The Innovation Fund announces a Public Call for the acceleration program - Katapult

Through the Innovation Fund's Katapult program, startups in Serbia have access to intensive training and tailored mentoring (provided by local and international experts in various fields of technology entrepreneurship and investors), as well as non-repayable financial support for startups that secure a qualified investment during or within 9 months after the acceleration period, up to a maximum of 36 million RSD. This amount is available to startups selected by the Fund as follows:

1. Entry grant in the amount of up to 2.4 million RSD for early-stage startups, or up to 6 million RSD for growth-stage startups. This amount will be made available to startups after signing the acceleration agreement with the Fund.
2. Co-investment grant which is available to startups that secure a qualified investment from business angels, venture capital funds, or other investors acceptable to the Fund. The amount of the co-investment grant is equal to the amount of the qualified investment minus the amount of the Entry grant, up to a maximum of 36 million RSD.

The rules on horizontal state aid for newly established market participants apply to the financial resources provided through the Katapult program, in accordance with the Innovation Fund's Rulebook on State Aid Allocation.
The Fund will consider financing startups from all fields of science and technology and from any industrial sector. However, the Katapult program is aligned with the Smart Specialization Strategy in Serbia, which focuses on four priority domains:

• Food for the future;
• Information and communication technologies (including a special focus on Artificial Intelligence, as provided for by the Strategy for the Development of Artificial Intelligence in the Republic of Serbia for the period 2025-2030);
• Machines and manufacturing processes of the future;
• Creative industries.

At least 50% of the available funds for this public call will be allocated to applications from the aforementioned priority domains, provided there are enough high-quality applications.

The participation of women entrepreneurs in the Katapult program is particularly encouraged.

Eligible applicants for the Katapult program are micro and small enterprises that are majority privately owned (at least 80%), majority-owned (> 50%) by the founding entrepreneurial team, no younger than one year and no older than ten (10) years at the time of application, which have not generated more than 8 million EUR in revenue in any of the previous two years, and which have a significant presence in Serbia.

The complete list of eligibility criteria is available in the Program Manual.

For an application to be considered and evaluated, it must be submitted electronically via the Katapult portal.

Applications will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

1. Team
2. Product/technology
3. Business model
4. Market
5. Capital raising potential

Only applications that meet the above criteria will be considered and potentially recommended for funding. Additional details regarding the application evaluation procedures are available in the Application Evaluation Guidelines.

Detailed documentation regarding the application process is available on the Fund's website.

The deadline for submitting applications is October 13, 2026, at 12:00 PM (midnight).

A company may submit only one application per public call. Incomplete applications, as well as applications not submitted by the deadline, will not be considered.

Apply via the link.

For additional information, please contact us via email: katapult@inovacionifond.rs as well as on the Katapult program website.

Funding for the Katapult program is provided through a joint investment by the Republic of Serbia (from the budget of the Republic of Serbia, allocated to the Ministry of Science, Technological Development and Innovation), a loan and technical support from the World Bank, and non-repayable financial support from the European Union. The program is part of the "Serbia Accelerating Innovation and Growth Entrepreneurship Project," which is dedicated to strengthening innovative entrepreneurship and scientific research.

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