EstFund

This new EUR 60 million Fund-of-Funds initiative was launched by EIF in March 2016 in close co-operation with KredEx and the Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications to stimulate equity investments into innovative and high growth-focussed enterprises in Estonia.

EstFund is the first fund-of-funds that EIF has invested into, combining resources from the European Structural and Investment Funds (“ESIF”) resources and from the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the heart of the European Commission's Investment Plan for Europe.

The new fund-of-funds, using ESIF resources, will support smaller risk capital funds targeting smaller and often earlier stage investments, operating in a complementary way to the already existing successful Baltic Innovation Fund initiative that targets larger and later stage deals in Baltics. Co-investment from EFSI by the EIF into the underlying funds will encourage private investors to commit additional resources into these funds. It is expected that approximately EUR 100 million in equity investments will be made available to the Estonian enterprises in the next years.

How does EstFund work?

EstFund will invest in several risk capital funds which will then invest primarily in Estonian enterprises. The fund managers will be selected by an open call for expression of interest. The selected fund managers will receive a cornerstone investment into their fund from the combined resources of EstFund and co-investment by EIF allocated indicatively as follows:

1. EUR 30m Venture Capital Fund; 
2. EUR 15m Expansion Capital Fund;
3. EUR 15m Business Angels Co-Investment Fund