Granter raises €1.6 million to take its AI grant-application platform across Europe

Portuguese startup Granter has raised €1.6 million to bring its AI-powered public-funding platform to more European businesses. Led by 3XP Global, the round will fund product development, hiring and international growth. The company targets a practical obstacle for startups and smaller businesses: finding suitable funding programmes and preparing the paperwork needed to apply.

From finding a grant to managing the project

Granter’s software covers three stages of the funding process. It helps businesses identify public funding opportunities, prepare applications and manage projects after funding has been approved. Its focus is on startups and small and medium-sized enterprises that may lack the staff or specialist knowledge to navigate European funding programmes.

The interaction is conversational. Granter recently relaunched its AI Grant Consultant with a chat-based interface, allowing organisations to work directly with an AI agent across those stages. It also introduced a free trial so prospective customers can begin preparing applications before making an upfront paid commitment.

The pitch is to reduce administrative work around applications, which can involve extensive documentation and lengthy preparation. Granter says tasks that previously took weeks, often with specialist consultants involved, can now be completed in under an hour. That time-saving figure is the company’s own assessment, not an independently verified result.

Today, thousands of companies with solid projects are left out of public funding, not for lack of merit, but because they do not have the time, the team or the knowledge to deal with complex, bureaucratic processes.

Bernardo Seixas, CEO and co-founder of Granter

The investors behind the next stage

3XP Global led the financing through its Impact Innovation Fund. The fund operates under the Venture Capital Programme of Portugal’s Capitalisation and Resilience Fund, known as FdCR, which is managed by the country’s state development bank, Banco Português de Fomento.

Other participants included Celtis Venture Partners, Gateway Ventures and US human-resources technology company Deel. Gateway has backing from Austrian and German investors. Angel investor Bracken Darrell, CEO of VF Corporation and former CEO of Logitech, also joined the round. The financing brings Granter’s total funding to €2 million.

Portugal remains Granter’s primary market. The company plans to more than double its workforce by the end of 2026 and enter Spain, Germany and Italy. It already has investors and initial commercial connections in those markets. A move into the United States is also planned over the medium term, rather than as part of the immediate European push.

Applications are not funding awards

Granter won PITCH, Web Summit’s startup competition, in November 2025. Since then, it has supported more than 140 businesses with applications seeking over €30 million in funding, according to Tech.eu. Those figures describe businesses assisted and money applied for; they should not be read as grants secured by customers.

Its named clients extend beyond the smaller businesses at the centre of its pitch. Granter says they include ANA Airports, MC Sonae, Galp, the Portuguese Navy and Fidelidade. The platform’s stated remit also extends beyond preparing an application: managing an approved project is part of the service it offers.