EU Funding for Startups and SMEs in 2026

NGI Open Calls: Funding for Open-Source and Internet Startups (2026–2027)

TL;DR: NGI open call funding has moved house. The Next Generation Internet's big NLnet funds (NGI Zero Commons Fund, NGI TALER, NGI Fediversity) ran their final calls in 2026, and the money now flows through the new Open Internet Stack programmes. Two calls are open today: Restack (€7 million until 2030) and CodeSupply (€400,000 for open calls). Both pay €5,000 to €50,000 for a first grant, both close on 3 November 2026 at 12:00 CET, and you don't need a company to apply. Below: the deadline calendar, a scored fit worksheet, a milestone budget template and a worked founder example.
NGI open calls are the friendliest EU money an open-source founder can find: a short web form, no partners, no co-funding and grants paid as a donation against milestones you set yourself. The catch is the licence. Everything you build with the grant must be released as free and open source software or open hardware.
This guide replaces our three old posts about the 2025 NGI Zero Commons Fund, NGI TALER and NGI Fediversity calls, which have all closed. The facts below come from NLnet Foundation (which runs the funds), the Commission's Next Generation Internet initiative site and the NGI TALER project site, checked in October 2026.

What NGI is and what changed in 2026

The Next Generation Internet (NGI) is a European Commission initiative launched on 16 March 2016 to "re-engineer" the internet around open, privacy-friendly building blocks. It doesn't fund startups directly. It funds consortia, which pass the money on to developers, researchers and small companies through open calls. That is cascade funding; our guide cascade funding explained covers the mechanism.
NLnet Foundation in the Netherlands ran most of these calls. According to its own stocktaking, almost 8,500 applications across five NGI Zero programmes led to 1,215 funded projects, plus 215 more from adjacent NGI programmes.
2026 was the year of the handover:
  • 12 June 2026: NLnet paused its open calls to evaluate NGI Zero, keeping only NGI TALER and NGI Fediversity open.
  • 1 June 2026: the 13th and final NGI Zero Commons Fund call closed. The fund (€21.6 million) keeps paying existing projects until 30 June 2027.
  • 1 August 2026: the 12th and final NGI Fediversity call closed.
  • 3 September 2026: NLnet reopened under the new Open Internet Stack umbrella with two programmes, Restack and CodeSupply.
  • 1 October 2026: the 15th and last NGI TALER call closed.
So when people search for an "NGI open call" today, the live answer is Restack or CodeSupply. A third pilot, ELFA (encrypted local-first apps), has no open call: NLnet withdrew from that consortium in August 2026 and its calls are postponed until further notice. NLnet expects more Open Internet Stack programmes to start at the end of 2026.

Open calls right now: Restack and CodeSupply

RestackCodeSupply
FocusAny layer of the open internet stack: core infrastructure, open alternatives to closed platforms, devices, security, reproducibility, standardsSoftware supply chain security: metadata on origin, licences, vulnerabilities and quality, published as open data
Budget for grants€7 million, 2026–2030€400,000 for open calls
First grant€5,000–€50,000€5,000–€50,000
Run byNLnet-led consortium (with FSFE, OW2, NixOS Foundation, GÉANT and others)AboutCode, Edsger Institute, NLnet (coordinator) and Universidad Rey Juan Carlos
Deadline3 November 2026, 12:00 CET3 November 2026, 12:00 CET
Who can applyAnyone: individuals, informal collectives, non-profits, universities, public bodies, SMEsSame
Restack also offers free help on top of the money: accessibility scans, security audits, reproducible packaging, licence compliance and standardisation support.
Scope warning for AI startups: Restack excludes AI projects, unless the AI is already used by more than a million active human users and is directly relevant to the stack.

