What we do
Institutional investors
Equity products
AI Co-Investment Facility
Cleantech Co-Investment Facility
Impact investing at the EIF
Climate & Infrastructure Funds
Technology Transfer
European Angels Fund (EAF) - Co-investments with Business Angels
Venture capital
The Social Impact Accelerator (SIA)
Lower mid-market
Mezzanine Facility for Growth
VentureEU
EFSI Equity instrument
Single EU Equity Financial Instrument
COSME - Equity Facility for Growth
InnovFin Equity
Private equity secondary market transactions
EIF-NPI Equity Platform
ESCALAR Programme
Debt products
New ESIF ERDF Guarantee Fund initiative in Greece
EFSI Private Credit Programme
AGRI Guarantee Facility
AGRI Italy Platform Uncapped Guarantee Instrument
Credit enhancement
Cultural and Creative Sectors Guarantee Facility (CCS GF)
ENSI - Securitisation Initiative
Erasmus+ Master Loan Guarantee Facility
Skills & Education Guarantee Pilot
EREM debt products
Single EU Debt Financial Instrument
Documentary Finance Facility – Bulgaria
The SME Initiative
The SME Initiative Bulgaria
The SME Initiative Finland
The SME Initiative Italy
The SME Initiative Malta
The SME Initiative Romania
The SME Initiative Spain
Inclusive finance
EaSI Financial Instruments
EaSI Capacity Building Investments Window
EaSI Guarantee Instrument
EaSI Funded Instrument
European Progress Microfinance Facility
Entrepreneurs supported through Progress Microfinance
European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI)
How does EIF contribute to EFSI
How to apply for EFSI financing
Regional Development - Country and sector-specific initiatives
Normandie Garantie Agri
FAIRE - La Réunion
Auvergne Rhône-Alpes FEADER
Recovery Equity Fund of Funds of Bulgaria
Fons d’Inversió en Tecnologia Avançada (FITA) Catalonia
Dutch Future Fund (DFF)
Dutch Alternative Credit Instrument (DACI)
PORTUGAL BLUE: a new initiative for blue economy investments
JEREMIE Greece Reflows – Business Angels’ Co-Investment Equity Instrument
German Corona Matching Facility (CMF)
Portugal Growth programme
Central and Eastern European Technology Transfer (CEETT)
Croatian Growth Investment Programme (CROGIP) II
Croatian Growth Investment Programme (CROGIP)
Croatian Venture Capital Initiative 2 (CVCi 2)
AGRI Italy Platform Uncapped Guarantee Instrument
DISPOSITIF INSTRUMENTS FINANCIERS BOURGOGNE FRANCHE-COMTÉ
ALTER’NA – ESIF EARFD Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Baltic Innovation Fund 1 (BIF 1)
Baltic Innovation Fund 2 (BIF 2)
Central Europe Fund of Funds (CEFoF)
Croatian Venture Capital Initiative (CVCi FoF)
Competitiveness Fund-of-Funds for SMEs in Romania
The Cyprus Entrepreneurship Fund (CYPEF)
Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area Initiative East Guarantee Facility (DCFTA)
EU4Business Capped Guarantee
Dutch Growth Co-Investment Programme
Dutch Venture Initiative (DVI-II)
ESIF Fund-of-Funds Greece
EAFRD FoF Portugal
EAFRD FoF Romania
The ERP-EIF Facility
ERP-EIF Co-Investment Growth Facility
The LfA-EIF Facilities
The German Future Fund (GFF) - EIF Growth Facility
INAF – French National Agricultural Initiative
ESIF Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Malta
Regional Fund-of-Funds Romania
ESIF Fund-of-Funds Czech Republic
The Silesia EIF Fund of Funds
La Financière Région Réunion
The EIB Group Risk Enhancement Mandate (EREM)
EstFund
Call for Expression of Interest for FOSTER II
Greater Anatolia Guarantee Facility (GAGF)
G43 - Anatolian Venture Capital Fund Project
InvestBG Equity Instrument
JEREMIE
Romania Recovery Equity Fund of Funds
JEREMIE Romania Reflows – Equity Instrument
Luxembourg Future Fund 1 (LFF)
Luxembourg Future Fund 2
Mezzanine 'Fund of Fund' for Germany (MDD)
NEOTEC resources
Polish Growth Fund of Funds (PGFF)
Portugal Venture Capital Initiative (PVCi)
Scottish-European Growth Co-Investment Programme
Slovene Equity Growth Investment Programme (SEGIP)
Swedish Venture Initiative (SVI)
Turkish Growth and Innovation Fund (TGIF)
Western Balkans Enterprise Development & Innovation Facility (WB EDIF)
EAFRD FoF Greece
Irish Innovation Seed Fund (IISF)
RRF Czech Republic Fund of Funds

EIF rolls out a €100 million COVID-19 InnovFin support fund for innovative companies with its first investments

  •  
    Date: 19 July 2021
  • EIF announces first investments via a €100 million RE-FIT Facility to provide equity funding for companies impacted by COVID-19 in Europe and Horizon 2020 Participating Countries
  • The first investment under the Recovery Equity Facility for Innovative Technology Companies (RE-FIT Facility) - part of the InnovFin Equity programme will support the More VC III Fund
  • EIF has also signed an agreement with SET Fund II in the Netherlands and is expecting to announce 4 additional RE-FIT facility investments before the end of the year

The European Commission is partnering with the European Investment Fund, to announce the first two investments from the €100 million COVID-19 equity financing RE-FIT facility for tech companies across Europe and Horizon 2020 Participating Countries.

