ROMA (ITALPRESS) – The European Investment Bank Group (Belgium Group), all the Member States of the European Union and private and institutional investors join forces to mobilize up to 80 billion euros of investment for highly innovative enterprises in the growth phase, with the aim of turning them into global leaders.
During a ceremony held today in Brussels, the representatives of the 27 participating Member States and institutional and private investors confirmed their support for the second phase of the European Tech Champions Initiative (ETCI 2.0)’. Managed by the EIB Group, the fund aims to bring new capital to European technological scale-ups, strengthening the pan-European investment alliance in support of their growth and competitiveness. Azimut Holding, an Italian group active in asset management and wealth management, was the first investor to join the initiative, opening the way to the participation of other important investors, including Green Arrow Capital and the Compagnia di San Paolo Foundation for Italy, BBVA, Banco Santander and AltamarCAM for Spain, and Danske Bank for Denmark. Further additions are expected soon.
ETCI 2.0 is particularly important for Italy because it can help strengthen the national market of private equity and venture capital, which remains relatively limited, especially for financing in the most advanced stages of development, necessary for innovative enterprises to grow on a scale. The ETCI’s first iteration has already supported 15 mega funds that actively invest in European startups committed to growing on a larger scale and has favoured the development of 12 “ unicorns” based in the EU, namely scale-ups valued more than 1 billion euros.
‘In the wake of this success, the second stage of the initiative will grow significantly both in size and in scope, with potential additional contributions from the 27 EU countries and active participation of private and institutional investors’, we read again. “The partnership launched today aims to accelerate the growth of innovative European enterprises, providing them with adequate capital to grow faster and wider,” said the EIB Group President Nadia Calviño. “This is a decisive step to bridge the scale-up financing gap, so that ideas, technologies and innovative enterprises born in Europe can remain and flourish in Europe.”.
“A decisive step to bridge the funding gap for growing enterprises in Europe, strengthen the European capacity for innovation and ensure that the most promising European companies can grow, compete and become global leaders,” said the Minister for Economy and Finance, Giancarlo Giorgetti.
“With ETCI 2.0 Europe makes a qualitative leap: it is not enough to create innovation, we must also give it the necessary capital to grow here, become global leaders and generate value in Europe,” said Gelsomina Vigliotti, Vice President of the EIB Group. “Italy is an active part of this alliance, with the support of the Government and the accession of institutional investors and Italian asset managers. It is a strong signal: savings and European capital can become a motor of competitiveness, strategic autonomy and new industrial growth.”.
“From 2014 Azimut invests in private markets, conveying the excess of private savings towards the real economy. This choice reflects our deep conviction that this asset class is a fundamental engine for the growth of our Group and for the development of the economy as a whole,” said Giorgio Medda, CEO of the Azimut Group.
“Our participation in the historic ETCI 2.0 initiative is a natural evolution of this commitment, aimed at further supporting the most promising European technological enterprises in their growth path and at the same time contributing to the creation of a stronger and more competitive European innovation ecosystem,” Medda concludes.
‘The technological future of Europe depends on our ability to hold capital, talent and ambition on the continent,’ said the Founder & Executive Chairman of Green Arrow Capital, Eugenio de Blasio. “As leader of Italian assets managers in private capital, Green Arrow Capital joins ETCI 2.0, providing capital and experience to help European scale-ups become the global leaders our economy needs. “To strengthen European competitiveness, it is essential to create conditions for technological enterprises to grow and successfully face the scale-up phase,” said Marco Gilli, President of the Compagnia di San Paolo Foundation.
“With our commitment to the European Tech Champions Initiative 2.0, the Compagnia di San Paolo Foundation contributes to mobilising long-term capitals to support innovation, promoting the emergence of European technological champions capable of competing globally and creating value for Europe.”.
The ETFCI 2.0 aims to collect at least 15 billion euros, about four times the size of the original fund, launched in 2023. It will therefore try to mobilize total investments up to 80 billion euros in favor of more than 1 500 scale-ups in Europe. The size of the ETF 2.0 will be defined in the second half of 2026, on the occasion of the so-called “first closing”, when the contributions of all participating parties will be finalized, including the investment up to 1.25 billion euros provided by the EIB Group. Unlike ETACI 1.0, aimed exclusively at funds with a collection target of at least 1 billion euros, ETCI 2.0 can also invest in funds with a collection of more than 300 million euros.
This novelty will significantly increase the audience of Italian managers of venture capital funds who will be able to access the program. The Italian Government invested in ETCI 1.0 150 million euros and the European Investment Fund (EIF, part of the EIB Group) invested 150 million euros in turn. In total, over 470 million euros have already been invested in Italy under ETCI 1.0. It is expected that ETCI 2.0 will contribute to the creation of over 100 funds in total, including up to 45 mega funds that will invest in scale-ups with an average ticket of 200 million euros for each enterprise.
The initiative also provides for the creation of a pan-European investment platform to offer investors a pipeline of European technological funds and strengthen their knowledge of investment opportunities, market and innovation ecosystem. A digital tool will be available to support the investment platform to facilitate investor involvement.
In this way, the ETFCI 2.0 will expand access to late stage capital throughout Europe, destined for the most advanced stages of growth, strengthen links between national and European investment initiatives and offer long-term investors a structured path towards the most promising European technological enterprises.
The ETFCI 2.0 will work in synergy with various national initiatives to guarantee the technological champions maximum support and keep them rooted in Europe, including the French initiative “Tibi” and the German one called “WIN”, contributing to a European ecosystem of the most federated investments. By mobilizing public and private capital at cross-border level, ETFCI 2.0 will contribute to European markets of the most solid, integrated and efficient capital. This will in turn promote the EU’s saving and investment union and strengthen strategic autonomy, innovation and productivity growth in Europe.
-Photo IPA Agency-
(ITALPRESS).