NGI deadline calendar 2026–2027

NLnet moved its deadlines in August 2026 "to the third day of every odd month", always at 12:00 (noon) Brussels time.
DateWhat happensStatus
1 June 2026NGI Zero Commons Fund, final callClosed
1 August 2026NGI Fediversity, final callClosed
1 October 2026NGI TALER, final callClosed
3 November 2026Restack and CodeSupply, first callsOpen
3 January 2027Next odd-month deadline under NLnet's ruleExpected, not yet announced
3 March 2027Following odd-month deadlineExpected, not yet announced
The 2027 dates follow from NLnet's published rule; no call has been announced for them yet. Restack's guide expects its budget to be fully allocated around early 2027, so don't plan on many more Restack rounds. Decisions take three to five months, counted from the deadline.

How to apply, step by step

There are no attachments and no page count. You fill in one web form on the NLnet site and pick the fund. NLnet says a proposal should take less than an hour, which is true once you know your plan.
  1. Pick the fund (Restack, CodeSupply or the general open call) and check the scope.
  2. Write the form. Character limits keep it short: 1,000 for the summary, 4,000 for the budget breakdown, 4,000 for comparison with other efforts, 4,000 for technical challenges, 2,000 for the ecosystem, 2,000 for your experience.
  3. Stage 1 scoring. After an eligibility check (English, research and development as the main aim, a European dimension), reviewers score technical excellence (30%), relevance and impact (40%) and value for money (30%). You need above 5.0 out of 7 to continue.
  4. Stage 2 questions. Reviewers ask clarifying questions and may add or cut milestones, which changes the budget. Then they rank and cut off at the remaining budget.
  5. Independent check and MoU. A review committee validates each selected project, and you sign a memorandum of understanding that fixes the final amount.
New AI rule, effective 20 October 2026: NLnet's generative AI policy (version 2.0) bans using generative AI to write proposals, with an exception for accessibility needs. During development, LLM use is limited to "read-only" usage. It applies to the 3 November calls. If you already submitted with AI help, you can resubmit before the deadline.

How the money works

  • You need no company. You can apply as an individual or as any formal or informal organisation, and each person in the project can be paid directly.
  • Nothing is paid up front. You split the project into milestones, give each one an amount, and send a request for payment when you reach it.
  • It's a donation. Grants come as a donation from NLnet, a recognised public benefit organisation. How it is taxed depends on your country, so ask your local tax authority.
  • Size limits. A first proposal can ask up to €50,000. Larger follow-ups (up to €150,000 per proposal) need a completed earlier project in Restack or an NGI programme. One applicant can receive at most €500,000 over Restack's lifetime. Projects above €50,000 may get a security audit, and part of the payment can depend on it.
  • What it covers. Development, research, security audits, documentation, usability, packaging, standards work (including standards-body fees) and travel to events such as IETF or FOSDEM. Work done before selection is not covered. Overheads are generally not eligible.
  • European dimension. The simplest way to meet it: team members from Horizon Europe-eligible countries receive at least 60% of the funds.
  • Timeline. Projects are expected to finish within 12 months.

Scored fit worksheet: is an NGI-style grant right for your startup?

Score each line 0 (no), 1 (partly) or 2 (yes).
#QuestionScore
1The part you want funded can be released under a recognised open source licence
2It is core technology (protocol, library, infrastructure, security tool), not marketing or sales
3Other people would use it even if your startup disappeared
4You can split the work into 3–6 milestones with clear deliverables
5€5,000–€50,000 is enough for a meaningful 6–12 month step
6Most of the team lives in a Horizon Europe-eligible country
7You can cover costs until the first milestone is paid
8Your business model still works when the code is open (services, hosting, support, open core)
13–16: apply on the next deadline. 8–12: fix the weak lines first, often by carving out a smaller open component. Below 8: look at the EU funding readiness checklist and other routes such as the EIC.