The investment into the MoreVC III RE-FIT Fund will target seed and series A tech companies in the Deeptech/ICT agriculture, renewable energy, shipping, industrial automation, cybersecurity and AI sectors. EIF’s USD 18m (€15 million equivalent) investment via the RE-FIT Facility will allow Israel-based MoreVC III to provide additional liquidity to portfolio companies significantly impacted by COVID-19. EIF is also investing €12 million into the Dutch RE-FIT SET Side Fund II, which targets early stage companies operating in the smart energy space in Europe. The SET Side Fund II is a side fund to the €60 million SET Fund II.

RE-FIT was established in 2020 as a response measure to the COVID-19 pandemic. It aims at alleviating the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the venture capital market and in particular, mitigating the increased cash burn of the portfolio companies while strengthening their capital base in light of potential solvency issues. The €100 million equity facility, available for InnovFin Equity beneficiaries, is part of the package of measures announced by the EIB Group’s response on 16 March to further support for Europe’s SMEs and mid-caps.

Mariya Gabriel, European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, said: “The Venture Capital markets are a key part of Europe’s investment ecosystem, contributing to innovation, jobs and growth across the EU. For this reason, I am pleased that the EIF is making the first investment under the RE-FIT Facility, which will result in the much needed supplementary liquidity for innovative SMEs.”

EIF Chief Executive, Alain Godard, said: “Without additional RE-FIT Facility financing, many finance providers would face difficult funding decisions, resulting in some viable portfolio companies being left in the short term without further support. I am pleased that we are beginning to roll-out the EUR 100m RE-FIT facility with our investments into MoreVC III and SET Fund II. We expect to sign additional agreements with funds across Europe to support companies impacted by COVID-19.”

Jack Levy, Co-Founder and Partner at MoreVC III, said: “We are grateful that the EIF and European Commission conceived of the RE-FIT Facility as a means to strengthen funds like ours, and are thrilled to have been the first to partner with them for our third fund. COVID-19 accelerated the success of some of our portfolio companies due to the increased urgency of digital transformation across industries. Nevertheless, other portfolio companies lost precious time to market due to customers retrenching in 2020 as well as the disruption to international travel which continues to this day. This facility will enable us to maintain our fund’s original diversification strategy without giving up on certain companies prematurely and is welcome to our portfolio companies and LPs alike.”

Wouter Jonk, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at SET Ventures said: “RE-FIT is a welcome instrument to further enhance the success of our portfolio companies by helping to ensure funding is available when needed, especially for larger funding rounds. EIF and the European Commission did well to provide this facility to our innovative portfolio companies active in the energy system transition.”   

The EIF expects to support additional agreements to be signed with financial intermediaries across the EU and Horizon 2020 Participating Countries concretely in Finland, Germany, Israel, Poland, the Netherlands and Spain by the end of 2022.

These announcements come at a time when both institutions are exploring future cooperation in the context of the next Multi Financial Framework with a view to continue meeting financing needs emerging in this nascent VC market.

BACKGROUND

The RE-FIT Facility aims at providing InnovFin Financial Intermediaries with additional investment capacity necessary to support portfolio companies negatively impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. Such top-up is necessary to mitigate increased cash burn due to the COVID-19 crisis, which puts pressure on revenues, investment plans, employment preservation and company liquidity. RE-FIT is an initiative deployed in the context of InnovFin Equity, aimed at alleviating the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the venture capital market and in particular, the increased cash burn at the level of the portfolio companies.

The EIF is part of the European Investment Bank Group. Its central mission is to support Europe's micro, small and medium-sized businesses by helping them to access finance. EIF designs and develops both venture and growth capital, guarantees and microfinance 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.

Press contacts:

European Commission: Johannes Bahrke, johannes.bahrke@ec.europa.eu, tel. +32 2 295 86 15

European Investment Fund: David Yormesor, d.yormesor@eif.org, Tel.: +352 2485 81346

MoreVC III: Jack Levy, jack@morevc.com

SET Ventures: Wouter Jonk, wouterjonk@setventures.com 

 

We use cookies to give the best browser experience on our website. or change cookie settings.

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

 
 

Copyright ©

 European Investment Fund   – The European Investment Fund is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.