INVEST - Grant for venture capital; application for a grant for investments by private individuals in young innovative companies
INVEST is designed to support private investors in providing venture capital to young innovative companies. This is intended to make it easier for the companies to successfully finance their market entry and growth phase.
Description
The INVEST funding measure is designed to sustainably improve access to private venture capital for young innovative companies. INVEST funding consists of an acquisition grant and an additional exit grant.
The acquisition grant is awarded to private investors (business angels) who acquire shares in young innovative companies and hold the investment for at least 3 years. It amounts to 20 percent of the investment sum at the time of share acquisition. The investor must provide the company with at least EUR 10,000. Each investor can receive the acquisition grant per calendar year for investments of up to EUR 500,000. Investors can invest in the startup both as a natural person or via an investment company (GmbH or UG) in order to receive the acquisition subsidy.
In addition, the tax due on a capital gain can be compensated with an exit subsidy. In this case, the investor receives a lump-sum tax compensation amounting to 25 percent of the profit generated from the sale of his shares subsidized with the acquisition grant. The excess subsidy is limited to 80 percent of the investment amount of the INVEST shares and is reserved for natural persons.
INVEST is a two-stage process, meaning that in the normal application process for the acquisition grant, the company first submits an application for INVEST eligibility. At this point, the company may either still be looking for investors or have already found a venture capital investor. BAFA certifies the company's eligibility.
The investor then submits an application to BAFA. BAFA formally reviews this application and issues an approval notice to the investor. After taking over the share and paying the investment sum, the investor submits the documents required in the notice to BAFA and applies for payment of the grant, which is made after the documents have been checked (payment call).
Prerequisites
There are no prerequisites.
Procedure
Applications for the INVEST grant are submitted online using the forms provided.
1.application company:
- Fill out the form online and submit the application.
- Then print out the application form and sign it. Send it by mail to BAFA.
- BAFA will issue an eligibility decision based on the complete application and supporting documents. If individual requirements of the guideline are not met or verification documents are missing, you will receive a rejection.
2.Investor's application (only after the company has submitted the application):
- Fill out the form online and submit the application.
- Then print the application form and sign it. Then send it to BAFA by mail.
- BAFA will issue a notice of approval based on the complete application and supporting documents. If individual requirements of the guideline are not met or verification documents are missing, you will receive a rejection.
3.Payment call by the investor (after entering into the investment):
- Fill out the form "Payment call" online and upload the documents required in the notice for payment call. Submit the whole thing online.
- After reviewing the documents you submitted, if all the requirements in the policy are met, the grant will be transferred to the account you specified in the application.
4. verification of compliance with the three-year minimum holding period:
- Applicants must provide proof of compliance with the minimum holding period requirements on an annual basis, as requested by BAFA.
5.Application for Excess Grant:
- Complete the form online and submit the application.
- Then print out the confirmation of the truthful information and sign it. Then submit the confirmation to BAFA as a scan in the upload area.
- Based on the complete application and the evidence, BAFA will issue a notice of approval and, after the sale has been entered in the commercial register, will trigger payment to the investor. If individual requirements of the guideline are not met or verification documents are missing, you will receive a rejection.
Deadlines
- The applications from the company and the investor must have been submitted online to BAFA before the measure is started (for example, payment of the investment sum, signing of the contract), otherwise no funding can be provided.
- Eligibility notices from companies are valid for 12 months. Within this period, investors must have submitted their applications. It is not possible to extend the validity period of the decisions. However, the companies can submit a new application for eligibility.
- As a rule, notices of eligibility from investors have a validity period of 3 months. Within this period, you must acquire the shares (investment) and prove to BAFA that this investment has been carried out, including payment of the full issue price of the shares to the company. In the case of investments by means of convertible loans or the agreement of milestones, the notices have a validity period of 24 months. An extension of the respective period stated in the notice is not possible.
- Applications for the subsidy must be submitted to BAFA no later than 3 months after the sale (date of signing the contract).
Processing time
- Company application: approx. 2-6 weeks
- Investor application: approx. 4-6 weeks
- Investor payment request: approx. 3-6 months
- Application for export subsidy: approx. 3 months
Required documents
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Required Documents
Antrag Unternehmen:
- Handelsregisterauszug
- gegebenenfalls eine Beschreibung der Tätigkeit des Unternehmens
Antrag Investor:
- keine weiteren Unterlagen bei Anträgen von natürlichen Personen
- Handelsregisterauszug und Gesellschafterliste bei Anträgen von Beteiligungsgesellschaften
Zahlungsabruf Investor
- elektronisches Formular „Zahlungsabruf“
- Kontoauszug des Investors über die erfolgte Überweisung der Investitionssumme
- schriftliche Bestätigung des Unternehmens über den Erhalt der Zahlung
- Kopie des notariell beurkundeten neuen Gesellschaftsvertrages/der notariell beurkundeten neuen Satzung
- Kopie des Kapitalerhöhungsbeschlusses einschließlich Übernahmeerklärung (bei GmbH) oder Zeichnungsschein (bei Aktiengesellschaft)
- Kopie des Darlehensvertrages im Falle eines Anteilserwerbs über ein Wandeldarlehen
- Kopie des Beteiligungsvertrages (Gesellschaftervereinbarung/Aktionärsvereinbarung)
Antrag Exitzuschuss:
- Kontoauszug des Investors über den Erhalt des Kaufpreises
- Veräußerungsvertrag
Remedy
- Objection
- Action before the administrative court
Links to more information
Status:16.04.2023
Responsible for editing:Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Klimaschutz
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