Defense: EIF provides € 50 million for Join Capital

Berlin, London, Milan, Luxem­bourg — Luxe­m­­bourg-based Join Capi­tal has laun­ched its third fund with the aim of raising €235 million to support Euro­pean deep-tech start-ups working on defense, dual-use, secu­rity and space tech­no­lo­gies. The Euro­pean Invest­ment Fund (EIF) has commit­ted €50 million — its largest invest­ment in the defense sector to date. 

Foun­ded in 2017, Joint Capi­tal invests in pan-Euro­­pean venture capi­tal funds from its offices in Berlin, London and Milan. The company focu­ses on start-ups that offer asym­me­tric tech­no­lo­gi­cal advan­ta­ges and thus streng­then Euro­pe’s stra­te­gic auto­nomy. The port­fo­lio spans the enter­prise, indus­trial, space and defense sectors, with 36 compa­nies funded to date. There have been five successful exits. 

Fund III will support around 25 start-ups, helping them to scale solu­ti­ons that enhance mili­tary capa­bi­li­ties while offe­ring commer­cial appli­ca­ti­ons. The invest­ment will be made through the InvestEU Defence Equity Faci­lity, a €175 million initia­tive co-finan­­ced by the Euro­pean Defence Fund and aimed at mobi­li­zing private funding for disrup­tive defence tech­no­lo­gies. The faci­lity is expec­ted to mobi­lize more than 500 million euros for Euro­pean companies. 

“This invest­ment is not just about finan­cing. The EIF’s credi­bi­lity also acts as a seal of appr­oval, signal­ing to other inves­tors the rele­vance of the aero­space and secu­rity and defense sector. With this support, we are confi­dent that further invest­ments will follow, helping Europe to build a robust ecosys­tem for inno­va­tive defense solu­ti­ons,” explains Marjut Falk­stedt, Mana­ging Direc­tor of the EIF (Photo: EIF).

About EIF

The Euro­pean Invest­ment Fund (EIF) is part of the Euro­pean Invest­ment Bank Group. Its main task is to faci­li­tate access to finance for micro, small and medium-sized enter­pri­ses (SMEs) in Europe. Its offe­ring includes venture and growth capi­tal, guaran­tees and micro­fi­nance products tail­o­red to this market segment. In this way, it promo­tes EU objec­ti­ves in the areas of inno­va­tion, rese­arch and deve­lo­p­ment, entre­pre­neur­ship, growth and employ­ment. —www.eib.org