€2 billion package of measures for start-ups finalised

© iStock/Xavier Arnau

The €2 billion package of measures for start-ups announced on 1 April 2020 has been finalised. In the last few weeks, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy and the Federal Ministry of Finance have elaborated the details of the package of measures together with the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) and KfW Capital.

Thomas Jarzombek, the Economic Affairs Ministry’s Commissioner for the Digital Industry and Start-ups, said: “We must make sure that Covid-19 will not slow down the growth of our highly innovative enterprises. This is why we have been working very hard to finalise the €2 billion package of measures so that start-ups and small enterprises can soon make use of it. This is how we will safeguard jobs and innovation in Germany.”

Dr Jörg Kukies, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Finance, said: “This is good news for entrepreneurs today: the package of support measures for start-ups has been finalised. The Federal Government’s protective shield for start-ups aims to rapidly and effectively help this important fast-growing sector, which employs thousands of men and women in Germany. We must help young, innovative enterprises to tackle the coronavirus crisis. We need the new and creative ideas of start-ups and young technology companies to be able to get going again after the crisis. It is of course clear that we must make use of tax money in a reasonable way.”

The €2 billion package of measures is to address start-ups and small enterprises with sustainable business models. The package of measures is based on two pillars:

Pillar 1: the Corona Matching Facility

On the one hand, the additional public funding will be made available via the newly established Corona Matching Facility in the form of venture capital funds to ensure that investors continue to provide funding to highly innovative and forward-looking start-ups during the coronavirus crisis. This is to ensure that young enterprises can continue to grow in the current difficult situation. The Corona Matching Facility will make use of existing cooperation with public partners, including KfW Capital and the European Investment Bank, to quickly provide public funding to start-ups in the form of venture capital funds.

Pillar 2 for start-ups and small enterprises (with no access to pillar 1)

On the other hand, there will be additional ways to secure funding for start-ups and small enterprises that have no access via the Corona Matching Facility. For this purpose, there will be close cooperation with the Länder, including via the cooperation with the institutions at regional level (Landesgesellschaften).