The ERP-EIF Facility

The ERP-EIF Facility is a partnership between the German Federal Government and the EIF, managed by the EIF, providing venture and growth capital financing with a focus on high-tech early and later stage companies in Germany. 

The Facility has been mandated by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK, formerly BMWi) on behalf of the German ERP Special Fund (ERP Sondervermögen) in 2004, and since then, it has been increased subsequently on several occasions. The current volume of the ERP-EIF Facility is up to EUR 4.6bn, funded by ERP Special Fund resources managed and complemented by the EIF, and consists of the following sub-programmes:

• The ERP-EIF VC Fund of Funds (Dachfonds, since 2004), investing in VC funds with aggregate volume of EUR 4.2bn (incl. EAF Germany and ERP-EIF Growth Facility below), with more than 120 fund investments, so far supporting some 3,000 SMEs.
• The European Angels Fund Germany (EAF Germany, since 2012 until 2022), co-invested in joint portfolios with some 50 experienced business angels and family offices, supporting more than 400 SMEs.
• The ERP-EIF Growth Facility (Wachstumsfazilität, since 2016 until 2021), investing in some 10 co-investment structures alongside VC funds managers already supported by the ERP-EIF Facility before, to provide expansion financing for strong growth companies and so far supporting more than 60 growth companies.
• The ERP co-investment in GFF-EIF Growth Facility (Zukunftsfonds - EIF Wachstumsfazilität since 2021) with an aggregate volume of up to EUR 0.4bn, systematically co-funding investments of the GFF-EIF Growth Facility, expanding the scope of the ERP-EIF Facility towards growth and later stages.

The ERP-EIF Facility invests as a fund-of-funds and covers all technology areas including ICT, life sciences, energy related innovations, as well as emerging and converging technologies.

Commitments from the ERP-EIF Facility, often combined with other EIF mandates, aim to support the funding of portfolio companies based or active in Germany. Supported funds are, however, not restricted to investing solely in German companies, and a sizable proportion of the ERP-EIF Facility is being invested through non-German fund managers, aiming to invest in the German venture capital market. Insofar, the ERP-EIF Facility forms, with more than 4 000 SME investments in Germany and across Europe through supported funds, relevant part of the pan-European venture capital ecosystem.

The success of the ERP-EIF Facility speaks for itself: not only did this initiative help reignite the German VC ecosystem since 2004, but its model of developing and deploying local mandates to address specific gaps has been replicated at a regional level in Germany, and in other European markets.

Are you a fund manager interested in partnering with us under the ERP-EIF Facility?

• Read more information here on how to submit and what to include in a fund proposal to the EIF: EIF for Venture Capital & Private Equity funds.

Information for SMEs

• If you are looking for funding and would like to see which financial intermediaries currently cooperate with us, please visit http://www.eif.org/what_we_do/where/index.htm and contact the intermediary in your country directly.
• For information about finance available under further EU initiatives, please visit http://europa.eu/youreurope/business/funding-grants/access-to-finance.