Overview of EIF mandates deployed in Portugal
The EIF has deployed capital in Portugal under a wide range of programmes and mandates. A few of them are detailed here:
EFSI
The European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) was launched in July 2015 as a joint initiative between the EU and the EIB Group. EFSI is the financial pillar of the EU’s Investment Plan for Europe and has two components: the Infrastructure and Innovation Window managed by the EIB and the SME Window implemented by the EIF.
COSME
The European programme to promote competitiveness, under which the EIF is responsible for guaranteeing loans (COSME Loan Guarantee Facility, or LGF) and for making equity investments (COSME Equity Facility for Growth, or EFG). The programme addresses the financing needs of SMEs that are perceived as risky, perhaps due to their start-up nature, their business model or their lack of collateral.
InnovFin
InnovFin aims to facilitate and accelerate access to finance for innovative businesses and other innovative entities in Europe. It covers both debt and equity financing. The InnovFin SME Guarantee (SMEG) offers a 50% uncapped guarantee or counter guarantee to financial intermediaries to allow them to provide debt financing on more favourable terms to innovative SMEs and small mid-caps.
Meanwhile, InnovFin Equity provides equity investments and co-investments to or alongside funds focusing on companies in their pre-seed, seed and start-up phases operating in innovative sectors.
EaSI
The Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI) programme promotes quality and sustainable employment, improves working conditions and decent social protection, while combating social exclusion and poverty.
This EU-level instrument has been active since 2014 with a budget of EUR 919m in 2013 prices.
PVCi
The Portugal Venture Capital Initiative (PVCi) is a fund-of-funds designed to catalyse and support a private equity and venture capital financing ecosystem in Portugal.
Through its seven investment funds, PVCi capital has reached 50 SMEs in sectors including consumer goods and retail, business and industrial products and life sciences. The fund has a total size of EUR 111.3m and the total amount invested into companies by all underlying funds already exceeds EUR 311m.
SIA
The EIF’s equity instrument in the social sector. Through SIA, the EIF takes cornerstone equity investments in social funds, which, in turn, invest to build successful social enterprises. Under SIA, a social enterprise must deliver on social impact metrics as well as financial metrics.
RCR
The Risk Capital Resources mandate, or RCR, is a mandate managed by the EIF on behalf of the EIB. It focuses on equity activity, such as early stage (venture capital and technology transfer) investments, growth and lower mid-market activities.
InvestEU
The InvestEU programme will provide the EU with crucial long-term funding by leveraging substantial private and public funds in support of a sustainable recovery. It will also help mobilise private investments for the EU’s policy priorities, such as the European Green Deal and the digital transition. The InvestEU Programme will bring together under one roof the multitude of EU financial instruments currently available to support investment in the EU, making funding for investment projects in Europe simpler, more efficient and more flexible.The InvestEU Fund will be implemented through financial partners who will invest in projects using the EU budget guarantee of EUR 26.2 bn. The entire budgetary guarantee will back the investment projects of the implementing partners, increase their risk-bearing capacity and thus mobilise at least EUR 372 bn in additional investment.
CCS GF
An EU programme managed by the EIF. The EIF provides guarantees to financial intermediaries that lend to micro-businesses and SMEs in the cultural and creative sectors, which often face difficulties accessing debt financing. The Cultural and Creative Sectors Guarantee Facility (CCS GF) also offers financial intermediaries training on the specific needs of cultural and creative businesses, and encourages the adoption of a credit assessment approach tailored to the sector.
Skills & Education Guarantee Pilot
The Skills & Education Guarantee Pilot is a debt financing initiative dedicated to stimulating investments in education, training and skills – as part of the solution to get more people into jobs and to better respond to the European economy’s changing needs. Investments in skills contribute to growth, competitiveness and social convergence, while addressing the challenges linked to digital transformations and the transition to a carbon-free economy.
The EIF implements the S&E Pilot on behalf of the European Commission and thus, the initiative benefits from the EU’s budget support under the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), main pillar of the Investment Plan for Europe.
The European Guarantee Fund
The European Guarantee Fund was created by the EIB Group with contributions from Portugal and other Member States to protect companies that are struggling in the crisis caused by COVID-19. With almost EUR 25bn in guarantees, the EGF allows the EIB and EIF to swiftly offer companies, mostly SMEs and Mid-Caps, access to loans, guarantees, asset-backed securities, capital and other financial instruments. The EGF forms part of the package of recovery measures put in place by the European Union, with the objective of providing a total of EUR 540bn to support the hardest hit sectors of the EU economy.
Portugal Blue
Launched in October of 2020, Portugal Blue is the result of a partnership between the EIF, the Portuguese Government, through Fundo Azul, and Banco Português de Fomento (BPF). The programme aims to mobilise over EUR 75m of private, public, and European capital to foster the ecosystem of the Portuguese blue economy, providing venture capital and expansion opportunities to companies at all stages of development.
Portugal Growth
Portugal Growth is a EUR 100m programme launched by the EIF and the Portuguese national promotional institution, Instituição Financeira de Desenvolvimento (IFD) to support the growth and internationalisation of mature Portuguese companies through access to private equity. The EIF and IFD each contribute EUR 50m to this joint programme, which is expected to catalyse over EUR 300m into funds and companies, by crowding in further resources also from private investors.
Portugal Tech
Portugal Tech is a EUR 100 m investment programme launched in 2018 by IFD and the EIF, which focuses on venture capital and tech transfer in Portugal. The EIF and IFD each committed EUR 50m. The programme aims to attract private and institutional capital to invest in Portuguese technology-based companies. Portugal Tech successfully mobilised private capital and generated about five euros of investments for each euro of national funding. The program collaborated with some of Portugal’s most outstanding venture capital managers.
Portugal Tech II
The Portugal Tech II programme was developed by the FEI, in cooperation with BPF, to support the development of the venture capital ecosystem in Portugal. The new programme will be funded by a EUR 50m allocation from the Government, matched with an additional EUR 50m from the EIF. Inspired by Portugal Tech I, Portugal Tech II aims to mobilise EUR 250m in venture capital investments to boost technology-transfer projects from universities and technology-based start-ups with high potential in areas such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, fintech, healthtech and cybersecurity, amongst others.