Support for National Register Start-ups “Elevate Greece” to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic – Cycle 2

The programme

Support for National Register Start-ups "Elevate Greece" to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic - Cycle 2

Objective of the Action Support for National Register Start-ups "Elevate Greece" to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic - Cycle 2, is to enhance the entrepreneurship and liquidity of the start-ups/innovative SMEs, (active in the areas of Smart Specialisation/RIS3), the National Registry of Start-ups "Elevate Greece" under the adverse conditions of the COVID-19 crisis, which was aggravated by the prolonged outbreak of the disease (in the affected CDCs), in the form of non-repayable aid (working capital), so that businesses remain viable and jobs are not lost.

Who it concerns

The terms and conditions for the participation of companies applying for funding under this Agreement are as follows:

• Be registered in the National Register of Young Entrepreneurs/Elevate Greece, www.elevategreece.gr .  .Registered companies that were funded under the Decision No. 1729/262/A2/ 16.03.2021 (ID: O88346MTLP-OHY), as amended and in force, may be supported cumulatively from both calls with a maximum total amount of € 100.000. A single enterprise may not be supported under both calls for proposals for the same reference year, i.e. 2020.
• The activity of the enterprise must be compatible with a sector of the national RIS3 Smart Specialisation Strategy (see Annex VII),
• They must be micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, as defined in Annex I of Commission Regulation (EU) 651/2014 of 17 June 2014 (Annex V of this call); iv)   must have started up by 31.12.2021,
• Be active in one of the eligible SRAs, as listed in Annex I "ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES (SRAs)". The code must be declared either as the main activity or as the activity with the highest revenue,  
• Operate exclusively in one of the following forms of corporate/commercial enterprise: IKE, LTD, LLC, SA, with registered office in the Greek Territory, or capital companies with registered office abroad, which maintain a branch in Greece, as long as it has a Greek VAT number and is registered in the General Commercial Register,
• They must operate within the Greek territory, i.e. have a Greek VAT number or a certificate from the General Commercial Register,
• The sum of the costs arising from the following categories of expenditure is equal to or greater than EUR 6,250.00:                                                                                                                 

1. 1α. of the Commodity Use Markets,
2. 1β. the Purchases of Raw Materials and Materials for Use,
3. 1γ. the total benefits to employees (except those who were employed in agricultural-biological activities), 
4. 1δ. the total of the Miscellaneous Operating Expenses,                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

•  businesses to keep haplographic or duplicative books of the law. 4308/2014,                                                                                                                                                                                             
• have submitted an income tax and VAT return (if they are subject to VAT) for the reference year 2020 in due time, in accordance with the tax legislation, or a Declaration of Responsibility for those companies that choose 2021 as the reference year, in accordance with ANNEX IV.  If an E3 amendment return has been submitted after the deadline for submitting an income tax return, both must be submitted in order to verify that the amounts in the above-mentioned fields of the last timely return have actually been spent.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           
• In the case of working capital grants in the framework of all the non-refundable support actions for businesses affected by the pandemic COVID-19 of the NSRF 2014-2020, the total amount of grants from this Action and the other Actions mentioned above, must not exceed the sum of the amounts indicated in the E3 codes for the reference year, on the basis of which the grant of this call is calculated. 
• that there are no grounds for exclusion of paragraph 1 of article 40 of the law. 4488/2017 (Α΄137),
• where they are active in the processing and marketing of agricultural products, to undertake not to pass on all or part of the aid received to primary producers and to undertake that such aid may not be fixed on the basis of the price or quantity of products purchased by primary producers or placed on the market by the undertakings concerned; (xiii)  not have an outstanding recovery order  against them for previous illegal and incompatible State aid on the basis of a decision of the European Union/EU or the Court of Justice of the European Union/EU,
• the total amount of de minimis aid received in the past by the single enterprise, including aid from this Action, does not exceed EUR 200 000 (or EUR 100 000 for the road freight transport sector) in a period of three years (current calendar year and the two (2) previous calendar years) preceding the year in which the aid is granted.
• to meet the application conditions of Reg. 1407/2013 (De Minimis) as set out in Annex IX to this Decision.

