French start-ups get financing boost
A combination of European and French public funding will help to stimulate French innovative start up companies, the French Minister of finance, Laurent Fabius, has announced. Between 60 and 90 million euro will be made available for innovative start-ups. The key difference between this money and most of the previous allocations is that the money will be directly invested in them, rather than in private risk capital funds. The move has been in part a response to the plummeting amount of risk capital that is available to firms. Figures show that French start-ups raised 169 million euro in risk capital in March 2001, but by November the amount was just 12 million euro. The funds for this new initiative will be provided by the French state, capital from European investment funds and the Caisse de dépôts et consignation, a French public financing institution.
Countries
France