The services delivered are directed towards mature tech-ready SMEs/small midcaps who are interested in accessing financial instruments in order to carry out technological investment or investments related to achieving objectives set under the Green Deal. SMEs have access consultants from our pool which will mediate access to the following finance instruments:
- Public grant schemes delivered through ESI/ERDF in Romania (Regional Operational Program & POCIDIF 2021-2027) and the Recovery&Resilience Facility for Romania (PNRR);
- Change sustaining financing under Invest EU and the Just Transition Mechanism.
- Prefered subsidized loan schemes such as the Direct Financing Framework for SMEs (EBRD) , EFSI/COSME, IMM Invest (Gov. of Romania)
Complementary actions for credit access are available to facilitate access to preferential financing in cooperation with credit institutions. ROI and time-to-market evaluations will be carried out in order to identify efficient financing alternatives to public grants.
Partnerships with 2 major banks facilitate credit access for technological investment (EBRD, Banca Transilvania), as well as with BCR Social Finance (Erste Group) for training investment under a program already carried out for access to digital training.
Access to finance services for public sector entities target public administrations and public healthcare providers.
Services are oriented towards access to funding available through ESI, ERDF and Recovery & Resilience Facility in order to support initiatives towards digitalization of services.
Identification of financing opportunities, pre-drafting and drafting of financing documentation are carried out in complementarity with preparing actions (feasibility, smart territory planning, technical assistance for commissioning, etc).
PUBLIC INNOVATION FUNDING
The innovation funding accelerator facilitates the access of eligible private enterprises to public funding in order to facilitate development of innovation, through new products or processes.
Targeted beneficiaries are research intensive capable actors, aiming at developing innovation or mature SMEs/midcaps aiming to collaboratively integrate or develop innovation with specialized providers.
Based on a prescreening of potential candidates, beneficiaries can be supported with services provided by a taskforce of specialized consultants in order to access financing opportunities open through the following financial framework programs: Horizon Europe, Innovation financed through ESI in Romania (Operational Program om Smart Growth, Digitalization and Financial Instruments), EUREKA / Eurostars.
We ensure identification and characterization of public innovation financing windows, signposting and mapping of financing opportunities, pre-screening and capability assessment, drafting of financing proposal / dossiers.
PRIVATE VENTURE FUNDS
The accelerator assists high-potential SMEs to apply for private venture funds, including soft landing actions, matchmaking, assistance to design the lean-innovation business model, IP valuation, and the business plans, mentoring for pitching, and negotiation.
Our services facilitate access to active investors who can add value to early stage companies, in addition to capital. Close contacts are established with domestic angel investors networks (Risky Business; Transilvania Angels Network) as well with two venture funds (Catalyst; Techcelerator) and with an international venture fund (Paua Venture).
The coordination of the process is ensured by one of the DIH4Society experts with over 20 years experience in the field, who is also a member of the EIC Jury, leveraging members of our ecosystem which include two startup and scaleup advisory service providers (Grai Ventures and Activize).
