Meet cohort #7 of the global DEEP Startup Ecosystem Accelerator
Innovation does not grow in isolation. While the global venture market is flooded with accelerators designed to scale individual companies, these programs often ignore the surrounding environment. For a startup to truly thrive, it needs a mature, interconnected web of investors, academic institutions, corporations, and public policymakers.
Following the conclusion of previous successful programs, DEEPSEA 7 has commenced, continuing the DEEP Startup Ecosystem Accelerator’s work in supporting regional innovation leaders.
What is DEEPSEA?
DEEPSEA (the DEEP Startup Ecosystem Accelerator) is the world’s first global accelerator program designed specifically for the people behind the scenes: ecosystem builders. While traditional accelerators focus on helping individual startups scale, DEEPSEA, which is run by DEEP Ecosystems, accelerates the development of the actual framework conditions for innovation – connecting incubators, regional development agencies, universities, corporates, and public institutions to build stronger local economies.
DEEPSEA mission and vision focus on shifting how the world approaches economic growth and sustainable impact:
DEEPSEA provides these builders with a structured framework, data-driven strategies, and international partnership networks to solve deep, structural bottlenecks in their local markets.
Democratizing innovation around the globe
DEEPSEA envisions a transnational, interconnected future where the conditions to build groundbreaking technologies are not limited to a few centralized tech hubs (like Silicon Valley), but are readily accessible to communities everywhere, driven by local entrepreneurs and supported by sustainable funding.
Meet the DEEPSEA Participants:
The true power of DEEPSEA 7 lies in the diversity of its participants, who are translating the DEEPSEA framework into localized, high-impact solutions across the globe.
GOV4ALL unites communities across the Mediterranean to pioneer a regenerative approach to soil management where people, nature, and land can thrive together. By bringing farmers, researchers, NGOs, and policymakers into dynamic living labs, the initiative co-creates and validates real-world soil solutions directly in the field. These practices are scaled through Rural Regeneration Hubs – which bridge local efforts with EU-level policy and are backed by Collaborative Research to establish the rigorous monitoring protocols needed for long-term regional resilience.
Location: Athen, Greece
Contact: andreas.stefanidis@gmail.com
Portfolio: Link
The Africa Re:Start Climate & Innovation Ecosystem Hub (ARCI-Hub) is a continental platform driving climate innovation, youth entrepreneurship, and sustainable enterprise development. By connecting startups, governments, investors, and academia, the initiative scales solutions in climate-smart agriculture, renewable energy, and the circular economy. Through venture incubation and a regulatory policy sandbox, ARCI-Hub mobilizes green investment and creates jobs, positioning Africa as a leader in climate-resilient transformation.
Location: Nairobi, Kenya
Contact: tobiasnauruki@gmail.com
Portfolio: Link
Deep in the wild heart of the Romanian Carpathians, Cobana is redefining remote work by operating as a bioregional living lab that bridges global innovation with local tradition. Cobana acts as a strategic gateway to Transylvania’s rich, yet underestimated, ecosystem of regenerative agriculture and traditional knowledge. They connect with an active network of practitioners and attract international innovators to contribute to regional challenges, turning local soil into a world-class launchpad for systemic, regenerative solutions.
Location: Zarnesti , Romania
Contact: partners@co-bana.co
Portfolio: Link
Data Immigrant is establishing a pioneering Agrifood and Green Software Ecosystem Hub in Hungary and Central Europe to bridge the trust gap in sustainable food production. By moving the industry past fragmented marketing claims, the initiative builds a shared evidence layer that connects field-rooted agricultural data, label literacy, and digital trust tools with responsible software engineering talent. Through its core platforms, Data Immigrant converts real-world ecological challenges into an open-source talent pipeline, turning environmental accountability into lightweight, sustainable digital infrastructure.
Location: Hungary
Contact: hello@dataimigrant.com
Portfolio: Link
Divasity is a decentralized marketplace that connects global creators directly with investors, backed by an integrated business development ecosystem. By removing traditional geographical barriers, the platform ensures smart capital flows efficiently to promising projects. Combining secure funding infrastructure with growth tools, Divasity empowers entrepreneurs to turn innovative ideas into market-ready realities.
Location: Lagos, Nigeria
Contact: mgt@divasity.com
Portfolio: Link
Enable Good is an European sustainability and impact advisory firm headquartered in Athens, Greece. focuses exclusively on ecosystem building, strategic partnerships, and collaborative public-interest initiatives, including corporate use cases and blended funding. It strictly excludes the technical development, engineering, commercialization, and operation of the core software platform and infrastructure.
Location: Athens, Greece
Contact: e.vasileiadis@enablegood.co
Portfolio: Link
The Ethiopian Youth Entrepreneurs Association (EYEA) empowers young innovators by bridging the gap between change-makers and critical support systems. By fostering a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem through tailored training, access to finance, and networking, EYEA helps youth overcome capital, skills, and policy barriers – transforming job seekers into job creators who will drive Ethiopia’s future prosperity.
Location: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Contact: samiya@eyea.et
Portfolio: Link
Fundraise.VC is a São Paulo-based initiative dismantling structural barriers to early-stage capital for startups. The project targets three key bottlenecks: information asymmetry, high cross-border compliance friction, and exclusive, relationship-dependent investor networks. By uniting stakeholders, including accelerators, universities, and public institutions, Fundraise.vc is building a shared infrastructure to ensure that a startup’s quality of execution, rather than its proximity to informal networks, determines its access to funding.
