National and EU funding routes for startups and innovative companies, plus a pointer to a directory of schemes and a note for providers whose clients use grants. Status labels are explained on the Starting in Malta home page.
6.1 What is Start-up Finance and is it open?
Repayable advance for small start-up undertakings in listed activities (manufacturing, software, life sciences and others).
Applications via the client portal. Page (modified 23 July 2026) shows a deadline of 30 October 2026.
Official source: Malta Enterprise: Start-up Finance (Malta Enterprise)
Status: ✅ Verified · checked 2026-10-21 · For: Founder
6.2 What is Accelerate?
Grant of up to €100,000 to fund participation in an accelerator recognised by Malta Enterprise. Applicants must be EEA-registered and established no more than seven years earlier.
Official source: Servizz.gov.mt: Accelerate (Malta Enterprise)
Status: ✅ Verified · checked 2026-10-21 · For: Founder
6.3 What other Malta Enterprise schemes exist (Business Start, Business Development, venture capital)?
No confirmed answer yet.
Official source: Malta Enterprise: Support measures (Malta Enterprise)
Status: 🟡 Needs checking · For: Founder, SME
6.4 What research and innovation funding does MCST offer?
National programme managed by MCST; page states up to €80,000 per project per year (100% for a public entity, 90% for an eligible undertaking).
Official source: MCST: Research Excellence Programme (MCST)
Status: 🟡 Needs checking · For: Founder, researcher
6.5 Is there help applying for the EIC Accelerator?
Supports SMEs including startups established in Malta applying to the EIC Accelerator, with options for business coaching and a proposal consultant.
Official source: MCST: EIC Support Scheme (MCST)
Status: 🟡 Needs checking · For: Founder, SME
6.6 Who can advise me on EU funding?
The Malta Business Bureau is an EEN contact point offering free access-to-finance advice for SMEs.
Official source: Enterprise Europe Network: local contact points (EU / EEN Malta)
Status: ✅ Verified · checked 2026-10-21 · For: Founder, SME
6.7 How does funding interact with my residence permit?
Business plan approval by Malta Enterprise is required. The link between funding approval and permit issue appears only in a secondary source.
Official source: Residency Malta: Startup Residence Programme (Residency Malta Agency + Malta Enterprise)
Status: 🟡 Needs checking · For: Non-EU founder
6.8 Where can I browse all the schemes I might qualify for?
grants.mt is a directory of grants and tax benefits, listing 481 schemes when we looked on 21 October 2026, filterable by category (Business, Employment, Energy, Housing and others) with deadlines and amounts on each card.
It has a guide for first-time business owners that suggests a path:
- Business Start
- Business Reports for SMEs
- Micro Invest 2024
- Start-up Finance
- Marketing Strategy or Market Research for growth
Schemes it surfaced that are worth checking on the official pages:
- Business Start (up to €10,000)
- Business Reports for SMEs (€4,000 lump sum, 80% of eligible costs)
- Micro Invest 2024
- Innovate (up to 50% of eligible costs)
- Exploring Research Grant
- Marketing Strategy for Micro & Small Enterprises (up to €10,000)
- the Seed Investment Scheme run by Malta Investment Management Company Limited
Unofficial source: grants.mt: Malta Grants Finder (Unofficial (directory run by an individual))
Status: 🔵 Unofficial source · For: Founder, SME
6.9 My clients could use a grant, but I'd be the one delivering the service. Do I need to register as a provider first?
It depends on the scheme, and the body you register with differs. Example: under Jobsplus's MySkills Scheme, learners can claim reimbursement of training fees up to €5,000 per application, but only for courses from registered training providers.
A provider must be registered and licensed to operate in Malta, with accreditation or registration from the relevant authority:
- MFHEA for educational institutions and tuition centres
- Transport Malta for maritime and aviation training
The provider applies online using the form on the Jobsplus page, then submits each course separately with a syllabus or content outline, because provider approval does not automatically cover courses.
There is no fixed registration deadline. Foreign providers qualify only if they meet the same conditions.
Official source: Jobsplus: MySkills Scheme Guidelines for Training Providers (Jobsplus)
Status: ✅ Verified · checked 2026-10-21 · For: Training and service providers, startups selling to grant-eligible clients
6.10 Which other schemes pay for services from an approved or external provider, and how do I get listed?
Some Malta Enterprise schemes reimburse clients for advice or reports from an external service provider, for example:
- Business Reports for SMEs
- Marketing Strategy for Micro & Small Enterprises
Both are per grants.mt.
