Innovation can support your business, transform society and change the world. Not only is it a key ingredient in start-up creation, but also for well-established SMEs looking to defend their market share or expand their business. However, good ideas almost always need financial backing to make them a reality, and this is a hurdle many people fail to clear. In order to help transform your innovative ideas into business opportunities, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Investment Fund (EIF) have jointly put in place the InnovFin Guarantee for SMEs. Additional information below.
Job creation, growth, sustainable development, healthcare: these are some of the fields that can only move forward through innovation. Launched in 2014 by the EIB in cooperation with the European Commission, “InnovFin – EU Finance for Innovators” is an initiative that seeks to boost innovation in Europe through a wide range of financing tools such as loans, guarantees and equity-type funding. Its aim is to facilitate and accelerate access to finance for innovative businesses, quickly and under reasonable conditions regardless of the risk inherent to innovation.
Among the tools in place, the InnovFin Guarantee (or InnovFin SME Guarantee) allows financial intermediaries such as Luxembourg banks to support innovative businesses in the Greater Region. Financing granted to eligible SMEs or mid-caps under InnovFin will have up to 50% of their value guaranteed by the EIF. This measure reduces risk for banks, making them more willing to grant financing for your much-needed innovation.
InnovFin’s philosophy is to share some of the risk borne by banks in order to increase lending to innovative companies, which are inherently more risky.
The initiative provides guarantees on financing of between EUR 25,000 and EUR 7.5 million for:
To qualify for the InnovFin Guarantee, your company must meet the following primary criteria and at least one of the innovation criteria.
MAIN CRITERIA
In addition to a transaction amount of between EUR 25,000 and EUR 7.5 million and a term of between 1 and 10 years, your company must be:
To request an InnovFin Guarantee from a Luxembourg bank, your company must be based in Luxembourg or the Greater Region. In this respect, it is important to check with your relationship manager at the bank as to whether your SME or mid-cap is eligible.
INNOVATION CRITERIA
The main purpose of the innovation criteria is to ensure that the guarantees awarded are in line with the objectives of the InnovFin initiative. In order to determine this, your business must meet at least one of the following criteria:
Since 2014, at least 5,500 companies in 40 countries have received financing under the InnovFin initiative. Why not yours?
Since 2014, at least 5,500 companies in 40 countries have received financing under the InnovFin initiative. Why not yours? Contact Banque Internationale à Luxembourg or other participating banks to find out more about the programme. You can also visit the EIB website directly.
Ready… steady… innovate!
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