Location: Sao Paolo, Brazil
Contact: filipe@fundraise.vc
Portfolio: Link
GoodTech by Atelierul de Idei is an innovation agency that helps innovators safely validate and scale digital technologies by turning trust and compliance into a strategic asset. By combining real-world testing with ethical and regulatory validation, they de-risk the integration of AI and deep-tech solutions for founders, SMEs, and ecosystem partners. Ultimately, they bridge the gap between technological breakthrough and market adoption, ensuring that new innovations are both investor-ready and socially trusted.
Location: Iași, Romania
Contact: cristina.baghiu@digital-innovation.zone
Portfolio: Link
Here Partners Venture Studio is building Portugal’s first transatlantic innovation bridge, connecting Iberian startups with European public funding and Silicon Valley venture capital. Operating as a hands-on venture studio ecosystem, they partner with early-stage companies to secure non-dilutive EU grants, extend runway, and validate business models. By uniting founders, research institutions, and international investors under a single coordinated system, they help globally ambitious startups scale rapidly once market traction is proven.
Location: Lisbon, Portugal
Contact: bruno@herepartners.com
Portfolio: Link
Klaipėda FEZ is building a thriving green ecosystem that serves as a live, real-world laboratory for businesses going green. Centered in Lithuania, the project brings together manufacturers, tech startups, and scientists to test clean energy and waste-reduction technologies under actual factory conditions. By sharing resources – like turning waste heat into power – they are creating a simple, working model for a sustainable industrial future.
Location: Klaipeda, Lithuania
Contact: tadas@fez.lt
Portfolio: Link
Klimatic City is building a European ecosystem to fast-track ready-to-use climate and energy solutions for buildings and cities. Inspired by New York’s “The Clean Fight,” the project connects tech scaleups with city leaders, real estate owners, and investors to fund and run real-world pilots. By focusing on practical challenges like eco-friendly materials and energy storage, they clear the path for green technologies to scale rapidly.
Location: Berlin, Germany
Contact: aneri@klimaticgroup.com
Portfolio: Link
Olivestone Retreat AgriFood Living Labs is building a green ecosystem in Greece’s Tzoumerka region to champion regenerative farming and sustainable tourism. Using its olive grove and retreat as a real-world living laboratory, the project brings together travelers, local farmers, scientists, and businesses to co-create eco-friendly agricultural practices and food experiences. By focusing on circular resource use, they are turning sustainable rural development into a working, hands-on model.
Location: Tzoumerka, Greece
Contact: info@olivestoneretreat.eu
Portfolio: Link
Sankofa Lab, a subsidiary of Future Lab, is building an innovation ecosystem in partnership with the Government of Uganda to launch the country’s first Deep Tech Venture Studio. The initiative discovers and scales promising frontier startups specializing in AI, climate tech, and smart agriculture. By providing hands-on incubation for early ideas and acceleration for market-ready products, they guide local innovators from raw concepts to successful commercial launches.
Location: Bugolobi, Uganda
Contact: amukembo@futurelab.africa
Portfolio: Link
TUM Venture Labs is developing an innovation ecosystem for the hospitality industry that connects companies, startups, and research. The platform brings together innovations, pilots solutions, and makes them scalable. The goal is to ensure that technologies are implemented effectively across kitchen, service, and management.
Location: Munich, Germany
Contact: lukas.dillinger@extern.unternehmertum.de
Portfolio: Link
Ukrainian Hub is building a supportive business ecosystem to help displaced Ukrainian entrepreneurs – especially women – launch and scale resilient companies in Spain and Portugal. The initiative provides practical training in business development, AI integration, and circular economy practices. Through tailored bootcamps and mentoring, they help founders overcome local barriers and successfully integrate into the European market.
Location: Portugal and Ukraine
Contact: olesya@ukrainianhub.org
Portfolio: Link
UD Catapult is a newly established technology transfer company of the University of Debrecen focusing on promotion of the university’s scientific and research and development services, IP utilization and commercialization, and helping researchers to bring their innovation to market and to create deep connections with the surrounding emerging industry in the region. Their main initiative is to create the base funding of a properly functioning ecosystem.
Location: Debrecen, Hungary
Contact: jutkusz.lilla@fin.unideb.hu
Portfolio: Link
Inside the 2-Year DEEPSEA Accelerator Program
The 2-year DEEPSEA accelerator helps advanced hubs, universities, and regional agencies design world-class startup programs and secure the funding needed to keep them running independently.
- Mentorship from top hubs: Work side-by-side with facilitators who have built successful ecosystems worldwide.
- Data-driven UVPs: Analyse your local market’s unique strengths to define clear, measurable growth objectives.
- Proven global blueprints: Adopt tested operational models from leading tech hubs like Silicon Valley, Estonia, Munich, and Chile…
- Sustainable business models: Design a sustainable business model to secure the business and long-term vision.
- Accessible funding: Leverage DEEP’s funding monitoring and partner-search tools to identify, apply for, and win major public consortium grants.
Shaping the Future of Regional Growth
Ecosystem building is a marathon, not a sprint, but its structural impact is unmatched. By focusing on the people who connect the dots rather than just individual startups, DEEPSEA 7 is laying the groundwork for resilient, self-sustaining regional economies that can thrive on a global stage. We can’t wait to see the lasting change this cohort will bring – stay tuned as we follow their journey from blueprints to real-world transformation.
Learn more and request an introduction: