Brussels – The European Commission has expressed its willingness to push ahead with a new fund for European business development, the Scaleup Europe Fund. The funding will have an as-yet-undefined endowment, but the Commission spoke of a “multi-billion” amount. The recipients will be EU companies operating in strategic advanced technology sectors.
The EU body will not be alone in the construction of this project, but will work in synergy with the European Investment Bank (EIB) and potential private-sector investors. Foundations and financial institutions have been consulted; in Italy, the Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo and the Fondazione Cariplo may participate.
The Scaleup Europe Fund will be dedicated to medium-sized companies that have already identified a sustainable business model and aim to expand rapidly. These types of companies are referred to as “scale-ups“, which differ from the newer “startups“. The aim of the fund is to enable faster development, offering European entrepreneurs the means to close the gap with the world leaders.
“Europe has the ideas and the talent to create the most innovative companies in the world,” commented the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, emphasising, however, that “as these companies grow, we need to ensure that they have the means to thrive right here at home. On this depend high-quality jobs“.
In Europe, there is no shortage of success stories. The most famous is Klarna, a Swedish fintech specialising in instalment payments, which in just a few years has reached a valuation of more than 14 billion. The gap with the United States, however, remains enormous: in the period 2021–2023, there were only 178 companies in the EU with a valuation of USD 500 million to USD 10 billion, as opposed to 1,496 in the United States. Data highlighted by the EIB’s 2024 report “The scale-up gap“.
The Commission has the not-so-easy intention of reversing this course. According to the announced plans, a public call for tender for the selection of the management company will be published shortly, with the aim that the Scaleup Europe Fund will be able to start its first investments in the spring of 2026.
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
