1.2. Access to risk finance

Horizon 2020 will help companies and other types of entities gain access to loans, guarantees and equity finance via two facilities. The Debt facility will provide loans to single beneficiaries for investment in research and innovation; guarantees to financial intermediaries making loans to beneficiaries; combinations of loans and guarantees, and guarantees or counter-guarantees for national, regional and local debt-financing schemes. It will include a SME window targeting research and innovation (R&I) driven SMEs with loan amounts that complement finance to SMEs by the Loan Guarantee Facility under the Programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises (COSME) (2014-2020). The Equity facility will provide venture and/or mezzanine capital to individual enterprises in the early stage (start-up window). The facility will also have the possibility to make expansion and growth-stage investments in conjunction with the Equity Facility for Growth under COSME, including in funds-of-funds. These facilities will be central to the specific objective 'Access to risk finance' but may, where relevant, also be used across all other specific objectives of Horizon 2020. The Equity facility and the SME window of the Debt facility will be implemented as part of two Union financial instruments that provide equity and debt to support R&I and growth of SMEs, in conjunction with the equity and debt facilities under COSME.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-11-04 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.