The EIB Group, composed by the European Investment Bank and the European Investment Fund, together with Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and Spain have signed the European Tech Champions Initiative (ETCI) with the aim of developing a European ecosystem to back high-tech companies in their late-stage growth phase.

ETCI will deepen Europe’s scale-up Venture Capital (VC) markets by bridging gaps in financing availability, especially for companies seeking to raise amounts of over 50 million euros. It will help create an asset class for European institutional investors to diversify their portfolios, thus maintaining a continuous flow of funding to European scale-ups. Such self-sustained dynamic in the European high-tech landscape will nurture home-grown innovation and entrepreneurship.

The fund, managed by the EIF, has secured commitments for a grand total of 3.75 billion euros at this initial subscription stage: 1 billion euros respectively from Spain, Germany and France, 150 million from Italy, 100 million from Belgium, plus 500 million euros deployed by the EIB Group. The size of the fund is expected to grow further and to attract fresh commitments in the future.

Europe’s tech start-ups often do not have sufficient capital to compete on a global scale and are pushed to relocate overseas. Closing this scale-up gap could create a large number of highly skilled jobs and boost growth, thus reinforcing Europe’s strategic autonomy and competitiveness.

Background

The European Tech Champions Initiative is a specific mandate of the Pan-European Scale Up Initiative launched in Paris by EU Member States during a summit under the French Presidency in February 2022. The proposal of the initiative was raised for providing financing for Europe’s high-tech companies in their late-stage development, more specifically in the moment of scaling up their business from a start-up status to a more developed venture. In fact, a lack of European funds specialising in this segment made it difficult for companies to pursue their plans or forced them to seek capitals outside Europe.

The European Investment Bank Group’s support to the Scale-up Initiative will build on its strong experience in creating financial ecosystems, with a particular focus on Venture Capital (VC) funds and fund of funds, as well as providing venture debt financing towards individual companies, notably in strategic sectors such as clean technology, biotech and digital innovation.

What is the EIF?

The European Investment Fund (EIF) is part of the European Investment Bank Group. Its central mission is to support Europe's micro, small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) by helping them to access finance. EIF designs and develops venture and growth capital, guarantees and microfinance instruments which specifically target this market segment. In this role, EIF fosters EU objectives in support of innovation, research and development, entrepreneurship, growth, and employment.