Since its opening on April 29, over a thousand startups, scale-ups and innovative SMEs have applied for a Corona Bridging Loan (COL) or the Temporary Bridging Loan Program Innovative Startups and Scaleups (TOPSS). Together, these companies account for the employment of nearly 12,000 FTEs. The companies apply for a total of more than €500 million through either facility.
Need is high among startups, scale-ups and innovative SMEs
The Cabinet has initially allocated €100 million for the Corona Bridge Loan (COL). Over 1,000 companies applied for €385 million through the COL in one week. An amount that exceeds even the expectation of the Regional Development Companies (ROMs) that run this scheme.
Invest-NL is allocating €100 million for the Temporary Bridging Loan Program Innovative Startups and Scaleups (TOPSS). For TOPSS applications Invest-NL uses a lower limit of €2 million. In the first week, Invest-NL received 21 applications. The total funding requirement of these applications amounts to over €130 million. Invest-NL still has to assess the content of these applications and will provide a maximum of 50% of the funding in case of a positive evaluation.
Rinke Zonneveld (director InnovationQuarter) on behalf of the ROMs: "Based on research, we estimated that at least €350 million would be needed to help startups, scale-ups and innovative SMEs through this crisis. The budget of €100 million was a first step to that end. The fact that the amount requested for the COL is already almost 4 times as large indicates that the need for innovative NL is high. A rough estimate based on the first assessments is that about 50-60% of the applications will be granted and that thanks to the co-financing we ask from shareholders about 35-40% of the total amount requested will be needed for the applications so far. That would mean that the €100 million is already 'on' based on the applications in the first week."
Nils Beers, CEO Techleap.nl: "This huge demand confirms the picture of scale and urgency needed to keep these innovative companies alive. Through the central portal we will continue to facilitate and monitor applications, the data from this will also be used to continuously evaluate whether the current measures are sufficient."
About COL & TOPSS
The Corona-OverbruggingsLening (COL) is an emergency loan for innovative entrepreneurs and SMEs without a bank credit relationship who have run into financial difficulties due to Covid19. This scheme was created in intensive cooperation between the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate (EZK), the joint Regional Development Companies (ROMs) and TechLeap.nl with also close involvement of Invest-NL. At the request of EZK, the ROMs provide bridging loans between €50,000 and €2 million.
Invest-NL wants to guarantee the availability of venture capital for innovative startups and scaleups with TOPSS. TOPSS applications have a lower limit of €2 million. TOPSS funding is provided in the form of a convertible loan and is always done with the involvement of other professional investors.
More information can be found at:
- https://www.rom-nederland.nl/corona-overbruggingslening
- https://www.invest-nl.nl/actueel/aanvullende-informatie-topss
- https://www.techleap.nl/content/bridgefinancing-portal/
Dashboard with figures between April 29, 9 a.m. - May 6, 9 a.m.
Starting May 13, the dashboard will be supplemented with figures on awards and rejections.
