The Institut Català de Finances (ICF) has channeled 37.5 million euros in financing, with public-private co-investment, for ten Catalan startups throughout this year. The investment made by the public financial entity with participating loans or venture capital totals 5.2 million euros, distributed as 1.2 million euros for six newly created startups and another 4 million euros for incipient companies already in the development phase. The remaining 32.3 million euros correspond to private capital.
The ICF has channeled the investment through its financial instruments. Specifically, the resources for the six new companies come from the IFEM Innovación line, created in 2012, through participating loans of up to 200,000 euros. Through IFEM Innovación, the financial entity has invested in Ivoox —an online platform where all kinds of audios can be played, downloaded, and shared—, Trendier —an app for buying and selling used and new clothes—, Kubbo —a technological logistics provider for e-commerce—, Segle Clinical —a natural cosmetics company—, Aquí tú reforma —a network of renovation franchises— and Fittest Freakest —a brand specialized in clothing, accessories, and footwear for Training—. These are disruptive projects in traditional sectors that bet on differential business models, to which private investors have jointly contributed 6.3 million euros.
With this line of participating loans, the ICF has accumulated investments in more than 130 companies and more than 20 million euros in the last nine years.
The other financing instrument has been the ICF Venture Tech venture capital fund, created to promote technological and innovative projects with high growth potential. In this case, the resources contributed by the entity amount to 4 million euros and have allowed the completion of the corresponding financing rounds for each company to jointly obtain about 30 million euros of private capital.
Newly created projects are disruptive ideas in traditional sectors that bet on differential business modelsCurrently,the ICF Venture Tech fund, launched just 2 years ago, has a portfolio of 10 companies. The director of this financial instrument, Emili Gómez, highlights that "although the digital sector is clearly one of those that has emerged most strengthened from the pandemic, manystartupsare still small companies that at some point, especially at the beginning of the crisis, "have been strongly stressed" and require financial support to get ahead.
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