How Ohmnum Won One of Europe's Most Coveted Deep-Tech Grants with nxt milestone

From Vision to Eurostars Grant: The Success Story

At the intersection of neuroscience and engineering, Ohmnum develops haptic solutions that reimagine emotional health. The agile two-person team around founder Dan Shor, a haptics specialist with over ten years of industry experience, and CPO/COO Sarah Moglia uses targeted vibration patterns to help people regulate stress, control their nervous system, and find balance in everyday life.

Together with nxt milestone, Ohmnum secured funding as part of Eurostars, one of Europe’s most competitive deep-tech programs. Here’s the story behind it.

About Ohmnum

Ohmnum builds small electronic devices that support people in navigating their mental state throughout the day. The core of the technology is so-called voice coil actuators, a special type of vibration motor that works like a speaker and delivers complex, precise haptic signals. Rather than using vibration only for notifications or gimmicks, Ohmnum uses it to positively influence physical states and help users relax, regulate their breathing, and find balance.

The name itself encapsulates the company’s mission. It combines OM, the meditative sound, OHM, the physical unit for electrical resistance, and NUM for the numerical, data-driven engineering. Together they form Ohmnum.

Everything the team does is rooted in research and neuroscience. Dan Shor brings three engineering degrees and an academic background ranging from virtual reality in the Netherlands to sextech to affective wellness. The central question that has accompanied him over the years: how can targeted vibration regulate the human nervous system and turn a bad day for the better?

The Starting Point

Building a deep-tech company in Europe is expensive and time-consuming. Yet just as Ohmnum was ready to start, the macroeconomic environment shifted dramatically.

Ohmnum was registered in December 2024, after 18 months of research and development. The company launched at a time when the climate for young technology companies in Europe and North America had noticeably deteriorated. From its own network in Montreal and Europe, the team knew firsthand how tough the market had become.

That’s why a combination of equity funding and public grants became the core strategy, rather than simply pitching a big idea and hoping it catches on.

“The biggest challenge in applying for public funding in Germany and Europe is the sheer administrative burden and bureaucratic precision required. Funding frameworks demand exact alignment between the technical roadmap and strict program criteria. For a lean tech team, this means spending hundreds of hours deciphering guidelines and taking focus away from the product.”

— Dan Shor, Founder of Ohmnum

The reality of building a company in Germany was sobering. It took eleven months and three weeks before Ohmnum, as a primarily internationally active company, received a VAT ID. In Germany, there is little room for maneuver and little tolerance for errors, which makes the process particularly demanding for first-time founders and small teams.

For a two-person team, it was clear: without the right partner, this bureaucratic burden could not be managed without sacrificing actual work on the product.

Why a Consortium Rather Than Going It Alone

Ohmnum’s business is about experiences – haptic experiences. The company didn’t want to build experiences, haptic seats, and wearables all at the same time, as that would be too many different things for a small team in the early phase.

This is precisely where consortium-driven innovation becomes critical. Ohmnum joined the Eurostars project together with InnovoBot, the affiliated partner company responsible for hardware development of the seats. Added to this were a university for research analysis and a sensor technology company to help capture user state. Ohmnum’s role is the glue holding it all together: developing the artificial intelligence and underlying training data that turns a stressed state into a calm, focused one.

None of the partners could have implemented this alone. It was only with five consortium partners in the project that a market-ready product became possible. The lean, European approach gave Ohmnum the necessary discipline and focus rather than scattering with supposedly unlimited resources.

The Collaboration with nxt milestone

The solution lay in nxt milestone’s strategic expertise. Ohmnum’s complex deep-tech roadmap was translated into exactly the structure that major European funding programs demand, and the bureaucratic burden was completely taken on.

The contact came through the MotionLab Berlin community, where Dan Shor has been active as a mentor for almost four years. That’s where he met Georg, among other things through the overlap at the HardTech Accelerator program. From initial conversations about Ohmnum, the affiliated company InnovoBot, and the vision of bridging transatlantic innovation between North America and Germany, the collaboration developed naturally.

nxt milestone closed the gap between the deep-tech roadmap and the specific requirements of major European funding programs. The team took on the heavy administrative work, structured the consortium application for Eurostars, and ensured that the financial section and technical presentation seamlessly met every evaluation criterion.

Particularly valuable was that the collaboration didn’t stop at the application. The administrative effort around German funding processing was enormous: around 200 to 250 hours of pure communication with funding bodies, countless revisions, and detailed questions. In every single one of these rounds, nxt milestone stood by Ohmnum’s side. For every hour the team invested, nxt milestone brought the same time.

“The clarity, speed, and efficiency. The team immediately understood our technology, worked with great efficiency, and took the complexity of the Eurostars application off our shoulders, allowing our team to focus on engineering and product development.”

— Dan Shor, Founder of Ohmnum

For us, the collaboration doesn’t end with the grant approval. nxt milestone supports the project over its entire duration. For Ohmnum, this means more than just the application: part of the project administration and proof of use runs through nxt milestone so the team can focus entirely on the actual business work. Because in deep-tech, whoever doesn’t handle the first grant cleanly doesn’t get a second one.

The Result

Winning the Eurostars grant marks a transformative milestone for Ohmnum. Through the collaboration, the company secured funding in one of Europe’s most competitive deep-tech funding programs, demonstrating the strength of its vision on an international stage.

Remarkably, the successful application came together in just around three and a half weeks, from the first joint alignment to submission shortly before the deadline. A tight timeframe that hardly anyone in the consortium believed was feasible. Less than a year after company founding, success was secured. Eurostars is anything but a small win; anyone who convinces here effectively ranks among the roughly 200 best ideas in Europe and the other partner countries of the Eureka network.

For Ohmnum, the grant means planning security in a difficult market phase. The grant doesn’t have to be repaid, and the technical roadmap can be pursued consistently. Beyond the additional flexibility, winning a renowned European grant provides strong third-party validation. It proves to future partners and customers that Ohmnum’s haptic technology is based on solid innovation. This accelerates product development by months and solidifies its position as a pioneer in affective wellness haptics.

“Public funding like Eurostars is a real game-changer, but only if you implement the application correctly. Focus on your core technology and bring experts like nxt milestone on board to handle the funding strategy. That saves valuable time and dramatically increases your chances of success.”

— Dan Shor, Founder of Ohmnum

Dan Shor’s Advice to Other Founders

“Don’t try to navigate complex public funding landscapes completely on your own. If you work with specialists from day one who understand the mechanics of funding, you save months of friction and ensure your application is structured exactly as reviewers expect.”

— Dan Shor, Founder of Ohmnum

You’re developing deep tech and facing the challenge of securing public funding? nxt milestone takes on the bureaucratic burden so you can focus on what matters: your technology. Talk to us.