The European Investment Bank (EIB) Group announced a significant expansion of the successful European Tech Champions Initiative (ETCI) to crowd in institutional investors and public resources from Member States.
Managed by the European Investment Fund (EIF), the ETCI is the biggest fund-of-funds in Europe fully dedicated to scaling up innovative European companies to compete globally.
It has already invested into 14 mega-funds of over €1 billion and anchored the creation of 11 European unicorns.
“A dedicated ETCI platform will be launched in the second quarter of this year, where investors such as insurance companies, pension funds, commercial banks, asset managers, foundations and national promotional institutions will be able to indicate earmarked commitments,” said the EIB.
“Pledges target toward €15 billion over the lifetime of the initiative, with the aim to mobilise €80 billion in investments.
“The expansion will decisively narrow the funding gap for European innovators and bolster the EU`s autonomy in strategic sectors such as artificial intelligence, biotech, cleantech and defence.”
EIB Group President Nadia Calviño said: “The time for Europe’s capital markets union is now, and the EIB Group responds to EU leaders’ call for action with pan-European instruments to boost European competitiveness.
“Turning savings into investment and leading the technologies of tomorrow are central to Europe’s sovereignty.”
The EIB Group Boards also supported plans to expand its Defence Equity Facility (DEF), through which the EIF acts as anchor investor mobilising capital into specialised funds in the areas of security and defence.
“Following the full allocation of the Facility’s initial €175 million budget, the pan-European defence and cybersecurity fund-of-funds has an initial target size of €1 billion to support companies across the security and defence, space and cybersecurity value chain — from early-stage innovation to growth, scale-ups, and relevant infrastructure,” said the EIB.
“The Facility has already helped nurture a European investment community focused on security and defence and its expansion is projected to support up to 20 new funds.”