EU eyes $47 billion in private capital to fund deep-tech start-ups

By Foo Yun Chee

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Commission is planning measures to attract 45 billion euros ($47 billion) in private funding for “deep-tech” start-ups, those based on significant scientific or engineering advances, an EU policy document seen by Reuters showed.

A new Listings Act planned for later this year will also cut the cost of stock market flotations for the firms, the document, A New European Innovation Agenda, added.

The proposals, which the EU executive is expected to announce at a press conference on innovation at 1330 GMT on Tuesday, aim to help the 27-country bloc catch up with the United States, Japan and South Korea in cutting-edge technology, venture capital funding and innovative patents.

“Approximately 45 billion euros of funding for scale-ups could be mobilised by 2025 from untapped sources of private capital, and the cost of listing on public markets could also be reduced,” the document said.

It said companies will find it easier and cheaper to list on the market under a Listings Act to be proposed in the second half of the year, part of the Commission’s Capital Markets Union (CMU) Action Plan announced in 2020.

To allow founders to retain greater control post-listing, the act may also propose a harmonisation of legal regimes related to dual class share structures across the EU, the paper said.

The Commission also proposed an innovation gender and diversity index, and will issue guidance in the first half of next year on so-called regulatory sandboxes that could include looser regulations for innovative projects.

Bloomberg first reported on the EU plans.

($1 = 0.9639 euros)

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Jan Harvey)