All of the above basic conditions for the participation of enterprises must be met, as failure to meet one or more of them is grounds for rejecting the application for funding.

Program budget

The indicative budget (Public Expenditure) of the Action amounts to the total amount of 34 million euros για το σύνολο των περιφερειών της χώρας.

The Action is funded  by European Union (ERDF REACT EU) and National Resources under the Operational Programme "Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Innovation EPAnEK".

Amount of subsidy

The total public expenditure of the Action of this call for proposals amounts to €34 million.

Public funding covers Working Capital equal to 80% of the company's costs for the reference year (2020 or 2021), with a minimum grant amount of €5,000 and a maximum of €100,000.

Beneficiaries choose the year in which they incurred the highest working capital expenditure, i.e. 2020 or 2021 on which the requested grant amount will be calculated.

The amounts on which the exact amount of the grant will be calculated above percentage (50%) are the sum of:

• Commodity Markets (code 102)
•  the Purchases of Raw Materials and Materials for Use (code 202)
•  of all employee benefits (except those employed in agricultural and biological activities) (codes 181, 281, 481)
•  of Miscellaneous Operating Expenses. (codes 185, 285, 485)

 Specifically, the calculation of the maximum amount of the grant (public funding) is the sum of the declared amounts of the fields of the previous year's E3 form (use 2020 or 2021): 102, 202, 181, 281, 481, 185, 285, 485 multiplied by 80%.

The working capital paid must be spent in 2022 on expenditure declared in 2022 on the E3 form codes on the basis of which it was calculated.

In the event that during the audit carried out following the submission of the tax returns of companies for the financial year 2022, it is found that the subsidy paid exceeds the amounts declared, the excess amount will be recovered as unduly paid.

Expenses subsidized

The public funding covers working capital up to 80% of the company's expenses for the reference year (2020 or 2021) with a minimum grant amount of 5,000 euros and a maximum of 100,000 euros.

Beneficiaries select the year in which they incurred the highest Working Capital expenditure, namely 2020 or 2021, on which the requested grant amount will be calculated.

The subsidy of the beneficiary enterprises with expenses equal to or greater than the amount of 125,000 euros amounts to 100,000 euros.

Businesses shall not be subsidised if the result of the audit demonstrates a sum of costs of less than EUR 6 250.

The amounts on which the exact amount of the grant will be calculated are obtained by adding together: the Purchases of Goods for Use (code 102) the Purchases of Materials and Materials for Use (code 202) the total of Employee Benefits (excluding those employed in Agri-organic activities) (codes 181, 281, 481) the Miscellaneous Operating Expenditure (codes 185, 285, 485).

Registered businesses that were funded under the Decision No. 1729/262/A2/16.03.2021 (ID: Ω88346MTLP-ΩXY), as amended and in force, can be supported cumulatively from both Calls with a maximum total amount of 100,000 euros. A company cannot be funded under both Calls for proposals for the same reference year, i.e. 2020.

Important dates

• Starting date for submission of proposals: from 22/6/2022
• Closing date for proposals: until 31/10/2022

Απαραίτητα Δικαιολογητικά 

The application for funding is submitted electronically through the State Aid Information System (SAIS) provided by the Ministry of Development and Investment, at:  www.ependyseis.gr  with the reference: 'Elevate Greece' National Register Start-up Support for National Register Start-ups for the response to the COVID-19 pandemic - Cycle 2.

The potentially benefiting enterprise submits the application for funding, upon submission of which it is cumulatively obliged to:

• fill in the relevant fields of the submission form as shown in ANNEX III: SUBMISSION FORM.
• attach to  PSCE the supporting documents provided for in ANNEX II: PARTICIPATION DOCUMENTS TO BE SUBMITTED ONLINE
• finalise the application to make it available for processing at a later stage.

Χρήσιμα αρχεία

SELECTED IDS

SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS TO BE ATTACHED ELECTRONICALLY

ANNEX III