The purpose of the product is to provide equity financing for innovative seed-stage enterprises that find it difficult to access financing from commercial banks or other classic forms of financing.

With the co-investment mechanism (SI-SK) the Slovene Enterprise Fund, together with independent private investors (business angels, private equity/venture capital funds or corporations), invests or provides equity financing for fast-growing innovative enterprises in their early stages of development.

Key information about the co-investment

The amount of funding

• from 100.000 EUR to 600.000 EUR of the direct capital contribution from the Slovene Enterprise Fund (for innovative enterprises by formal definition up to 1,2 million EUR)
• SEF doubles the private investment (e.g. private investor invests 100.000 EUR and the SEF 100.000 EUR on equal terms)

Drawdown of funding

Drawdown in four tranches:

• the tranches are disbursed by the SEF after receiving the bank transfer confirmation of the tranche by the private investor (s).
• the deadline for disbursement of all tranches is twelve months from the date of funding approval.

Memorandum of association

• the annex of the public tender contains a Memorandum of association that defines the relations between the SEF and other shareholders and the special rights of the SEF, such as additional control over the enterprise’s operations, yield protection mechanisms and risk management.

Council of Experts

• in case of the acquisition of the investment a council of experts of the enterprise is formed, which is an advisory body and advises the manager on strategic decisions and other decisions on the request of the manager

Eligible costs

• all costs related to the enterprise and development of the enterprise
• it is prohibited to repay existing corporate loans or use the investment for lending operations

Beneficiaries and eligibility criteria

• only enterprises that have acquired an investment by an independent private investor (business angels, venture capital funds, corporations) can apply
• the shareholders must agree with the Slovene Enterprise Fund as a co-owner of the enterprise
• own development or innovative business model
• potential for growth and development of the enterprise
• already generated revenues from activities
• at least one shareholder, employed full-time
• headquarters in the Republic of Slovenia
• the enterprise may not be in difficulty
• the applicant does not have a registered main activity in the excluded sector
• the applicant must show closed financial structure in its application

Selection criteria

• the amount invested by an independent private investor
• experience of a private investor (s)
• entrepreneurial team
• stage of development and growth of the enterprise and the amount of revenue
• technology and intellectual property protection

Deadlines for submission of applications

• 31. 3. 2022
• 29. 4. 2022
• 31. 5. 2022
• 30. 6. 2022
• 31. 8. 2022
• 30. 9. 2022
• 27. 10. 2022
• 30. 11. 2022
• 20. 12. 2022

The application to the public tender SI-SK excludes a simultaneous application for tenders P2, P2R and SK75. Only a transition of enterprises in the direction of P2/SK75/SI-SK is allowed and not vice versa.

More about the financial incentive SI-SK

On the following links:

• official website of the financial incentive with tender documentation
• brochure of the Slovene Enterprise Fund

The beneficiaries of the financial incentive SI-SK are eligible to their own start-up mentor and the inclusion into more than 10 specialized training programmes.

Substantive support and training programmes

The Slovene Enterprise Fund also provides intensive substantive support to the recipients of financial incentives in the form of a mentoring programme and other specialized, intensive and comprehensive support programmes. The main objective of the substantive support from the Startup Plus programme is to maximize and improve the impact of the Fund´s financial incentives for enterprises in the early stage.

The participation of enterprises in substantive programmes is reflected in the form of higher survival rates and faster international growth of start-up enterprises. Substantive programmes, therefore, play a key role in making start-ups more successful, both by acquiring new knowledge and acquaintances and by being better integrated into the ecosystem.

In addition to the mentoring programme, the following programmes are available to the recipients of financial incentives:

• Push2Start – an accelerator for P2 recipients
• SK Growth Camp – an accelerator for SK recipients
• PODIM conference – an opportunity of participation, foreign mentors and exhibition space
• Sales accelerator – a sales accelerator programme helps enterprises to meet their annual sales goals
• Grow Digital – a specialized vertical accelerator for enterprises in the health industry
• Startup clinic – elimination of critical risk of start-ups
• HardwareSTART – a vertical accelerator for the hardware industry
• Health.Tech.Growth – group and individual trainings on the topic of digital marketing and digital sales
• KorpoStart –  connecting start-ups with corporations
• NextRound – connecting start-ups with investors
• INTL – a programme for internationalisation, specialized in start-ups
• ScaleUpGrade – a specializyed programme for scale-up growth phase
• Startup.si – national and international promotion of start-up enterprises
• Teambuilding+ events, »All-inclusive« networking, education and socializing