UNICOMBINATOR
Real-life market validation
A rigorous test of your business model with real customers on the European market: customer need, market size and willingness to pay, before you raise a euro.
≤5%
Equity, at most. The only thing you pay with.
Deep-tech venture programme · CEE, SEE & Nordics
No cash. A little equity. A whole team on your side.
For up to 5% equity, deep-tech founders get experienced, hands-on people working with them for 8–18 months: validation, IP and Freedom to Operate, grant writing and facilitation, real customers, financial management, and the whole UNICO network.
powered by 
€0
Cash from you. No invoices, no retainer checks.
~€50K
Value of services delivered per company.
8–18 mo.
Full build cycle, not a 3-month sprint.
What you get
Instant access to the work that gets you funded
You don't get a curriculum or a demo day. You get specialists who do the work with you, from day one. Terms are agreed up front, before any work begins.
Freedom to Operate (FTO)
FTO analysis so you know your technology can go to market without infringing anyone else's patents.
IP advisory
UNICO connects your IP with your business: which rights to protect, where, and how they build value investors pay for.
Financial management & fractional CFO
Deep-tech spin-offs more often fail on numbers than on technology. Hands-on financial leadership without a full-time hire: financial model, cash planning and valuation that hold up in front of investors.
VC fundraising
Pitching bootcamp, data room built, and warm introductions to our international network of deep-tech VCs, angels and family offices.
The UNICO network
400+ trusted business partners, researchers, industry experts and investors across 10 European countries.
Visit UNICO →Partner services
Delivered by our partner companies, included for the same equity.
Grant support
Competitive public money secured by our grant agency, with successes in EIC, Horizon Europe and DIANA, as well as national and regional programmes.
Visit GrantLab →Patents & IP protection
Patent attorneys who file your patents, trademarks and designs, and handle complex IP matters including litigation.
Visit PatentEnter →Hardware & industrial design
If your product has a physical component, the Labstery creative hub with industrial designer Jakub Stedina helps turn your prototype into a product.
Visit Stedina design →
Public funding
Stretch your equity with public money
Every UNICOMBINATOR company gets direct access to GrantLab, our professional grant agency, to help crowd in public, non-dilutive capital.
- Finding the right call: EIC Pre-Accelerator, Transition and Accelerator, Horizon Europe, DIANA, national and regional schemes
- Proposal strategy and writing, built on the validation and financials we do together
- Project administration and reporting after you win
GrantLab
Part of the UNICO group. GrantLab connects public funding with what innovation needs to succeed, and has helped deep-tech teams win competitive EIC, Horizon Europe, NATO and many other grants.
EIC Pre-Accelerator
EIC Transition
EIC Accelerator
Horizon Europe
NATO DIANA
National grants
UNICO
Defines your business edge: the market, the customers and the model.
GrantLab
Brings the public funding to build the technology that delivers it.
PatentEnter
1 in 7Czech patents pass through their hands
100+Countries with filing experience
~40IP professionals, incl. European Patent Attorneys
15+ yrsOffices in Brno, Prague and Liberec
UNICO
Connects your IP with your business: what to protect, where, and why it matters to investors.
PatentEnter
Files, prosecutes and defends it, as your patent attorneys.
Patents & IP protection
Patent attorneys on your side, from first filing to court
Every UNICOMBINATOR company gets access to PatentEnter, a leading Czech patent attorney firm, for the same equity. When your IP needs to be filed, extended abroad or defended, they do it.
- Patent and utility model filing, in Czechia, at the EPO and worldwide
- Trademarks and industrial designs
- Complex IP matters, including disputes and litigation
For hardware founders
Labstery creative hub: your product, designed to be made
If there's a hardware component, you also get the support of the Labstery creative hub with renowned industrial designer Jakub Stedina. From lab prototype to a product people want to hold and a factory can build.
Stedina's Prague studio has designed for Škoda, Pilsner Urquell, BTL, Danfoss and Kuberg.
Visit Stedina design →200+Design projects delivered
100,000+Products manufactured
Red DotDesign awards 2020 and 2021
10 yrsIndustrial design studio in Prague
How it works
Apply now
Three phases, from first conversation to closed round
1
Assess
We run a rigorous Investment Readiness Assessment of your business case, IP position and market readiness. It is a selection, not a formality: most applicants are not chosen.
2
Build
8–18 months of hands-on work: validation, FTO, grants, fractional CFO. Focused on what actually moves your fundraise.
3
Fund
We open our VC network and public funding programmes to help you close the round.
