The European Investment Fund, based in Kirchberg, and the European Commission announced their Pan-European Venture Capital Funds-of-Funds programme, dubbed VentureEU, on Tuesday.

According to the institutions’ press release:

“Backed by EU funding to the tune of EUR 410 million, the funds are aiming to raise up to EUR 2.1 billion of public and private investment. In turn this is expected to trigger an estimated EUR 6.5 billion of new investment in innovative start-up and scale-up companies across Europe, doubling the amount of venture capital currently available in Europe.”

The EIF and commission said that, in 2016, VCs invested about €6.5bn in the EU compared to €39.4bn in the US. European venture funds typically raise around €56m on average, compared to €156m raised by American ones.

In the press statement, Jyrki Katainen, vice president of the European Commission and European jobs commissioner, said:

“In venture capital, size matters! With VentureEU, Europe’s many innovative entrepreneurs will soon get the investment they need to innovate and grow into global success stories. This means more jobs and growth in Europe.”

The €410m will come from existing programmes, including the European Fund for Strategic Investments, the so-called “Juncker plan” to boost EU economic growth. The EU hopes private investors will place €1.69bn in the new VC fund.

In a press release issued on 10 April by Invest Europe, a trade group for private equity and VC firms, Nenad Marovac stated:

“It’s great to see the launch of this EU initiative to facilitate more investment by private institutions into European venture capital…. Major global investors will now be able to benefit from the strong returns European VC fund managers are delivering.”

Marovac is vice chair of Invest Europe and managing partner of the VC firm DN Capital.