EIF calls to support the Manifesto campaign for entrepreneurial excellence

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    Date: 17 September 2013

Vice-President of the European Commission Neelie Kroes has created “The Startup Europe Leaders Club” — an independent group of founders in the field of tech entrepreneurship who provide guidance on how to strengthen the business environment for web entrepreneurs in Europe. At the occasion of the Startup Europe Forum in London, organised by The Lisbon Council, the members of the Leaders Club launched the Startup Manifesto campaign for entrepreneurial excellence. This Manifesto for entrepreneurship and innovation provides key recommendations for policy makers to drive growth in the EU and aims to set policy priorities at the European Council on October 24-25.

Matthias Ummenhofer, Head of Venture Capital at EIF, who participated to a panel discussion at the Forum said: “There is a huge opportunity to capitalise on the tremendous efforts undertaken by public and private players during the last years to build a performing European Tech Ecosystem if only everybody aligned and removed the last remaining barriers for innovators and entrepreneurs. The chances have never been better to speed up Europe in this respect.

One of the Manifesto’s key recommendations – improving access to capital for technology companies –  is at the very heart of EIF’s mission. EIF has invested about EUR 4bn of equity which catalysed approximately EUR 40bn of investments in almost 4,000 SMEs in their start-up and growth phases. Companies founded and managed by members of the Leaders Club such as Spotify (Daniel Ek, Martin Lorentzon), Rovio (Kai Hed), Xing (Lars Hinrichs) or Skype (Niklas Zenström) are only a few examples of European success stories supported by EIF.

Richard Pelly, EIF’s Chief Executive commented: “We are determined to further step up our commitments to provide smart capital for Europe’s entrepreneurs. Access to financing is crucial but not the only area which needs improvement. The Manifesto gives policy makers clear guidance on how to make Europe truly successful in innovation and entrepreneurship. EIF fully supports Commissioner Neelie Kroes’ campaign for entrepreneurial excellence and the Manifesto recommendations. Therefore I invite everybody to sign it.”

About the EIF

EIF's central mission is to support Europe's small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) by helping them to access finance.  EIF designs and develops venture capital and guarantees 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. The EIF total net commitments to private equity funds amounted to over EUR 6.5bn at end 2012. With investments in over 430 funds, the EIF is a leading player in European venture due to the scale and the scope of its investments, especially in high-tech and early-stage segments. The EIF guarantees loan portfolio totalled over EUR 4.7bn in 255 operations at end 2012, positioning it as a major European SME guarantees actor and a leading micro-finance guarantor.

Press contacts:

EIF: Susanne Gutjahr, Head of Communications, s.gutjahr@eif.org

 

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