Slovene Equity Growth Investment Programme (SEGIP)

The Slovene Equity Growth Investment Programme (SEGIP) is a EUR 100 million equity investment programme launched in November 2017.

Following the success of the initial cooperation, SEGIP has been topped up with an additional €100 million to support early stage start-ups, scale-ups and family businesses seeking a change of ownership. The updated calls for expression of interest for fund managers, related to VC and succession funding respectively, are published below. Slovenia: EIF and SID Banka provide additional €100 million to support early-stage startups, scale-ups and family businesses

The funding is to be invested alongside private investors and will support Slovene SMEs’ and midcaps’ access to growth and expansion equity capital. EIF and SID Banka contribute EUR 50 million each to this jointly developed programme, which is expected to catalyse additional private-sector investments into funds and companies.

The objective of SEGIP is to support Slovene SMEs and midcaps, to attract international private equity investment to Slovenia and to build local capacity by supporting emerging fund managers which focus a significant part of their investments into Slovene companies.

EIF will manage and deploy the SEGIP, through fund investments into venture capital and private equity funds, and co-investments alongside funds and private investors on market terms. The programme is not restricted to any particular sector.  

Part of the investment programme is dedicated to local market development and capacity building. As part of SEGIP, EIF will manage a separate selection process which will target emerging teams that are established in Slovenia and who are focusing their investment activities in Slovenia. Please see the link below to apply:

Open Call for EoI-SEGIP-VC
Open Call for EoI-SEGIP-Succession

This is one of the first financing programmes launched by EIF under the EIF-NPI Equity Platform and the Investment Plan for Europe in cooperation with EU National Promotional Institutions. SID Banka became a founding member of the EIF-NPI Equity Platform’s General Forum in September 2016.

Are you a fund manager interested in partnering with us under the Slovene Equity Growth Investment Programme?

Both fund investments and co-investment capital is provided by EIF to selected fund managers with positive track records, and further based on the criteria as demonstrated below. Additional criteria may apply in each case.

As EIF’s local partner, SID Banka can provide local support and reference to fund managers who are seeking to increase their presence in Slovenia. Interested fund managers can be in touch with EIF to inquire about facilitation of such contact.

Fund investments:

Fund managers interested in being considered for a fund investment can submit their fund proposal to EIF. Proposals are being considered on a continuous basis.

In order to be considered for funding under the SEGIP, the investment fund must:

• Be managed by a team with a proven track record;
• Have a strategy focused on growth and expansion investments (including acquisition, buy-and-build, and replacement capital strategies that include capital increase in the portfolio companies);
• provide a majority of equity or quasi-equity funding to portfolio companies; 
• be targeting to invest a significant portion of the fund in companies that are:
  • established in Slovenia or with significant long-term operations in Slovenia;
  • SMEs (EC definition) or mid-caps (up to and including 2999 FTEs); and
  • have strong growth prospects.  

Additional criteria may apply, and will be provided by EIF upon review of the investment proposal.

Other than the continuous selection process, a specific selection process for local emerging teams will be launched in 2018.

Co-investments:

EIF will provide co-investment capital to selected fund managers who:

• have an established relationship with EIF;
• have a positive track record;
• are proposing a co-investment in a new or existing portfolio company of their main investment fund, in which EIF is an existing investor.

The co-investment capital will be provided through a co-investment vehicle, which is set up and managed by the fund manager. The fund manager will invest in the target company from the co-investment vehicle alongside an investment from the main investment fund. The size of investment will be assessed in each case. There are no pre-defined maximum or minimum amounts.

Interested fund managers should submit to EIF a co-investment proposal targeting an identified target company through their existing EIF relationships or contact EIF for further information.

Should the investment proposal meet the criteria listed below, EIF will conduct an initial screening to determine eligibility before proceeding.

The target company must:

• be an SME (EC definition) or mid-cap (up to and including 2999 FTEs), with at least two employees and having been operating for at least two years;
• be seeking later stage venture or private equity financing (i.e. the company must be beyond seed and start-up stage);
• have strong growth prospects;
• be established in Slovenia or with significant long-term operations in Slovenia.

Additional criteria may apply, and will be provided by EIF upon review of the co-investment proposal.

Contacts and submission of investment proposals

If you are a fund manager, please read more about how to submit your investment proposal to the EIF or be in touch with your existing EIF relationship manager.

If you are a company interested in the funding described above, please refer to investment funds in EIF's portfolio, a list of which can be found here.