Two-billion-euro bailout for start-ups to be extended

The Federal Ministry of Finance has extended Corona aid for start-ups and small SMEs to the tune of two billion euros until the middle of next year.

The German Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF) is continuing billions of euros in financial support for start-ups until next year. The development bank KfW is instructed to continue the two billion euros from the package of measures until 30.06.2021. Initially, the finance ministry had only set the funding to run until the end of the year. The financial package was originally set up in May this year and consists of two pillars.

Pillar One supports venture capitalists through existing collaborations with venture capital fund KfW Capital and the European Investment Fund. Venture capital funds can apply for liquidity support for their investments. So far, about 860 million euros have been approved by the BMF. The funds thus provide financial support to about 350 start-ups.

Pillar 2 is intended to support all those start-ups and SMEs that do not have access to venture capital. They can receive money from the two-billion-euro pot, for example, via the state development institutes. The annual turnover of the companies must not exceed 75 million euros. So far, funding institutes from 14 federal states are represented. The institutions from Hesse and Saarland are still missing, but according to the BMF, they will follow shortly. So far, loan agreements amounting to 556 million euros have been concluded in this way.