Grants

NGI Zero Commons Fund

Track for a future or conditional window when idea, pre-seed teams in open source, internet infrastructure, privacy match europe, eu, global eligibility and non-dilutive funding or grant support is relevant.

Terms

Funding

EUR 5,000-50,000 (scalable for projects with demonstrated potential)

Equity or cost

0% (non-dilutive grant)

Perks

Mentoring and ecosystem support

Founder fit

Founder

Individuals, companies, academia, and civil society.

Company

Output must be released under a free or open-source license.

Geography

EU plus Horizon Europe-associated countries prioritized; eligible non-EU projects with European dimension also considered.

Application effort

Concise written proposal; relatively low effort compared to EU grants.

Verification note

The NGI Zero Commons Fund's 13th and final call closed June 1, 2026. Per a June 12, 2026 official NLnet announcement, all NLnet open calls are temporarily paused while the foundation takes stock of the NGI Zero decade before launching the new Open Internet Stack (three new programmes: Restack, CodeSupply, ELFA) expected after summer 2026. Only NGI Taler and NGI Fediversity remain open for narrow-scope proposals. Founders should monitor nlnet.nl/funding.html for new programmes after summer 2026.

Source quality: official NLnet Commons Fund page plus June 12, 2026 official news post. Status confidence: high.

Closedoss license requiredsmall tickets relative to vc

Stages

ideapre-seed

Sectors

open sourceinternet infrastructureprivacyp2pdecentralizationAI

Fit tags

europeeuopen-sourcenon-dilutivegrant

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