Fond-ICO Next Tech, an initiative of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, managed through the Secretary of State for Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence, and the Official Credit Institute ICO-AXIS, doubles its investment. Fond-ICO Next Tech remains the second largest of its kind in Europe, closer to Germany, which holds first place, as it expects to mobilise up to €8 billion of public-private capital.
The initiative, part of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR), was launched in 2021 to foster the development of innovative, high-impact digital projects and investment in growth companies (known as scaleups) by strengthening public financing instruments, attracting international funds and boosting the venture capital sector.
The fund started its investment activity in February 2022, with the initial objective of mobilising up to EUR 4 billion in public-private partnerships (EUR 2 billion private investors + EUR 2 billion Next-Tech).
With the commitment to continue contributing to the digital transformation of the economy and to generate quality employment in innovative sectors, it has been decided to increase the initial endowment of the fund by an additional €2 billion in public funds. In this way, Fond-ICO Next Tech reaches a size of €4 billion, with the capacity to mobilise up to €8 billion through public-private partnerships.
This expansion will align the ICO Next Tech Fund's strategy with the major legislative developments brought about by the new Startups Law and the Create and Grow Business Climate Improvement Law, which provide financial and fiscal incentives to entrepreneurs and innovative technology-based startups.
Initiatives under the Next Tech Fund
Since the start of the fund's activity, investments amounting to €1.335 billion have been approved to foster the growth of high-impact technology companies (scaleups) and digital projects.
Of this amount, €1 billion will go to the European Tech Champions initiative, which will help provide funding to Europe's leading innovative start-ups, with the aim of creating an entrepreneurial ecosystem to develop projects with global potential. This new European fund already has commitments of 3.75 billion financed by Spain, Germany, France, Italy, Belgium and the EIB Group.
The investments approved by Fond-ICO Next Tech to date are completed with six operations amounting to 335 million euros which, with the participation of the private sector, will channel more than 736 million euros in Spain.
Fond-ICO Next always acts in collaboration with private investors, either through indirect investments in funds (venture capital funds, corporate funds or other investment vehicles) or direct investments in Spanish startups and scaleups.
Its activity contributes, on the one hand, to attracting foreign capital to Spanish projects and, on the other, to consolidating the growth of Spanish companies with high potential so that they become unicorns, retaining talent and thus consolidating the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Spain.
Summary of the six operations