For the earlier Business Re-Engineering and Transformation scheme, Malta Enterprise did not select providers: the Malta Chamber of Commerce compiled a recommended list, and the page says nothing about how providers apply to be listed. That scheme page says it was available until 31 December 2023.
Official source: Malta Enterprise: Business Re-Engineering and Transformation Scheme (Malta Enterprise)
Status: 🟡 Needs checking · For: Advisers, agencies, startups selling services to SMEs
6.11 What does Xjenza Malta fund, and where do I see which calls are open?
Xjenza Malta runs national research and innovation funding.
Its funding schemes page lists 21 calls and programmes by publication date, including:
- Go To Market programmes
- the Digital Vouchers Programme 2026
- the Prototype to Minimum Viable Product (P2M) programme
- the EIT Regional Innovation Booster Malta edition
- European Innovation Council support
- vouchers for business plans, market discovery and IP registration
Calls published in September 2026 are thematic research programmes (water innovation for agriculture, cancer research, blue economy).
Official source: Xjenza Malta: Funding Schemes (Xjenza Malta)
Status: ✅ Verified · checked 2026-10-21 · For: Founder, SME, researcher
6.12 Which Xjenza Malta programmes are aimed at startups taking a product to market?
Four programmes that start-ups and SMEs are eligible for:
- EIT Jumpstarter: pre-accelerator for early-stage idea holders (see 6.16).
- Prototype to Minimum Viable Product (P2M): up to EUR 30,000 in total, a 6-month project, with evaluation cut-offs at the end of March, June and September.
- base grant up to EUR 16,000 in two tranches
- performance top-up up to EUR 5,000
- start-up top-up up to EUR 5,000 for companies incorporated within the previous year
- optional market discovery voucher up to EUR 4,000
- EIT Regional Innovation Booster (see 6.16).
- Go To Market Loan Assistance: for SMEs and start-ups at technology readiness level 8 to 9, combining an 80% SME Guarantee Scheme loan guarantee through the Malta Development Bank with an interest rate subsidy, help with the upfront contribution and collateral support.
Official source: Xjenza Malta: The Go To Market (GTM) Programmes; P2M; GTM Loan Assistance (Xjenza Malta)
Status: ✅ Verified · checked 2026-10-21 · For: Founder, startup
6.13 Can a startup get Xjenza Malta industrial R&D funding (Innovation for Industry, Technology Development Programme, Digital Innovation Programme)?
- Innovation for Industry: grants up to EUR 150,000 for applied industrial R&D by local Maltese private entities, with an optional EUR 40,000 Talent Integration top-up for hiring an M.Sc. or Ph.D. holder on an indefinite contract. The 2026 deadline was 18 May 2026.
- Digital Innovation Programme 2026 (formerly the Digital Technologies Programme): up to EUR 200,000 over 24 months for Maltese registered legal entities, with an extra EUR 25,000 sub-grant for the MDIA sandbox. The call closed 1 July 2026.
- Technology Development Programme (FUSION): a PwC article (secondary) says it takes consortia of at least one public and one private Maltese partner, up to EUR 500,000 per consortium, and its 2026 call had not been published as of 22 July 2026.
Official source: Xjenza Malta: Innovation for Industry (I4I); Digital Innovation Programme 2026 (Xjenza Malta)
Status: 🟡 Needs checking · For: Founder, SME
6.14 What are the Digital Vouchers, and what is the MDIA sandbox sub-grant?
Open to Maltese registered legal entities.
Four vouchers, funded at 90% under State Aid or 100% otherwise:
- Data Readiness: up to EUR 20,000
- Build: up to EUR 20,000
- Regulatory Assessment: up to EUR 1,000, to establish whether a system is an AI system or falls under the Cyber Resilience Act
- TARF/MDIA Sandbox voucher: up to EUR 25,000 over 24 months, for enrolment in the Malta Digital Innovation Authority's Technology Assessment Recognition Framework or Level 1 Sandbox
Applications go by email to ri.xjenza@gov.mt.
Official source: Xjenza Malta: Digital Vouchers Programme 2026 (Xjenza Malta)
Status: ✅ Verified · checked 2026-10-21 · For: Founder, SME
6.15 Does the MDIA give grants?
The MDIA is mainly a regulator, and its funding found here is for skills and the sandbox.