We don't have to choose you, and most likely we won't.
Selection is very competitive. We only take on deep-tech spin-offs we believe can win, because we're paid in equity and only succeed when you do. Teams that have already raised their first public or private money have an edge.
Why it's different
The pattern, and the exception
We benchmarked UNICOMBINATOR against 17 of the most-cited deep-tech accelerators and incubators worldwide.
What nearly every programme does
- Cash-for-equity investment
- Anchored to one university or one country
- 3–6 month cohort sprint to a demo day
- Generalist or broad early-stage focus
- Equity taken up front, win or lose
What UNICOMBINATOR does
- Equity for services, no cash
- 9 CEE & Nordic countries, one network
- 8–18 month full build cycle
- Deep-tech spin-offs only, carefully selected
- Delivered work: grant proposal, validation with real customers, FTO and IP advisory, patent filing, fractional CFO on board
Track record
Closest to UNICOMBINATOR
Co-founded · Exited
UNICOMBINATOR is new. The work behind it is not.
We have co-founded deep-tech companies ourselves, and delivered the same services to many more. In every case the result was a company worth more than before.
Companies we co-founded
We sat on the founder's side of the table.
PSP Technologies
Czechia · Plasma shock peening
We spun the company off from the Czech Academy of Sciences, negotiated the licence agreement and found the CEO. PatentEnter secured global patent protection. We still sit on the board.
Visit PSP Technologies →Senzomatic
Czechia
We co-founded the company, spun it off from the Czech Technical University, negotiated the licence agreement, shaped the IP strategy and helped find the first investor. Exited.
Visit Senzomatic →Companies we helped with our services
The same hands-on services UNICOMBINATOR delivers today.
Secured and stronger IP
University spin-offs
Public funding
Investment
Higher valuation, in every case
Lightly Technologies
Czechia
Secured public funding, business validation and regulatory analysis. We helped negotiate the licence agreement, valued the IP and supported the fundraising.
Visit Lightly Technologies →VirusHunter Ongoing
Croatia
Business validation and market analysis. With GrantLab we applied to the EIC Pre-Accelerator: Seal of Excellence and full funding from the Croatian DIGIT grant scheme.
Luxyon
Croatia
Market analysis and business validation. We helped find investors in Czechia.
Visit Luxyon →Weavair Ongoing
Poland
Investor readiness and preparation for investment, EIC Accelerator and Horizon Europe project with GrantLab, and FTO analysis.
Visit Weavair →Mewery
Slovenia
We helped find investors in Slovenia, assisted with finances and helped manage public funding.
Visit Mewery →ABCDx
Switzerland
Investor readiness and company valuation for the Series A round.
Visit ABCDx →
3
We also learned from our mistakes
Three companies we co-founded had to close. Each one taught us what kills a deep-tech spin-off, and those lessons shape how hard we select and what we insist on from day one.
Powered by UNICO
Born in academia, built for impact
UNICO works at the intersection of deep tech, innovation and commercialisation. Since 2017 we have launched university spin-offs, refined business models through market validation, and matched academic potential with industry needs.
Reliability, perspective, brutal honesty and precise data. No bullshit.
€15M+Brought to universities
400+Trusted business partners
13Market-ready deep-tech startups
€13MSaved for companies
Prague headquarters · Zagreb Adria Hub · active in Poland, Latvia, Slovakia, Austria, Slovenia, Switzerland, Norway and Serbia
For investors
Request the LP deck
Back the spin-offs before anyone else sees them
UNICOMBINATOR works with pre-seed and angel investors in deep tech. Because companies pay us in equity, our incentives sit on the same side of the table as yours. We have co-founded deep-tech companies ourselves, including PSP Technologies and Senzomatic.
Early deal access
Shares in the most promising deep-tech spin-offs, at the earliest and most attractive valuations.
Rigorous selection
Every company passes an Investment Readiness Assessment before we commit 8–18 months of work.
Aligned incentives
UNICO's reward is success-based, similar to carried interest. We win when you win.
Diversification
A growing portfolio across Central & Eastern Europe and the Nordics, spanning multiple sectors and countries.
Apply
Building deep tech out of a lab? Talk to us.
Send us a short intro and your pitch deck. We'll come back with next steps for the Investment Readiness Assessment.
- Deep-tech spin-off or startup, pre-seed or seed
- Based in or expanding into Central, Eastern or Northern Europe
- Ready to give up to 5% equity for 8–18 months of hands-on work
General