European Investment Fund (Eif)

EIF was founded in 1994 to support Europe's small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) by enhancing their access to finance. EIF designs and develops venture capital and guarantees instruments which specifically target this market segment. Venture capital is behind many of Europe’s innovative SMEs but it requires a complex ecosystem to thrive. This is why some geographies have a dynamic venture capital scene and others have none. Many components make up a successful ecosystem: Venture capital investment f low attracts talented entrepreneurs which can give rise to serial entrepreneurs willing to re-invest their money, which creates demand for bigger funds able to growth-finance SMEs, an established exit ecosystem and the inflow of even more talent. The EIF has played a significant role in the growth of a venture capital market in Europe. By taking cornerstone investments in funds we catalyse further investments and ‘crowd in’ private investors thus nurturing the development of an ecosystem. Our engagement in the European equity (both venture capital and private equity) arena has evolved from around EUR 60m across 22 deals in the first year of EIF operations to around 146 transactions, reaching more than EUR 3.3bn in 2017. Today, due to such developments, the EIF has more than EUR 14bn of assets under management in its equity investments portfolio, just at a time when European venture capital is finally turning into a demanded and attractive asset class, generating exits and delivering healthy returns for investors. Above all, we see the venture capital industry strongly supporting innovative European entrepreneurs that are at the forefront of global disruption, primarily in technology (ICT) and life sciences, but also across various other sectors.

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