30 Nov 2023
EC and EIB launch new pilot scheme 'EU Blue Champions'
The European Commission, in collaboration with the European Investment Bank (EIB), is launching the new pilot scheme ‘EU Blue Champions’. It will be supported by the BlueInvest platform.
Through this new initiative, the EIB Advisory Services, in collaboration with the EIB Projects Directorate, will provide financial advisory to selected projects in the blue economy. Each project selected should display the potential to contribute strongly to the EU Mission 'Restore our Ocean and Waters' and its three objectives:
- restoring marine and freshwater ecosystems and biodiversity,
- eliminating pollution,
- decarbonising the blue economy.
Concretely, the aim is to identify 20 innovative projects, which have the potential to interest public or private finance providers and possibly qualify for an EIB financing.
To be eligible, projects need to be aligned with at least one of the Mission’s objectives. Other selection criteria will depend on the lending product (e.g. venture debt, corporate loan, project finance) that the project might be considered for. These may include:
- minimum investment size - depending on the type of lending product considered. In any case, each project should have a budget of over EUR 15 million total eligible project cost, of which the EIB could finance up to 50%,
- having a sustainable business model and a clearly defined business plan,
- having already raised finance from investors and currently being in need of a larger investment to scale up the business.
While a formal application process is not foreseen, interested project promoters are welcome to fill out the template with their details and submit it to the EIB Advisory team corporatefinanceadvisory@eib.org before 31 January 2024.
Only projects eligible for support under the InvestEU Advisory Hub will be considered. This call for interest does not represent a commitment by the EIB to provide financing or advisory support to any of the projects submitted.