One of the most successful financial tools of the Operational Program Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship & Innovation (EPAnEK) is undoubtedly the Venture Capital Fund (VENTURE Capital Fund) or otherwise EquiFund.

EquiFund is an investment platform, which facilitates the access of start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises mainly to capital through Financial Intermediaries (EXAs), which are investment funds - venture capital companies (Funds).

Funding for the EquiFund

The EquiFund platform is funded with EUR 200 million. euro from EPANEK, with 60 million euro from the European Investment Fund (European Investment Fund/EIF), with 32 million euro from the European Investment Bank -resources of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI-Junker Plan) and institutional and private investors.

By leveraging additional funds from institutional and retail investors, The initiative has exceeded EUR 500 million. euro of available resources.

Management

Equifund is managed by the EIF.

Resource allocation

EquiFund's available resources are allocated to three different entry windows, where investment funds accept proposals depending on the maturity and size of the investment project.

• Innovation window. 4 Funds are active with commitments of € 130.6 million. (of which €102.2 million is EPANEK resources)
• Early Stage window. 2 Funds are active with commitments of € 82.1 million. (of which EUR 35.8 million are EPANEK resources)
• Growth window. 3 Funds with pledges of €288.1 million euro (of which EUR 52 million are EPANEK resources)

By September 2021 they have been funded 115 enterprises with EUR 211 million euros. Of this EUR 107.2 million, it is not enough. Euro is the public resources of EPANEK.

These enterprises employ 3,658 people, a significant proportion of whom are highly trained and know-how.

Investment projects supported by EquiFund are characterised by innovation and high growth potential. Many of the businesses that have been funded by the platform have emerged as highly successful investments. These investments attracted additional capital from Greek and foreign private investors.

EquiFund has been described as a successful tool by the European Union. For this reason, Fi-Compass, which is the special information platform of the European Commission that promotes the Union's financial instruments, made tributes in 2019 and 2020.

The results achieved by EquiFund created the conditions for deciding on the continuation of the financial instrument for the "Competitiveness 2021-2027" Programme.