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Annual Report 2011
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enterprises through the partnerships formed with public
and private entities (the German Ministry of Economics
and LfA in Germany) and country-specific funds-of-funds
(NEOTEC in Spain, iVCi in Turkey, PVCi in Portugal, and
UKFTF in the United Kingdom). As these funds are becom-
ing fully invested, EIF has begun to lay the foundations for
renewed and future expansion to new regions.
Portfolio
Total net equity commitments amounted to EUR 5.9bn at
the end of 2011. With investments in some 373 funds and
over 300 fund manager teams, EIF remains the major
fund-of-fund investor in the European venture and growth
capital market and provider of risk finance for micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises.
In 2011 alone, a record EUR 1.1bn was committed, cata-
lysing an additional EUR 6bn which significantly amplified
the impact on SME-focused funds and on a wide range
of sectors.
Activity
Early stage capital
Technology Transfer: fostering innovation
Over the past few years, EIF has fostered the develop-
ment of technology transfer and innovation in Europe with
various landmark investments in high-tech sectors ranging
from informatics to telecommunications to oncology and
life sciences more generally.
Throughout 2011, expansion to new EU markets con-
tinued by introducing the technology transfer product
to new Member States.
The Knowledge Transfer Strategic Partnership
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proved a
very useful forum for EIF and like-minded public investors.
The objective is to discuss and jointly address the chal -
lenges faced by the knowledge transfer sector across
Europe, exploring new initiatives such as Intellectual Prop-
erty (IP) patent funds and IP marketplaces in support of
SMEs. EU academic institutions from Central and Eastern
Europe are expected to join as well.
In 2011, EIF invested in Vives II, the second fund set up to
commercialise technologies from the Belgian Université
Catholique de Louvain. This deal attracted considerable
attention from investors and managed to raise EUR 43m
in highly challenging market conditions.
Venture Capital: smart capital for smart ventures
In 2011, EIF pursued a deliberate counter-cyclical investment
strategy to balance the decreasing activity of private sec-
tor investors in a very challenging market environment. This
helped emerging and established teams to raise their funds
in a timely manner and reach critical fund sizes. Besides be-
ing able to capitalise on excellent investment opportunities,
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Agreement signed between EIF/EIB, Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (CDC, France), Cassa depositi e prestiti (CDP, Italy), Centro para el
Desarrollo Tecnológico e Industrial (CDTI, Spain), Innovationsbron (Sweden), KfW-Bankengruppe (Germany) and Veraventure (Finland) with
the aim of tackling some of the challenges faced by the knowledge transfer sector across Europe.
ICT-Life Science
Life Science
Cleantech
Generalist
ICT
Sector focus
Total commitments at 31 December 2011 – in EUR m
801
155
970
1 158
2 835
5 919
“Technology Transfer suffers from a funding and
expertise gap. EIF is helping to promote the work
research centers and universities like us are doing by
bridging the gap between research with a commercial
potential and the market.”
Timo Lehes, Investment Manager, Chalmers Innovation