Beneficiaries
Loans for innovative enterprises can be granted to young, innovative SMEs which possess a business permit issued pursuant to the Law of 2 September 2011 (right of establishment), have been in existence for less than 8 years and have a substantial impact on national economic development.
Purpose
The beneficiary is an innovative enterprise, in so far as it can demonstrate on the basis of a business plan, the development and commercialization of products/services or processes that are new or substantially improved/changed as compared to the state of the art in the concerned industry sector, and which carry a risk of technological or industrial failure. Innovative character of processes should be of a technological nature. Innovative character of products or services should be of a technological, commercial and/or organizational nature.
Eligible costs
Negative cash flows, including investments in fixed assets, resulting from the business plan, presented by the innovative enterprises are eligible for this loan.
In particular, eligible costs include land, buildings or parts of buildings used exclusively for professional purposes, professional equipment, machinery and facilities, materials/supplies, personnel expenditures, patent filing fees, expenses related to contract research, use of databanks, technical libraries and laboratories, acquisition of patents/ licenses, innovation support services like market research, implementation of new regulatory standards, testing and certification, costs of the commercial launch, as well as the required working capital.
Loan amount
The loan cannot be higher than EUR 1,500,000 without exceeding 35% of eligible costs and taking into account the size of the project and of the company.
At least 35% of investments and expenses shall be co-financed by the company’s own funds. The SNCI loan cannot exceed the amount of shareholders’ equity.
Duration
Maximum loan duration is 10 years. It is fixed on the basis of the project requirements.
Remuneration
The remuneration is fixed by the SNCI’s Board of Directors. It is composed of 2 components: a remuneration of the first loan tranche depends on the financial outcome of the project while the fixed interest rate for the second tranche currently stands at 6.0%.
Disbursement
Loan is disbursed in 2 tranches according to the disbursement plan determined in the framework of the dossier.
Repayment
The first tranche accounting for 50% of the loan is repaid by a single payment at the final maturity date together with respective remuneration.
Repayment of the second loan tranche is performed by constant quarterly installments with the first one due no later than 3 years after the conclusion of the contract on the basis of the project requirements.
Early repayment is subject to a prepayment fee.
Guarantees
Generally, no guarantee is required.
Application
The application should be sent directly to SNCI. The following documents must be included in the application by the requesting company:
- a presentation of the applicant (creation date, shareholders, activity, main suppliers/clients, team)
- a project description (new product/ service created, marketing strategy, project team, market/competition/ competitive advantage, project impact);
- financial statements for the past three financial years (including liabilities towards the banking institutions and evolution of investments);
- a business plan/budget of the company covering at least 3 years which contains an income statement and cash flow analysis (operational cash flow, investment and financing);
- a plan of financing/disbursement for the project in question.
SNCI reserves the right to ask any additional information relevant for the project analysis.