No longer just banks: new sources of funding for innovative businesses

“New regulations for venture capital and social entrepreneurship funds adopted in the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee today will benefit small, innovative and growing businesses”, said Sirpa Pietikäinen MEP, the EPP Group Spokeswoman on the issue.

The EU is lagging far behind the USA where investments in venture capital market are five times bigger. Current regulations that came into force in 2013 haven’t helped much as in April 2016, only 70 venture capital funds and four social entrepreneurship funds were registered in the EU database.

“This clearly tells us why we need better, more productive regulations and I’m happy that the European Commission came up with its timely proposal. Bank lending will not be sufficient to boost European innovative economies to grow and we are desperately in need of a substantial increase in venture capital funding across Europe as part of the Capital Markets Union”, she continued.

"This new proposal should improve and increase venture capital sources to fund European innovative, clean and future-oriented businesses by increasing the range of companies that can be invested in. It will also make the registration and cross-border marketing of these funds easier and cheaper”, she underlined.

Pietikäinen is also happy with the Parliament’s contribution. “The targeted amendments adopted in committee will further remove regulatory barriers and increase the supply of capital to businesses. It is, for example, important to make sure that a fund manager established in one Member State is able to manage a fund established in another, while also marketing the fund across Europe.”