A copyable milestone budget template

The budget breakdown is where reviewers judge value for money. Use your real rates and keep each milestone testable.
Project: [name] — [one-line goal]
Requested amount: €[total] | Duration: [n] months | Rate: €[x]/hour, [n] people

Milestone 1 — [e.g. protocol spec and test suite]           €[amount]
  Deliverable: [public repo tag, spec document, CI tests passing]
Milestone 2 — [e.g. reference implementation, core features] €[amount]
  Deliverable: [release v0.x under (licence), docs]
Milestone 3 — [e.g. security review fixes, packaging]       €[amount]
  Deliverable: [packages for (distros), audit issues closed]
Milestone 4 — [e.g. documentation, upstreaming, standards]  €[amount]
  Deliverable: [user guide, merged upstream PRs, draft submitted to (body)]

Other funding: [none / amounts and sources]
Comparison: [existing projects and why yours is different]
Ecosystem: [who will use it, which communities you will engage]

A worked founder example

Picture a two-person startup in Lisbon building an open-source, self-hosted file-sync server, with paid hosting and support as the business model. Their score on the worksheet is 14.
They apply to Restack before 3 November 2026 for €42,000 over ten months: €12,000 for end-to-end encryption in the sync protocol, €14,000 for a reproducible build and Debian package, €9,000 for fixes after Restack's free security audit, and €7,000 for documentation and a talk at FOSDEM. Both founders write the form themselves, without AI tools, in English.
In stage 2 the reviewers ask how the protocol compares with existing sync tools, and suggest dropping the talk. The final MoU lands at €38,000 with four milestones. The startup pays its own bills until milestone one is done, then sends the first request for payment. The open server attracts contributors; the paid hosting stays theirs.

Who should apply and who can skip it

Apply if you build open-source infrastructure, protocols, privacy or security tools, or open alternatives to closed platforms, and you are happy to release the funded work under an open licence. Solo developers and pre-incorporation teams qualify; NGI-style grants are one of the few EU routes that don't need a registered company.
Skip it if your product is closed source, your innovation is an AI model outside the stack, you need money for sales and hiring, or you need more than €50,000 in one go. Look at European funds for startups or open EU funding calls instead. Women deep tech founders should also check Women TechEU.

Related EU funding guides

For new calls every month, read Mean CEO's EU Funding News. Still shaping your idea? The Fe/male Switch startup game helps you build and test your startup step by step.

FAQ

Is there an NGI open call in 2026?

Yes, under a new name. The NGI Zero Commons Fund, NGI TALER and NGI Fediversity ran their final calls in 2026. Their successor, the Open Internet Stack, has two open calls, Restack and CodeSupply, with a deadline of 3 November 2026 at 12:00 CET.

How much does an NGI grant pay?

A first grant is €5,000 to €50,000. Proven projects can scale up to €150,000 per proposal, with a lifetime cap of €500,000 per applicant in Restack.

Do I need a registered company to apply for NGI funding?

No. Individuals, informal collectives, non-profits, universities, public bodies and SMEs can all apply, and each team member can be paid directly.

When is the next NGI Zero deadline?

The NGI Zero Commons Fund accepts no new proposals; its last call closed on 1 June 2026. NLnet's deadlines are now on the third day of every odd month, starting 3 November 2026, for the Open Internet Stack calls.

Can I use ChatGPT to write my NLnet proposal?

No. Since 20 October 2026, NLnet's generative AI policy bans generative AI for writing proposals, except to support accessibility needs.

How are NGI grants paid?

Per milestone. Nothing is paid up front: you send a request for payment after reaching each milestone agreed in your memorandum of understanding.

About the Author

Violetta Bonenkamp, also known as MeanCEO, is an experienced startup founder with an impressive educational background including an MBA and four other higher education degrees. She has over 20 years of work experience across multiple countries, including 5 years as a solopreneur and serial entrepreneur. Throughout her startup experience she has applied for multiple startup grants at the EU level, in the Netherlands and Malta, and her startups received quite a few of those. She’s been living, studying and working in many countries around the globe and her extensive multicultural experience has influenced her immensely.
2026-10-21 11:26