EIB Group, seven EU states and 15 investors line up over EUR 10bn for European scale-ups

The European Investment Bank Group said on 9 November 2026 that seven EU member states and 15 institutional investors have joined it to channel more than EUR 10 billion in new equity into European scale-ups. The announcement was made in the margins of the Eurogroup and ECOFIN meetings of EU finance ministers in Brussels.

Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Spain have committed around EUR 2 billion to the first closing of the Tech Champions fund-of-funds. The French Tibi Initiative and 14 financial institutions, including ABN AMRO, APG, Banco Santander, BBVA, Danske Bank Group and PGGM, have declared the intention to channel a combined total of more than EUR 8 billion. The EIB Group says the first investment approvals are expected in the coming weeks.

From a 2023 pilot to an EUR 80bn ambition

The European Tech Champions Initiative (ETCI) was launched in 2023 by the EIB Group and six EU member states as a fund-of-funds that backs large venture capital funds, so that Europe's fastest-growing companies can raise big late-stage rounds without leaving the continent. According to the EIB Group, the first edition has backed 15 venture capital megafunds, which in turn have supported more than 50 EU-based companies, 16 of which have reached unicorn status.

The expanded initiative received unanimous backing from all EU member states in July. The new public-private alliance aims to mobilise up to EUR 80 billion in total investments, with average investment tickets of EUR 200 million. The EIB Group expects more member states to contribute to the fund-of-funds once their national procedures are complete, and says additional institutional investors are expected to join soon.

Who is in, and who is not

The institutional line-up is broad: alongside the French Tibi Initiative, the EIB lists ABN AMRO, Algemene Pensioen Groep (APG), Armònia SGR, Azimut Holding, Banco Santander, BBVA, Compagnia di San Paolo, Danske Bank Group, Green Arrow Capital, Grupo Mutua Madrileña, Marsh, MN Services, PGGM and Uniqa Insurance Group. These are declared intentions to invest, not yet signed commitments.

On the government side, Les Echos points out that the French state is not among the member states contributing to this first closing, unlike in the first edition of the initiative, which according to the newspaper mobilised EUR 3.75 billion. French institutional money is nonetheless represented through Tibi, the French programme that steers institutional savings into tech funds. The Brussels Times also reported the first closing on Monday.

"Europe has world-class talent, innovative companies and technological leadership. The European Tech Champions alliance is a catalyst to mobilise capital at scale to turn Europe's most promising companies into global leaders," said EIB Group President Nadia Calviño.

A second pot for defence, space and cyber

In parallel, the European Commission announced a EUR 100 million commitment to the second edition of the EIB Group's Defence Equity Facility (DEF 2.0). The first facility, launched in 2024 under InvestEU with EUR 175 million, is now almost fully invested, according to the EIB. DEF 2.0 has a EUR 1 billion fundraising target, will cover defence technologies, space and cybersecurity, and has confirmed commitments from the EIB Group and several member states, including Lithuania and Bulgaria. A first closing is expected soon.

The EIB Group also published its annual Investment Survey, based on a sample of 13,000 companies in Europe and the US. It found that EU firms' adoption of many new technologies, including artificial intelligence, matches US levels, and that 78% of European firms in security and defence are maintaining or increasing investment.

What it means for European founders and investors

For founders, the most practical point is ticket size. The scale-up gap in Europe has rarely been at seed or Series A; it has been in rounds of EUR 100 million and above, where US growth investors have long dominated. An alliance targeting average tickets of EUR 200 million, backed by pension funds, insurers and banks, is designed to make more of those rounds possible with European money on the cap table.

For fund managers, ETCI works through funds rather than directly into companies, so the immediate beneficiaries are the large growth and late-stage VC funds that can win a commitment. Recent examples of the kind of capital the initiative wants to multiply include the EQT-managed Scaleup Europe Fund's lead role in Pigment's round and Seaya's EUR 600m Seaya Nova growth fund.

The open questions are timing and conversion. The EUR 8 billion from institutions is a declared intention, the EUR 80 billion figure is an ambition, and France's absence from the state commitments in this first closing shows national politics still shape the pool. The EIB says first investment decisions will come within weeks; those decisions, and which funds receive them, will show how fast the money reaches companies.

Spotted an error? Email contact@europreneursmedia.com and we'll correct it. See our corrections policy and editorial standards.