Boost Your Coding pays individuals aged 16 or older 100% of course fees up to EUR 1,000 for courses on its approved catalogue, started from 8 October 2025 and completed by 30 September 2026. Training providers submitted courses by 10 November 2025 by emailing schemes@mdia.gov.mt.
Sandbox enrolment is funded through the Xjenza Malta voucher in 6.14.
Official source: MDIA Digital Skills: Boost Your Coding Scheme (Malta Digital Innovation Authority)
Status: 🟡 Needs checking · For: Founder, individuals, training providers
6.16 What is the EIT Regional Innovation Booster in Malta, and what is EIT Jumpstarter?
EIT RIB Malta edition: for Maltese start-ups and SMEs with an operating base in Malta and a solution at technology readiness level 7 or higher.
- Three stages (up to 12 applicants, then 6, then 4)
- grants up to EUR 50,000 in stage 2 and EUR 40,000 in stage 3, up to EUR 90,000 in total
- not issued under State Aid rules, to enter markets such as Italy, France or Germany
The call closed on 15 July 2026 and no further Malta round is described.
EIT Jumpstarter 2026 is an EIT pre-accelerator with a special cohort for entrepreneurs from Malta run with Xjenza Malta, over EUR 240,000 in total prizes (top teams EUR 10,000, 5,000 or 3,000), with applications that closed in May 2026.
Official source: Xjenza Malta: EIT RIB Malta Edition; EIT RIS: Regional Innovation Booster; EIT Jumpstarter 2026 open call (Xjenza Malta / EIT)
Status: ✅ Verified · checked 2026-10-21 · For: Founder, startup
6.17 Can a Malta startup apply directly to other EIT Community programmes (EIT Health, EIT Digital, EIT Manufacturing and others)?
No confirmed answer yet.
Malta is an eligible country for the EIT Regional Innovation Scheme, and an EIT Culture & Creativity office opened in Malta in partnership with Xjenza Malta, per Xjenza Malta news.
Official source: EIT Regional Innovation Scheme (EIT)
Status: 🟡 Needs checking · For: Founder, startup
6.18 What is Malta Venture Capital (MVC), and how do startups approach it?
No confirmed answer yet.
Source: none identified yet.
Status: ⚪ No official source found · For: Founder, startup
6.19 Is there a tax incentive for angel investors who back my startup (Seed Investment Scheme)?
Qualifying investors who are individuals, resident in or operating in Malta and not connected to the company before the shares are issued, get a tax credit of 35% of the aggregate value of their investments in a qualifying company, capped at EUR 250,000 per year per investor.
Total investment in one qualifying company may not exceed EUR 750,000, and the scheme stays valid until investments reach EUR 5,000,000.
Conditions:
- Investors must hold the investment for at least three years, after which gains on disposal are exempt from tax.
- The investment must be made within two years of the company's first compliance certificate.
- The company must be locally incorporated or controlled and managed from Malta, or have a place of business in Malta.
Applications go to the Malta Investment Management Company Limited (MIMCOL), which issues the compliance certificate. The credit is claimed on form RA20 with the investor's tax return.
If information would have led to refusal, the credit is clawed back with interest of 1% per month.
Official source: Government Gazette: Legal Notice 294 of 2023, explanatory notes; MTCA tax return booklet, basis year 2025 (MIMCOL / Ministry for Finance / MTCA)
Status: ✅ Verified · checked 2026-10-22 · For: Founder, investor
6.20 What do founders and advisers say about raising angel and VC money in Malta?
No first-hand angel or VC fundraising stories were found. What exists is commercial advice with a few consistent points:
- Personal introductions matter more than cold outreach.
- Pitches should show clear return and scalability.
- Settle ownership, IP assignment, vesting and investor rights early, and document eligibility for schemes before spending against grant assumptions.
Investors are described as examining:
- the product
- the market
- the team
- IP ownership
- the cap table
- governance rights
- runway
- follow-on prospects
Founders are warned to stress-test access to follow-on rounds, specialist talent and international investors, and not to rely only on the local market. Public co-investment through Malta Venture Capital is described as discretionary, not an entitlement.
Unofficial source: FreeMalta decision brief; MeanCEO Malta Startup Funding guide (commercial guides)
Status: 🔵 Unofficial source · For: Founder
6.21 Is there private equity available to Maltese companies, and what does it involve?
No confirmed answer yet.
Source: none identified yet.
Status: ⚪ No official source found · For: Founder, SME