|9 November 2016|
Europe
The European Union (EU) is on the hunt for a fund manager with the ability to etablish a venture capital (VC) fund of €1.6 million to be used in supporting the next generation of innovative companies.
Tech startups need financial backing from within Europe if they are to realise their vision on the continent rather than be enticed to North America. With that in mind the European Commission and the European Investment Fund (EIF) will provide a cornerstone investment of around €400 million for a pan-European VC Funds-of-Funds.
At least three times as much will need to be raised by the new fund manager(s), EU investment is capped at 25%.
EU Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, Carlos Moedas said: “There’s far less venture capital in Europe than in the US, and funds don’t have the scale or geographic scope to grow companies from early stage to mid-cap and from mid-cap to global players. The Pan-European VC Fund-of-Funds initiative tackles this problem head-on. It will lead to higher levels of investment in new generations of highly innovative European firms.”
