The Finnish Government has decided to launch a long-term growth programme aimed to strengthen the private equity investment market and to support the growth of SME companies. The programme will be implemented together with private investors; at least half of the funds raised by the target funds should be raised from private sources.
The Government funding will be implemented by making fund investments. Investments in seed capital funds will be made through The Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation (Tekes) and investments in other venture capital funds through Finnish Industry Investment Ltd. Private investors will be induced to invest in the seed-capital funds by offering them better returns than for the investment by the Government.
The duration of the programme is planned to be 10 years and it will be targeted to mend shortages in the venture capital market. According to the release by the Finnish Ministry of Employment and the Economy, the Government will pay special attention to ensure that no market disturbances are caused by the programme.
For the purposes of the programme, out of the existing yearly resources of Tekes 20 million euros will be redirected to private equity investments, and Finnish Industry Investment Ltd will be capitalised by 30 million euros yearly. Furthermore, for the purposes of direct investments Finnvera plc will be capitalised by 5 million euros yearly until 2017.
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