and Andreja Ambriović from BioDetect Solutions explain, the funding is an important confirmation of the technology’s scientific and market potential:
“Funding for the VirusHunter (VH) – One Test for Any Virus project within the Digital, Innovative and Green Technologies (DIGIT) programme, following BioDetect Solutions receiving the Pre-EIC Seal of Excellence, represents an important confirmation of the scientific and market potential of the VirusHunter technology. This funding will enable us to move VirusHunter from the proof-of-concept stage towards a clinically validated prototype and take an important step towards its real-world application.”
For deep-tech projects, this transition, from a proven technology towards a validated product and real-world application, is one of the critical steps on the path to market.
Green Energy Pal: Bringing AI into smarter energy management
Green Energy Pal, received the Seal of Excellence for ENAI also as part of the highly competitive EIC Pre-Accelerator, a project focused on integrating artificial intelligence into its Enpulse energy management platform.
According to Ivan Sudić, ENAI is one of the first projects of its kind in the EU. The Seal of Excellence therefore represents an important confirmation that the company’s approach is keeping pace with leading innovations at the European level.
“Above all, it means a great deal to us to receive confirmation from such an institution that our innovations are moving in the right direction and that we are keeping pace with the best innovations at the EU level. The ENAI project focuses on integrating artificial intelligence into our Enpulse energy management platform, and it is one of the first projects of its kind in the EU.”
Through DIGIT funding, Green Energy Pal will be able to continue product development over the next two years.
“DIGIT has enabled us to capitalise on this recognition by financing further product development over the next two years. Without DIGIT funding, such innovative development would have been significantly slowed down, perhaps even brought to a halt.”
From recognition to real-world development
For TINFE, BioDetect Solutions and Green Energy Pal, receiving the Seal of Excellence confirms that their projects have met high European evaluation standards. But for deep-tech companies, recognition is only one part of the journey. Having the resources to turn that recognition into further technological development is equally important.
This is where programmes like Synergies and DIGIT can play an important role in the deep-tech ecosystem: enabling high-quality projects that were not funded through Horizon Europe to continue their journey towards validation, market entry and scale.
For Nuqleus, these results also reinforce the approach behind our work: helping scientific ideas become technologies, technologies become products, and products become companies.
Congratulations to TINFE, BioDetect Solutions and Green Energy Pal on this important milestone. We look forward to seeing what comes next.
Details about the programme are available via this link, and the full list of signed contracts is available here.
