The European Investment Fund (EIF) and Axis, the venture capital entity of the Instituto Crédito Oficial (ICO) have launched the European Angels Fund – Fondo Isabel la Católica.
Richard Pelly (pictured), chief executive of EIF, and Román Escolano, president of ICO and Axis, signed the agreement to create the EAF-Fondo Isabel la Católica in the presence of Fernando Jiménez Latorre, Spain’s Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs.
After its successful launch in Germany in March 2012, Spain is the second country to benefit from this new facility.
The EAF – Fondo Isabel La Católica is a co-investment fund which provides funding to business angels and other non-institutional investors wanting to invest into innovative small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Through this type of financing, the EAF – Fondo Isabel La Católica strengthens the investment capacity of business angels and encourages investments into growth-oriented SMEs in their seed, early or growth stages.
The EAF – Fondo Isabel La Católica addresses the investment objectives and needs of the business angels: instead of co-investing in individual enterprises, the EAF leaves all investment decisions to the business angels and provides them with funding for various future investments.
The amount of funding depends on the total target investment and generally ranges between EUR250,000 and EUR5.0m. Investments can be made in all SME sectors and development stages of an enterprise but they have to be new investments.
The fund initially amounts to EUR20m with a view to reaching a possible EUR30m and will be funded equally by the EIF and ICO. It will be managed by the EIF.
Pelly says: “With the European Angels Fund – Fondo Isabel La Católica, we aim to stimulate the business activity of business angels and small family offices in Spain in a targeted and sustainable way. Particularly in the current economic situation, Business Angels are an important source of financing for new and innovative SMEs; therefore, the EIF plans to roll out the initiative more widely in Europe.“
