The new ETCI initiative has been launched on 13 February 2023 with EIB Group resources alongside contributions from Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Belgium and hopefully soon, also other EU Member States. It builds on the EIF’s extensive work in the venture capital markets in Europe, which has been made possible using EIB resources.

Key features of ETCI

• Fund-of-funds structure with €3.75 billion of capital to tackle the European scale-up gap.
• Investing in large-scale venture capital funds, which will in turn provide growth financing to European tech champions in in their late-stage growth phase.
• Expecting to make 10-15 investments in large VC funds of approx. € 1 billion. In doing so, ETCI seeks to mobilise more than € 10 billion of investments in innovative companies in their growth stage.
• Boosting funding for promising high-tech companies that to raise amounts of over €50 million to compete on a global scale whilst staying in Europe.

If your target fund size is at least EUR 1 billion and above, you may be eligible for funding under ETCI. Please submit your investment proposal via our standard application form, indicating your strategy and min. – max. fund size for further consideration.

This is the first of its kind growth stage fund-of-funds in Europe. As the cornerstone of the Pan-European Scale Up Initiative, which was unveiled in February 2022 in Paris during a summit organised under the French Presidency of the Council of the EU, we are confident in the impact it can achieve in development of the European ecosystem.

Alongside supporting tech innovation at company level, ETCI helps develop an asset class that is attractive to (institutional) investors, helping to maintain a continuous flow of funding to European scale-ups. As such, the European Tech Champions Initiative seeks to create a positive self-fulfilling dynamic for Europe.

Hear the insights on how ETCI works from the EIF’s Uli Grabenwarter, Head of VC Investments (EIF):

Press releases

Launch of new fund of funds to support European Tech Champions – 13 February 2023

A venture capital injection for European technology – op-ed by EIB VP Gelsomina Vigliotti

Further reading

“Scale Up Europe”: Making Europe attractive for talents – statement from the French Presidency of the Council of the EU – 15 February 2022
The European Financing Gap – website and interview with Klaus Hommels (Lakestar Capital) in Frankfurt
Scale-Up Europe - Join the initiative (scaleupeurope.tech) – website of the conference held on 8 February 2022

Information for SMEs and companies interested in ETCI funding

The EIF is currently in the process of evaluating proposals and making the first investment decisions into beneficiary funds under ETCI. We will publish a list of confirmed fund partners on this webpage in the coming weeks. These partners will in turn provide investee companies with funding backed by the ETCI initiative.

Meanwhile, growth- and later stage companies may also check the list of active fund managers supported by the EIF in your country. Whilst ETCI is expected to invest predominantly in bigger ticket sizes, other EIF funding partners may have equally relevant financing opportunities for beneficiary companies also at smaller scale.

Note: Following the recent withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union, we are updating the relevant EIF.org pages.

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