On the occasion of the "Growing Together" event in Athens, five development banks and investment institutions signed a cooperation protocol to increase the capacity of European growth capital funds to provide financing to technology companies based in the European Union (Scale-Up Europe). Over the next 3 to 5 years, EUR 3.3 billion will be mobilised. euro. The ultimate goal is to develop European 'unicorns'.

This partnership is part of the Scale-Up Europe initiative, which was launched in February 2022 in Paris. The initiative was conceived in the context of the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union. The European start-ups late-stage start-ups need very significant financial resources to support their development and internationalisation, to enable them to become global technology leaders.

To support the appearance of European "unicorns", France, Germany, Greece, Denmark and Finland, through their development agencies, decided join forces and work together to develop the European market for financial instruments they invest in in businesses that are in the growth stage. They signed a cooperation protocol providing for a joint investment effort of €3.3 billion euros over the next 3 to 5 years.

The five partners are:

• Bpifrance (France)
• KfW Capital (Germany)
• Tesi (Finland)
• the Hellenic Development Investment Bank, formerly TANEO
• Vækstfonden – Danish Development Fund (Denmark)

This strategic partnership is also open to new partners among European development agencies.

Objectives of Scale-Up Europe

The agreement provides for effective operational coordination at all levels of the investment process:

• regular exchanges on the flow of proposals
• exchange of necessary diligence
• joint communication in the context of co-investment activities
• monitoring of investments, etc.

Each institution to remain autonomous and independent in its investment decisions.

It also aims to contribute to the development of the ecosystem by:

• exchange of best practices in investment selection
• exchange of information and expertise
• reports and publications on the state and performance of the European market and local markets, etc.

Through this agreement, the five partners confirmed their ambitions: the development of European technological champions, who will play a leading role in securing Europe's economic and industrial future, ensuring its competitiveness and ensuring its technological sovereignty.