Our Executive Director, Victoria Hristova, participated in a key event organized by fi-compass in Athens, Greece. The two-day event held on February, 26th and 27th was organized by the financial instruments’ unit of the European Investment Bank on topics such as the role of venture capital in driving innovation and transformation of the VC ecosystem and how ERDF financial instruments can generate a broader impact on the EU businesses’ innovation potential
Victoria gave her vision for the future of the ecosystem at regional level, and also shared the Fund of Funds’ gained experience in structuring equity instruments to support companies across various verticals and high-value-added products and services. In the panel discussion covering the topic "Developing the Equity Ecosystem," she was joined by experts from the European Investment Fund, Hellenic Bank, the European Investment Bank, and DG REGIO, who also presented best practices.
The forum "European Regional Development Fund - Capital for Innovation 2021-2027" (ERDF Equity for Innovation 2021-2027) provided a platform for discussing new European policies aimed at enhancing the innovative drive of businesses and encouraging stronger participation from the banking sector in venture capital investments and advancing the EU's research and development efforts. Despite the high innovation potential of companies in Europe, European markets still struggle to overcome several barriers. One of the significant challenges is the reluctance of traditional banks to finance higher-risk projects. Equity and quasi-equity instruments within the ERDF undoubtedly have the capacity to support the ecosystem and present growth opportunities for innovative companies in the EU throughout their entire life cycle. However, according to the latest report from the European Commission on the use of financial instruments, the utilization of ERDF funds for equity instruments remains relatively low compared to other FIs.
The two-day seminar provided participants with the opportunity to share perspectives, professional insights, and successfully addressed challenges with colleagues and experts from the European Commission and the European Investment Bank group. Discussions covered topics such as successful equity investments under the ERDF in innovation, broader application of ERDF instruments for the 2021-2027 period, challenges in their implementation encountered by managing authorities and funds, practices for combining grants with equity instruments, including other European and national funding schemes, capacity building for fund managers, and many more.
