Against the background of the need for alternative and additional financing channels for SMEs in Europe, this paper analyses the market segment of debt funds. It provides a market overview and comprehensive insight into the results of the EIF Private Debt Survey, a new study that provides unique...

This EIF Working Paper investigates financing patterns of European SMEs by looking at a large number of different financing instruments and their complementary and substitutive effects, using the SAFE dataset collected in 2015. We develop an empirical taxonomy of SME financing patterns in...

The "Cooperative Banks & Smaller Institutions" (CBSI) window of the EIB Group Risk Enhancement Mandate (EREM) shall contribute to the EIB group's intention to increase lending to small and mediumssized enterprises (SMEs) and to broaden the range of intermediaries through which it operates, in...

In the area of access to finance for Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) there are often market imperfections/failures – either as temporary effects or as fundamental structural deficiencies. To identify and analyse these issues, SME Access to Finance Market Assessments (AFMAs) are...

It is well known that Micro and Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of the economy. Most of these companies use external financing sources like debt and equity capital to finance their activities. However, in general, in the area of SMEs' access to finance, there are...

This report discusses the activity of credit guarantee schemes (CGSs) in Western Europe and presents an analysis based on a novel survey, conducted by the European Investment Bank (EIB) Group , among 18 credit guarantee organisations in 13 countries and 33 banks operating in 17 countries. The...

In light of recent EU policy initiatives such as the Capital Markets Union (CMU) action plan, this working paper provides unique insights from Venture Capital (VC) general partners/management companies, Private Equity Mid-Market (PE MM) managers and Business Angels (BA). Specifically, based on...

This working paper provides testimony on the integration of ESG considerations and impact investing in the areas of venture capital (VC) and business angel (BA) investing. The results are survey-based and are derived from the respective questions in the EIF VC Survey 2019 and the EIF Business...

This working paper presents results of the first EIF Business Angels Survey, a survey among Business Angels (BA) who benefited from the European Angels Fund (EAF), an initiative advised by the EIF and providing equity to BAs for the financing of innovative companies in the form of...

The vast majority of firms in Europe are micro firms. Still, we know little about their financing patterns. Our paper aims to close this gap. Based on a large European firm-level data set, we find that micro firms differ in their financing patterns from small and medium-sized companies. Our...